University of Colorado

A Message from the President

April 2012

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Author Urrea to be honored for works of life, loss, triumph

Urrea

Our University of Colorado alumni continue to be a force for enlightenment, questioning norms and exploring the virtues and shortcomings of life and the human condition. CU-Boulder alumnus and Latino Literature Hall of Fame member Luis Urrea (MFA '97) is an outstanding example. Urrea will be honored April 12 with the 2012 Evil Companions Literary Award, one of many accolades for this award-winning author of 14 books.

Throughout his career, Urrea has garnered national attention and received numerous accolades for his poetry, fiction and essays. His most recent book, Queen of America, was released in November 2011 to critical acclaim. The Devil's Highway, his 2004 nonfiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Born in Tijuana, Mexico, to a Mexican father and an American mother, Urrea uses his cultural life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph. He lives with his family in Naperville, Ill., where he is a professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago. But he calls Colorado his "spiritual home," saying he'd someday like to return.


More: Urrea's Evil Companion award | More: Urrea article in the Coloradan

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