Features
As good as he can be
UIC English and creative writing professor Luis Alberto Urrea says his
two "cataclysmic" books—one non-fiction, one novel—published in
the last two years have turned his life upside down.
"The Devil's Highway: A True Story," a Pulitzer Prize finalist, lays out illegal Mexican immigration to the United States in human, cultural and economic terms. But as Urrea did his research, a funny thing happened to the Tijuana-born writer.
"I went to the border as a bleeding-heart liberal Latino to tell the story of the humanity of the immigrants," he says. "What I wasn't prepared for was to like the Border Patrol. I had to acknowledge the humanity of the people policing the Arizona desert."
Urrea's novel, "The Hummingbird's Daughter," is based on his great aunt, a Yaqui Indian faith healer. He says it's the biggest thing he's written.
"'Hummingbird' took me 20 years," Urrea says. "It was like composing a symphony. I not only wanted to tell the story of my Aunt Teresita's amazing life but also to represent the sound of late 19th century Mexico and Northern Desert Spanish in English."
Urrea teaches fiction workshops to UIC grad students and literature to undergrads.
"My grad students are smart, dedicated honest writers and talkers," he says. "I believe being harsh and critical is a waste of energy, so I buck the writer's workshop trend with kindness and respect."
The undergrads are a different story.
"They're energetic, excited, like puppies. Unless I've got them arguing or laughing uproariously, I think something's wrong. They don't have the developed skills of the grad students, but their hearts and minds are there."
What does Urrea see his writerly future?
"I want to be as good as I can be," he says. "I started out as a poet, and I haven't written any poetry in 10 years, so I want to rev that up. Writing is all of a piece, though. I'd like to write great novels that will stand forever. My next couple of novels could be really good."
—Mike Lillich
Learn more>> Luis Urrea's home page; an in-depth interview; UIC Department of English