Luis Alberto Urrea is a prolific and acclaimed Mexican-American writer, often hailed as a "literary badass" and a "master storyteller with a rock and roll heart" by NPR. Born on August 20, 1955, in Tijuana, Mexico, Urrea uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore themes of love, loss, and triumph.

Urrea was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and is a Guggenheim fellow. He is the author of 19 books, earning numerous awards for his poetry, fiction, and essays. His works often explore the theme of borders and immigration, but he emphasizes building "bridges, not borders."

His most recognized works include "The Devil's Highway", which won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and "The Hummingbird's Daughter", a historical novel about his great-aunt, Teresa Urrea. "Into the Beautiful North" is a novel recognized by more than 50 different cities and colleges as a community read.

Urrea's "The House of Broken Angels" was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction and a New York Times Notable Book. His collection of short stories, "The Water Museum", was a finalist for the 2016 PEN-Faulkner Award and was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews.

In addition to his writing, Luis Alberto Urrea teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago and lives with his family in Naperville, Illinois.