Distinguished Speaker Series: Luís Alberto Urrea | San Miguel Literary Sala

LITERARY SALA Presents

Luis Urrea Returns to the Literary Sala Stage

By Susan Page

Luis Urrea, who presented one of the most beloved and memorable Writers’ Conference keynote speeches ever, is returning to San Miguel for the Literary Sala Distinguished Speakers Series on Monday, November 19, 5 to 7 PM, at the Real de Minas Hotel.

Luis is a lovable, charismatic, highly entertaining speaker, whose topic will be, “Fear is a Border, Faith is a Bridge.” He is uniquely qualified to address the current immigration crisis on the U.S./ Mexican border, since he grew up in Tijuana and San Diego in a Mexican American family that was fully bicultural and bilingual. Urrea’s current book, The House of Broken Angels, a runaway bestseller, is “a big, sprawling, messy, sexy, raucous house party of a book,” according to the Washington Post. The book is “a pan-generational family saga with an enormous, bounding heart, a poetic delivery, and plenty of swagger.”

That sentence is also a perfect description of Urrea’s speaking style! He is an “edge-of-your-seat” storyteller whose presentations always bring both tears of emotion and gales of laughter.

A 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Urrea is the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of seventeen books, and has won numerous awards for his poetry, fiction and essays. The Hummingbird’s Daughter, his 2005 historical novel, tells the story of Urrea’s great-aunt Teresa Urrea, sometimes known as the Mexican Joan of Arc. The book, which involved 20 years of research and writing, won the Kiriyama Prize in fiction and, along with The Devil’s Highway, was named a best book of the year by many publications. The Devil’s Highway is a revealing look at both illegal immigrants lost in the Arizona desert and the border patrol officers who found them.

Also a much-in-demand public speaker, Luis richly deserves his reputation as one of America’s classic humorists. We are fortunate that Luis and his wife Cindy have a special affection for San Miguel and the literary community we have built here and are eager to return to spend almost a week among us.

Intimate Brunch

Luis and Cindy will be the guests of honor at a brunch that will give forty lucky people the chance to spend some up-close-and-personal time with them. The brunch will be held at Aldama Nueve (Aldama Nine, formerly Posada Corazon) on Sunday, November 18 at 12:30 PM. Proceeds will benefit the Literary Sala’s reading appreciation projects in campo communities, including Libros Para Todos, and My First Book.

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased on line at www.sanmiguelliterarysala.org. The presentation is $20 usd. Priority seating is available for $30 usd. The brunch tickets, limited to forty tickets, are also $30 usd. Urrea’s return to San Miguel is likely to sell out, so the Literary Sala encourages you to purchase your tickets early.