A World of Turtles: A Literary Celebration [Paperback]

Gregory McNamee (Editor), Luis Alberto Urrea (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

We have always loved turtles, and we have often suspected them of loving us. A World of Turtles, which gathers literary sightings of turtles over many times and many cultures, celebrates the long-standing place of these creatures in the human imagination.

All through our history we have attributed greatly anthropomorphic values to turtles—as this anthology will confirm. Wise, droll, bright, wary, dependable, serious, and shrewd come to mind, but also, somehow, noble, steadfast, loving. Turtles are constant symbols of strength, patience, endurance, and long life. Yet, for us, from childhood through adulthood, they are perpetual sources of delight as well

With writings from Aesop to Melville, and folklore from the Abenaki to the Wagarra, A World of Turtles is an anthology of literary, folkloric, and scientific selections about turtles and tortoises, compiled from ancient, modern, and contemporary sources. It looks at these cherished creatures from every possible human perspective, revealing them (and us) in their many guises.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gregory McNamee is the author or volume editor of fifteen books, most recently "Grand Canyon Place Names," "A Desert Bestiary," "Gila: The Life and Death of an American River," and "The Sierra Club Desert Reader." Of his work the National Catholic Reporter has commented, "McNamee is a witty and masterful wordsmith. Biology becomes poetry in his hands." He lives in Tucson.

Luis Alberto Urrea is the author of the nonfiction books "By the Lake of Sleeping Children" and "Across the Wire," and the novel "In Search of Snow." His book of poetry "The Fever of Being" won a 1994 Western States Book Award. The Denver Post calls him, "One of the best creative writers in the American West." He teaches at the University of Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Johnson Books (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555661904
• ISBN-13: 978-1555661908
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,292,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Luis Alberto Urrea, 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, is a prolific and acclaimed writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph.
Born in Tijuana, Mexico to a Mexican father and an American mother, Urrea has published extensively in all the major genres. The critically acclaimed and best-selling author of 13 books, Urrea has won numerous awards for his poetry, fiction and essays. The Devil's Highway, his 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize. An historical novel, The Hummingbird's Daughter tells the story of Teresa Urrea, sometimes known as the Saint of Cabora and the Mexican Joan of Arc. The book, which involved 20 years of research and writing, won the Kiriyama Prize in fiction and, along with The Devil's Highway, was named a best book of the year by many publications. It has been optioned by acclaimed Mexican director Luis Mandoki for a film to star Antonio Banderas.
Urrea's most recent novel, Into the Beautiful North, imagines a small town in Mexico where all the men have immigrated to the U.S. A group of young women, after seeing the film The Magnificent Seven, decide to follow the men North and persuade them to return to their beloved village. A national best-seller, Into the Beautiful North, earned a citation of excellence from the American Library Association Rainbow's Project. A short story from Urrea's collection, Six Kinds of Sky, was recently released as a stunning graphic novel by Cinco Puntos Press. Mr.Mendoza's Paintbrush, illustrated by artist Christopher Cardinale, has already garnered rave reviews and serves as a perfect companion to Into the Beautiful North as it depicts the same village in the novel.
Into the Beautiful North, The Devil's Highway and The Hummingbird's Daughter have been chosen by more than 30 different cities and colleges for One Book community read programs.
Urrea has also won an Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America for best short story (2009, "Amapola" in Phoenix Noir). His first book, Across the Wire, was named a New York Times Notable Book and won the Christopher Award. Urrea also won a 1999 American Book Award for his memoir, Nobody's Son: Notes from an American Life and in 2000, he was voted into the Latino Literature Hall of Fame following the publication of Vatos. His book of short stories, Six Kinds of Sky, was named the 2002 small-press Book of the Year in fiction by the editors of ForeWord magazine. He has also won a Western States Book Award in poetry for The Fever of Being and was in The 1996 Best American Poetry collection. Urrea's other titles include By the Lake of Sleeping Children, In Search of Snow, Ghost Sickness and Wandering Time.
Urrea attended the University of California at San Diego, earning an undergraduate degree in writing, and did his graduate studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
After serving as a relief worker in Tijuana and a film extra and columnist-editor-cartoonist for several publications, Urrea moved to Boston where he taught expository writing and fiction workshops at Harvard. He has also taught at Massachusetts Bay Community College and the University of Colorado and he was the writer in residence at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Urrea lives with his family in Naperville, IL, where he is a professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago.