Juan Felipe Herrera’s “Half of the World in Light” collection wins the International Latino Book Award

RIVERSIDE, Calif.  Juan Felipe Herrera, poet and professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, received the International Latino Book Award for Best Poetry in English for his most recent book “Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems.”(Media-Newswire.com)

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Juan Felipe Herrera, poet and professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, received the International Latino Book Award for Best Poetry in English for his most recent book “Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems.”The award ceremony was held during the BookExpo America 2009 in New York City.“Professor Herrera’s winning the International Latino Book Award for poetry really is frosting on the cake since this splendid little volume had already been honored by the National Book Critics Circle award for poetry,” said Charles Whitney, professor and chair of the Department of Creative Writing. “UCR and the department are very, very proud of him and for him.”
“Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems” includes poems from earlier collections as well as previously unpublished work, and was published in July 2008 by the University of Arizona Press. Herrera received the National Book Critics Circle Award in March for the title.Herrera, who holds the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Creative Writing, has written 24 books – from children’s literature to poetry – produced plays and promoted the literature of other Chicano writers. He has more than 100 articles, poems, reviews and essays in print. Among his award-winning books are “187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border,” “Downtown Boy,” “Calling the Doves,” “Crashboomlove” and “Featherless/Desplumado.”

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