UA News

The National Book Critics Circle Award committee, for the first time in its history, named two authors as their poetry award winner – one of them being UA Press author Juan Felipe Herrera.

For the first time in its 35-year history, the National Book Critics Circle gave a dual prize in an award category – this one for poetry – and named The University of Arizona Press author Juan Felipe Herrera one of two winners in the category. 

The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, is a nonprofit organization consisting of more than 900 active book reviewers who are interested in honoring quality writing and communicating with one another about common concerns.

Herrera and August Kleinzahler are the National Book Critics Circle poetry winners, having offered capstone books on important careers and poems that were resonant, weighty and accomplished.

Herrera's "Half of the World in Light" presents the extraordinary sweep of a distinguished literary career. The collection begins with early material and moves through 13 of his works into new, previously unpublished gems.

The book includes an audio CD of the author reading 24 selected poems aloud. Since its publication in July 2008, Herrera's collection has received numerous accolades, including being named a New York Times 2008 Notable Book.

For four decades, Herrera has offered rich and varied poetics, from the political to the playful, with a voice that is informed by having participated in the cultural and historical Chicano Movement of the 1960s. He is one of Chicano literature's most recognized and critically acclaimed writers.

The UA Press, founded in 1959, is a nonprofit publisher of about 50 books each year, with more than 800 books in print.

Publications include scholarly and trade titles in Native American and Latina/o studies, anthropology, archaeology, nature writing and environmental studies, regional history, Latin American studies and space sciences.

UA Press publishes two critically acclaimed series in fiction and poetry, "Sun Tracks: An American Indian Literary Series," and "Camino del Sol: A Latina and Latino Literary Series."