Renaming the Earth by Ray Gonzalez

Ray Gonzalez's collection of personal essays, Renaming the Earth, will be released tomorrow from The University of Arizona Press. Part of Camino del Sol: A Latina and Latino Literary Series, the essays reflect on the American Southwest where Gonzalez was raised. From the publisher: "It is a place that tugs at him, from its arid desert landscapes to its polyglot cities - part Mexican, part Anglo, part something in-between - always in the process of redefining themselves."

Says Annie Dillard, "Ray Gonzalez's essays have given me a new view of the Southwest. While delightful and full of surprises, his journey is heartbreaking as it evolves into a ritual of redemption."

Ray Gonzalez is the author of The Heat of Arrivals (1997 PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Book Award), The Hawk Temple at Tierra Grande (2003 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry), Consideration of the Guitar: New and Selected Poems (2005) and the forthcoming Cool Auditor (2009). Turtle Pictures (Arizona, 2000), a mixed-genre text, received the 2001 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. His poetry has appeared in the 1999, 2000, and 2003 editions of The Best American Poetry. His poems "To Tell" and "The Shortest Poem" will appear in the upcoming issue of HFR, #43.