“Librarians are being harassed, threatened and fired,” he said. He began by citing the fact cited that more than 1,200 books were challenged last year in efforts to remove them from libraries, “a 713% increase over the last two years.” Peter Coyl, president of the Freedom to Read Foundation, accepted the award with a fervent call to arms. The foundation has also been active in documenting and opposing the current nationwide wave of book bans plaguing the country. The 2022 Innovator’s Award went to the Freedom to Read Foundation, recognizing its work in protecting the public’s right to access information in libraries and helping provide legal counsel to librarians fighting to preserve their 1st Amendment rights. Javier Zamora talks about “Solito,” his harrowing memoir about journeying from El Salvador to the U.S. “When I first started this book I thought, ‘Oh, this’ll be easy, I know comics,’” Segura said, before adding that this was the most intense journalistic endeavor of his life.īooks At 9, Javier Zamora walked 4,000 miles to the U.S. In mystery/thriller, Alex Segura - best known as a writer of award-winning comics - won for his retro comic-artist crime novel, “Secret Identity.” Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century,” which drew on new source material for a fresh look at the notorious FBI director, and Dahlia Lithwick, whose “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America,” won the current interest prize. Edgar Hoover, the Jim Crow era and more - are among the winners of the 43rd Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, awarded Friday evening during a ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium.Īmong the winners were widely known historians and journalists, including biography winner Beverly Gage, for “G-Man: J. An enigmatic story of art and life in Communist Bucharest, a debut novel set in a red-light district in Pakistan, a searing young-adult story set in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia - as well as reexaminations of J.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir