A biography for Luis Alberto Urreahasn’t been written yet.
“Gringos! They have copied us again”
“I read most often in bed as part of my attempted sleep ritual. But I spend a lot of time reading on planes and in hotels, too.”
“I am in the earth and the earth is in me”
“We're all funny. Humor unites us.”
“Poetry is how I feed the soul, and it's how I fire the furnace of writing.”
“I am actually a 'Seven Samurai' fan.”
“They breathed. They felt their lungs fill the sky, and they let the dark clouds inside them flow out. Then they connected to the earth.”
“In the end, I'm really interested in people and what we do with our short time here on earth. I'm interested in the human soul.”
“I missed the Wilco phenom while busy obsessing over rock en Espanol. So imagine my surprise when I found myself at O'Hare getting on a plane with my Chi-town homeboy, Jeff Tweedy. I loved the guy right away and loved his family. How odd to know somebody before you listen to them. I don't know if that's bad or good.”
“I had not seen lawns till fifth grade - big green lawns.”
“Writing went from being a calling to being a job. Business ruined things. It became like making sausages in a sausage factory.”
“There is beauty in our roots. Sometimes we think our roots are shameful, and people tell you that you're no good or your ancestors are no good or that you come from a neighborhood of no hope and terrible crime. But it's about the beauty of those places, and I carry that with me.”
“Writers write without support.”
“The concept of a literature of witness - of bearing witness - has embedded in it the need for action. One must not simply hide in the shadows and type; one must also stand in the light.”
“It became really important to me if I was going to write 'Hummingbird's Daughter' to try to do honor to women.”
“I was torn between the Americanness my mom wanted for me and the Mexicanness my father wanted - they were wrestling for cultural influence over me.”
“Is it a crime to want to be good? she cried”
“With a name like Luis Alberto Urrea, it's political no matter what I do.”
“I often say poetry was my first love.”
“I've been told not to tour down in Mexico. I am too well-known now. The kidnappers may think that my publisher will pay a ransom.”