12/03/2023
It’s been a banner year for Héctor Tobar, University of California, Irvine professor of Chicano/Latino studies and English. His most recent book, Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” (MCD x FSG) has been named to nearly every “best books of the year” list out there. TIME Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 calls the work a “valiant effort” for capturing the “myriad of experiences, identities, and histories” of what it means to be “Latino.” The New York Times, which names the title among both its 10 Best California Books and 100 Notable Books of 2023, recognizes the writer and professor for delivering “a kaleidoscopic account of Latino American experience, dispelling stereotypes and underscoring diversity in prose that is by turns lyrical, outraged, scholarly and affectingly personal.” Amazon.com’s Best Books of 2023 lists the work among its top 100 picks, and Audible – which named the book among its 13 Best Nonfiction Listens of the Year – says Our Migrant Souls should be “required listening to broaden our understanding of what remains a slippery concept for most Americans.”
Last month, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author was awarded the Kirkus Prize for the same non-fiction work, and in April, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to support “The Los Angeles Novellas,” a series of short fiction works about the history of the Los Angeles metropolis and its future.
“Héctor Tobar’s words carry us across genres and geographies, always illuminating the paradoxes of our intertwined pasts and reaching toward new visions for the future,” says Bill Maurer, UCI social sciences dean. “We are privileged to count him among our faculty and I at least eagerly await each new work.”
More on the award-winning professor below, and HUGE congrats on the many well-earned accolades!
https://www.socsci.uci.edu/newsevents/news/2023/2023-11-30-hector-tobar-best-book-lists.php
Kirkus Reviews University of California UCI Chicano/Latino Studies UCI English School of Humanities at UC Irvine Hector Tobar