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NEW YORK (AP) — Three books that explore and celebrate the diversity of American culture were awarded Kirkus Prizes on Wednesday night, with each winner receiving $50,000. James McBride's “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” a novel set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in the 1930s, won in the fiction category. The awards were presented by the trade publication Kirkus Reviews. “History and community emerged as central themes in the most outstanding works of literature published this year. Previous winners of the Kirkus Prize, established in 2014, include Hanya Yanagihara's “A Little Life,” Jason Reynolds' “As Brave as You" and Susan Faludi's “In the Darkroom.”Political Cartoons View All 1207 Images

Persons: James McBride's “, ”, Ariel Aberg, ” Meg Kuehn, ” Jason Reynolds, Susan Faludi's “ Organizations: Kirkus Locations: Pennsylvania

☆ Greetings From ‘Mexicoland’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Héctor Tobar | Deb Leal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A stroll through the shopping center reminds you that Latin American culture can be monumental, beautiful and heroic. García, 64, told me that he and his brother have operated their stand at Plaza Mexico for a dozen years. Somehow, his Plaza Mexico stand survived the pandemic. In some ways, Plaza Mexico is a Latino version of that story, told by those who were long excluded from what the state has to offer. Here, I’ve seen how a new, American way of being “Latino” is being assembled from contact with many different cultures.

Persons: Alvaro García, “, ”, García, I’ve, Alec Stewart Organizations: Plaza Mexico, Easy, ” Boosters, Southern Locations: Central, Spanish, United States, Oaxaca, Mexico, California, Lynwood, Southern California, Plaza Mexico, Korean, Seoul

☆ Read Your Way Through Los Angeles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Héctor Tobar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Read Your Way Around the World is a series exploring the globe through books. Outsiders often think of Los Angeles as an anti-intellectual place, all Hollywood glitz and no substance, but writers have always been drawn to my hometown. In David L. Ulin’s “Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology,” I read about Simone de Beauvoir’s 1947 journey to L.A.’s Eastside, where she learned about the city’s anti-Mexican prejudice and admired Dia de los Muertos skulls. It’s no accident that two very different, canonical works of L.A. literature climax with riots, even though they were written more than a half century apart: Nathanael West’s 1939 novel “The Day of the Locust,” and Anna Deavere Smith’s play “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.”Is there a book, or a writer, who captures the essence of Los Angeles? With her iconic 1960s and ‘70s essays about Los Angeles and the West, in collections such as “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” Didion helped invent New Journalism.

☆ Who or What Is ‘Latino’? Héctor Tobar Considers a Term’s Many Meanings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Francisco Cantú | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

OUR MIGRANT SOULS: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino,” by Héctor Tobar“Our Migrant Souls,” the new book by Héctor Tobar, begins with a direct address to the many Latinx students he has taught during his years as a professor at U.C. His tone is gentle and tender as he recounts the stories they’ve shared with him in essays and office visits — stories of migration and homecoming, trauma and resilience, doubts and joys. “You are a deep brown and you are fair-skinned,” he writes. “Your eyes are black and they are green, and you are 19, and 20 and 21.” Tobar describes a multitude of young people navigating complex ancestral histories and shifting notions of identity. “I will weave what I know with what you have taught me,” he promises them, “and together we will arrive at an understanding of our times, and our ‘people.’”Tobar, who has spent several decades reporting on immigration, culture and Latin America, is well equipped for such a task.

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