7th Annual LARB/UCR Department of Creative Writing Lifetime Achievement Awards

DEFIANT DEVOTION: Celebrating the Courageous Careers of Sandra Cisneros, Linda Hogan, and Ishmael Reed

The Los Angeles Review of Books is proud to honor three leading lights of contemporary literature, Sandra Cisneros, Linda Hogan, and Ishmael Reed, for their fearless, inimitable prose and verse and their lifelong commitments to rearing young writers of all backgrounds and smoothing the path to publication for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous writers. Together, they have launched independent presses, forged workshops with groundbreaking pedagogical methods, and foregrounded environmental justice, and, in so doing, transformed not just the literary establishment and contemporary canons, but our priorities as members of a democratic society. We look to them as models for artistic integrity, self-awareness, and new ways of relating and drawing near to each other in our fragmented world.

Continuing our honorees’ legacies, LARB has created a sponsorship ticket program for the event that allows ticket buyers to fund the attendance of local high school students. This year, we’re partnering with Los Angeles–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations WriteGirl and 826LA to match students in their creative writing programs with our sponsorship ticket holders. The students will be invited to join us virtually and pose questions to the honorees during the event’s Q&A segment.

This year’s event will also feature:

⬥ A special reading featuring our three honorees;

⬥ Tributes from writers Alex Espinoza, Daisy Hernández, Chelsea T. Hicks, John Keene, Julian Lucas, Daniel Olivas, Mona Simpson, Deanne Stillman, and Luis Alberto Urrea;

⬥ An intimate interview with the honorees; and

⬥ An audience Q&A segment.

All attendees will receive a gift book bundle mailed to their homes featuring autographed copies of Martita, I Remember You/Martita, te recuerdo (Sandra Cisneros), Solar Storms (Linda Hogan), and Mumbo Jumbo (Ishmael Reed).

Your ticket benefits the Los Angeles Review of Books, a 501(c)(3) public service nonprofit, and is tax-deductible.

For questions about the event or sponsorship opportunities, contact Kelly Peyton at [email protected].

Special thanks to Vintage Books and Scribner for their generous donations of books.