Prize-worthy subjects did speak volumes
Mass extinction, Napoleon Bonaparte and a female visual artist whose work is more successful when she has men present it were among the subjects explored in the fiction and nonfiction books receiving awards Saturday at the 35th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.
The awards concluded the first day of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and the mood was convivial as a string quartet serenaded the authors, publishers, agents, artists and book fans filing into USC’s Bovard Auditorium for the ceremony.
Los Angeles author Jeff Hobbs’ “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” won in the current events category. The book traces the journey of promising scholar and athlete Robert Peace, who rose from the slums of
Newark to attend Yale University before sliding back to the streets.
A Los Angeles Times reviewer called it not only a masterful reconstruction of Peace’s life but a meditation on both race and class. “Peace traveled across America’s widening social divide, and Hobbs’ book is an honest, insightful and empathetic account of his sometimes painful, always strange journey,” The Times said.
In accepting the award, Hobbs said of Peace: “His life, and not his death, is what matters.”
Among the other winners was “The Blazing World,” the fifth novel by Siri Hustvedt. Critics called Hustvedt’s book a searing reminder of how, even in sophisticated art circles, women often have a tougher time getting recognized than their male counterparts.
“The Love Bunglers,” by Jaime Hernandez, won the graphic novel award. Hernandez, who grew up in Oxnard, attracted widespread attention for the “Love and Rockets” series he worked on with two brothers. The first issues were self-published in the early 1980s and centered on two female teens who are sometimes lovers. One of those characters, Maggie, reemerges in “The Love Bunglers.”
Los Angeles’ own T. Coraghessan Boyle received warm applause after earning the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. Boyle, who has written 24 books of fiction, is known for his eye for the offbeat and human detail, and his wickedly funny style.
In his brief remarks, the novelist and short-story writer thanked his wife for putting up with him, describing himself as a “hyperactive lunatic.”
“What is this called?” Boyle said. “It’s called love.”
Actor LeVar Burton got a standing ovation as he received the Innovator’s Award for helping to launch RRKidz, a digital app that brings award-winning children’s literature to the digital generation. Burton, who rose to fame with the TV shows “Roots” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” conceived the app idea from his years hosting the “Reading Rainbow” children’s show on PBS.
Tom Bouman, whose “Dry Bones in the Valley” won in the mystery/thriller category, said he was “astonished” by the award and that festival organizers had “done something kind for the bashful.” The other winners: History: Adam Tooze, “The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 19161931.”
Science and Technology: Elizabeth Kolbert, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.”
Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: Valeria Luiselli, “Faces in the Crowd.”
Young Adult Literature: Candace Fleming, “The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia.”
Biography: Andrew Roberts, “Napoleon: A Life.”
Poetry: Claudia Rankine, “Citizen: An American Lyric.”