Family tragedy, invisible groups, and naked wiccans with Luis Alberto Urrea

Literary critic and memoirist Bethanne Patrick sits down with author Luis Alberto Urrea to discuss writing family in fiction. Luis is a multi-genre talent, having published pieces in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. “The magic of words” is something he fully believes in, and what it means for him to have a platform is discussed. 

Our #FridayReads are plentiful this week, with Persuasion by Jane Austen, Fantastic Pacific Crucible by Ian W. Toll,  Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, The Bone Orchard Mythos Tenement by Jeff Lemire, Young Goodman Brown and other short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mother Tongue by Jenni Nuttall, Brushback by Sara Paretsky, Dogland by Tommy Tomlinson, Dragged Up Proppa by Pip Fallow, and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett.  

John Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath may be a classic no more- listen to this weeks’ Canon or Can It. 

Bethanne’s Six Recs this week are about regional truth and are: The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urea, A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel, Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink, The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bettyville by George Hodgman, and The Late Homecomer by Kao Kalia Yang.

Find Bethanne on X, Substack, Instagram, and Threads.

The Book Maven: A Literary Revue is hosted by Bethanne Patrick, produced by Christina McBride, and engineered by Jordan Aaron, with help from Lauren Stack. 

All titles mentioned: Across the Wire and Into the Beautiful North and The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urea, Persuasion by Jane Austen, Fantastic Pacific Crucible by Ian W. Toll,  Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, The Bone Orchard Mythos Tenement by Jeff Lemire, Young Goodman Brown and other short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mother Tongue by Jenni Nuttall, Brushback by Sara Paretsky, Dogland by Tommy Tomlinson, Dragged Up Proppa by Pip Fallow, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urea, A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel, Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink, The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bettyville by George Hodgman, and The Late Homecomer by Kao Kalia Yang

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