Morgan Parker resisted a fairy-tale ending when writing her coming-of-age novel.
“We tell teens the same stories, over and over, and those stories don’t happen to everyone,” Parker said Saturday at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. She was joined by moderator Hannah Gómez and authors Dean Atta, Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi in a virtual roundtable discussion on exploring the Black experience in their young-adult fiction.
Their stories, ranging from small-town schools to wrongful incarceration and dressing up in drag, feature three very different protagonists, each on journey toward love, acceptance and liberation. But the going is rarely easy, a reality all four authors sought to convey in their work.
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Over the last century, U.S. officials have removed more people than they’ve allowed to remain in the country on a permanent basis.
This fact, simple but shocking at least for anyone who thinks of the U.S. as a nation of immigrants came from Adam Goodman, author of “The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants,” during a Los Angeles Times Festival of Books panel Saturday on immigrants and American society. Goodman was joined in the discussion on the true history of U.S. immigration by poets Marcelo Hernandez Castillo and Anthony Cody, New York Times deputy national editor Jia Lynn Yang and Los Angeles Times reporter Daniel Hernandez, who moderated.
Meena Harris discusses her book and the A word — ambition — at a Festival of Books panel msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Tonight, the 41st annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded in a livestreamed virtual ceremony. Hosted by Times Book Editor Boris Kachka, the literary awards recognized 56 remarkable works in 12 categories, championing new voices and celebrating the highest quality of writing.
“The pandemic has upended every single aspect of our lives, but I suspect many of you will agree with me that it’s only deepened our appreciation for the solitary pleasure of reading,” said Kachka in his introduction. “[Reading] is solitary but of course it’s communal, too, because in reading we communicate with socially-distanced writers and all their characters, real or invented. We may isolate, but as long as we have books we are never isolated.”