Luis Alberto Urrea's Blog, page 20

Bay Area Bound

Leaving Southern California in the morning with a full heart and grateful spirit. Los Angeles and San Diego touched me deeply with the love and support of readers, book clubs, family and friends. So much to tell you, but too little time. I will write a fuller report tomorrow. A couple of things I did want to share with you:

Because I'm all about amusing myself with a bit of foolishness, I'm going to try posting some video blogs from the road. This morning we walked along the La Jolla Cove, a place that has been a real touchstone throughout my life. Including the night I got married. You can watch it here. 

Thank you, San Francisco Chronicle!  I appreciate this nice review.

I was so proud of this review in the Cleveland Plain Dealer I wanted to cry. She got it. I am grateful. You can read it here.

Also deeply touched by the kind words in the Portland Oregonian. That awesome review is here.

A fun interview I did with Time Out Chicago. You can read it here.

This cool nod from Vogue.

And this holiday happiness from the Chicago Tribune. 

 

i will be blogging for Powells.com this week. I'll add the link here once it goes live.

 

 

Tags: book tourQueen of Americavideo blogreview

Book tour San Diego

Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMTdwN... Description (long): 

Luis's first try at making a video diary. He picked a good spot!

Video Embed: 

Teresita returns to Bay Area

Teresita's life changed dramatically when she traveled to the Bay Area. I'll tell you the story at Book Passage Monday and in Berkeley Tuesday. Details in the events section below.

Queen of America margaritas!

Would Teresita like margaritas? I have no idea. But Barrio Star in San Diego has designed a special Queen of America margarita. Come taste with me in a special happy hour event today. Details here. 

Los Angeles!

Rushing around last minute, getting ready to grab a plane to Los Angeles for Book Tour 2011. The website is a bit buggy and apparently tonight's event has cycled off my calendar. So, if you are in LA or near LA or LIKE LA, meet us tonight at the LAPL Mark Taper Auditorium at 7 p.m. I'll be in conversation with Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times and, I promise, we'll have a great time.

Ticket information and other details are here.

See you in LA!

XO

L

The media blitz begins

Book reviews and interviews are starting to pop up with the release of Queen of America. Me, I never read 'em. But if Cindy says they're OK, I believe her. You might want to read some of them and so I will post links as I have them.

My hometown newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, did an email interview with me and you can read it here.

The Hispanic Reader also reviewed Queen of America. Thank you!

And I am indebted to the Los Angeles Times for this first review of Queen of America. It was writted by Carolyn Kellogg, the Times book critic, who will be interviewing me Thursday night as part of the Los Angeles Library's ALOUD series. Ticket information is here.

Don't forget to check my schedule at the bottom of this page to see if I am reading anywhere near you. Would love to see you there!

 

All we wanna do is talk, talk

I'm going to be interviewed live today on Blog Talk Radio. It's a call-in show, so if you want to talk about Queen of America, my work, my awesome new glasses, whatever, call in beginning at 2 p.m. EDT. Details are here.

November 28

Today is the day, for better or worse.  Queen of America is released.  Man--it'sa a weird combination of rush and dread having a book this major (to me) come out.  Imagine: between The Hummingbird's Daughter and Queen of America I have spent 26 years fumbling around.  I have been married and divorced, I have lost my mom and the first girl I ever loved, I have lived all over the country and gone to Europe and met Cinderella and made it happily ever after.  Had a baby girl.  Bought my first house.  Some journey, eh.

So far, reviews have been very kind.  Fans have been loving and loyal.  Couldn't be better.  We are getting our to-do list whittled down today as we prepare for the first leg of national tour.  I'll be bringing a power-point to show you so you can see the faces of the folks you've read about.  Some of the places.

Also, the audiobook must be about to launch, so if you want to hear me bable for, oh, twenty hours, have at it.  It felt so intimate in the studio this time...I think you'll see what I mean.  I felt like I was whispering a bed-time story into your ear.  That never happened before.  I don't think I knew the nature of the book until I spoke it.  I think it wants to put its head beside yours on the pillow.  If that's too close for you, stick to the Kindle!  (But you know me, I love the paper.)

Book Launch Party Tuesday night in Naperville, at Anderson's Books!  Starting the morning doing AM radio drive-time on WGN.  Who would have imagined Teresita would be on Chicago morning radio?  Makes me want to launch an internet Radio Hummingbird.

Then we'll see you in LA, San Diego, SF/Berkeley, Portland, Seattle, NYC (Brooklyn yes!) and Philly.  Home for Christmas with our poor, abandoned kids.  Then back out.  The full calendar is on the website.  I will be posting the power-point with notes for you in the Teresita section we're adding to the site.  Watch for it.  Interviews, essays, bibliographies, pix.

OK.  I had my coffee.  I saw my picture in the Chicago Trib this morning.  I said my prayers.  I ate my Cheerios.  I guess I'm ready.

Loyally, XXX, L

Book club love

Is your book club reading one of my books? You can get signed and personalized copies if you order directly from my neighborhood independent bookstore, Anderson's. Click here and place your order. They'll call me and I'll hustle down, personalize your books and they'll ship to you. OR if you don't live near a city where I am reading, send me a note and I will sign bookplates for your club and mail them to you. Right now, we have three different plates, depending on what you're reading.

bookplates

Book Plates, finally

Our beautiful new bookplates finally arrived! We're really proud of them and think they are gorgeous. There are two Teresita themed plates: one featuring her in her society phase and the other a more pensive portrait that also features her signature. The other bookplate is an original sketch of mine that I often draw in books I sign.

If you have already written us asking for a bookplate, we mailed them today and sent you one of each (and a postcard) as a thank you for your patience. If you'd like a bookplate for yourself or to paste into a gift book, just write me here and let me know. Don't forget I'm heading out on booktour soon, so if you need it before Dec. 16, better write now. Otherwise, I'll mail them out when I get back from booktour (which should still get them to you before Christmas).

As always, thanks so much for your support.

Luis