A Manhattan Yaqui

Author Luis Urrea started the fictionalized saga of his own great-aunt Teresita, a Yaqui curandera known as the Saint of Cabora, in the acclaimed 2006 novel The Hummingbird’s Daughter. More recently, he caught up with the rest of her story in a surprising sequel, Queen of America, in which the peasant saint goes north. Of that book, now out in paperback, he’s written, “It is, by nature of the milieu, different from its predecessor. Yet it still trods the pathways of the former book. You can imagine it this way: Nineteenth-century indigenous Mexico offers different magic than, say, early-twentieth-century Manhattan. It goes from a planted, native tale to the story of immigrants entering not only a new world, but a new century. With miracles. Or: How does a young woman go from Mexican sainthood to her day’s version of pop-stardom? How does one try to be the Madonna while being Madonna?”

Urrea, a personable author who views life equally through lenses of humor and activism, will be at the Tattered Cover Book Store, 2526 Colfax Avenue, tonight at 7:30 p.m. to read from Queen of America and discuss its twist on the immigrant story. Admission is free, and copies of the book will be available for $14.99; visit www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-322-7727 for details.
Mon., Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m., 2013