Author Luis Alberto Urrea grew up along the border between US and Mexico, but his interpretation of the border was also shaped by his childhood. He has an American mother and a Mexican father. Urrea is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. The Devil’s Highway was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist. His latest book is a novel that’s based on a real challenge in small towns across Mexico – almost all of the young men now work in the United States. The fictional heroines of Into the Beautiful North are a group of young women who travel to the US to try to convince some young men to return home
Urrea says he sees the border as a division between people. I interviewed him for All Things Considered on KUNM.