Luis J. Rodriguez

It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing (Touchstone)

Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running and Republic of East L.A., launches his new book It Calls You Back! "Rodriguez’s life story is astonishing . . . It takes a heart broken open by a lifetime of sorrows to write with this wisdom and compassion. It takes a visionary to use this knowledge in service to those the world despises—troubled youth, the homeless, the incarcerated, the poor, the migrant—to be called back for those you love." —Sandra Cisneros, author of Caramelo and The House on Mango Street The son of Mexican immigrants, Luis Rodriguez began writing in his early teens and has won national recognition as a poet, journalist, fiction writer, children’s book writer, and critic. He has emerged as one of the leading Chicano writers in the country with fourteen published books. Luis is best known for the 1993 memoir of gang life, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. Now selling more than 300,000 copies, this book garnered a Carl Sandburg Literary Award, a Chicago Sun-Times Book Award, and was designated a New York Times Notable Book. Rodriguez co-founded Tia Chucha Press and Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore, a cultural center in Northeast San Fernando Valley. He is currently working as a peacemaker among gangs on a national and international level. Photo of the author by D. Zapa Media.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS OCTOBER 11, 2011.