Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
) is a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
,
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
, and
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
, whose work examines the evolving and interdependent relationship between
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, Latino immigrants, and the United States. In 2023, he was named a
Guggenheim Fellow
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...
in Fiction.
Life
Tobar is the son of Guatemalan immigrants. He is a graduate of the
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...
, and the MFA program in Creative Writing at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
.
His long career in journalism includes work for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', ''
LA Weekly
''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...
'', and many positions at the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
He was a Metro columnist for ''The Times'', a book critic, and the paper's bureau chief in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
and in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. He also worked for several years as the National Latino Affairs Correspondent. Additionally, Tobar contributed to the newspaper's
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning coverage of the
Los Angeles riots of 1992
The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a jury acquitted fo ...
.
Tobar is the author of ''The Tattooed Soldier'', a novel set in the impoverished immigrant neighborhoods of Los Angeles in the weeks before the riots, and in
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
during the years of
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
there. His non-fiction ''Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States,'' is a cross-country journey with stops in many of the new places where Latin American immigrants are settling, including
Rupert, Idaho
Rupert is the county seat and largest city of Minidoka County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho, Burley Burley micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,082 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
,
Grand Island, Nebraska
Grand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 53,131 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Nebraska, 4th most populous ...
and
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
. His third book, ''The Barbarian Nurseries'', is a sweeping novel about class and ethnic conflict in modern Southern California: it was named a ''New York Times'' Notable Book for 2011 and won the 2012 California Book Award gold medal for fiction. In 2023, a ''Los Angeles Times'' poll of California writers named ''The Barbarian Nurseries'' alongside works by
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe.
Didio ...
,
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...
, and others, as one of the 16 best literary novels in Los Angeles history.
In 2006, Tobar was named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States by ''Hispanic Business magazine''.
During the
2010 Copiapó mining accident
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known as the "Chilean mining accident", began on 5 August 2010, with a cave-in at the San José copper–gold mine, located in the Atacama Desert, north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in northern ...
, while still trapped in the mine, the 33 miners chose to collectively contract with a single author to write an official history so that none of the 33 could individually profit from the experiences of others. The miners chose Héctor Tobar, who was then provided exclusive access to the miners' stories. In October 2014, he published an official account titled ''Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free''. It was a finalist for the 2014
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Joe Sanderson, an adventurer from Urbana, Illinois, who was one of two Americans to die fighting with leftist rebels in El Salvador.
Tobar has been an adjunct professor at
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...
and
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...
, was an assistant professor at the University of Oregon's school of journalism and communication, and is currently a professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Writing
Tobar's ''The Tattooed Soldier'' was published in 1998. Eric Vázquez in "Interrogative Justice in Hector Tobar's The Tattooed Soldier" writes of it: "Much of this scholarship stresses the novel's pertinence to a demand for the Srepresentation of the Central American diaspora. Consequently, in adopting cultural recognition as a precept, these Latinx literary critics often interpret the novel as an allegory for the diaspora’s success or failure to achieve recognition and inclusion within the broader polity. For critic and novelist Arturo Arias, the novel and its characters express the null space of Central American cultural and social identity within US multiculturalism." This interpretation of the novel reflects the valuable implications it serves for the Central American Community.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...
* ''The Last Great Road Bum'' (2020), Farrar, Straus and Giroux
* ''Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States'' (2005), Riverhead Books, , sociology
* ''Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free'', or ''The 33'' (2014), Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
* ''Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on the Meanings and Myths of 'Latino,
Awards and honors
*2011:
California Book Awards
The California Book Awards are annual literary awards given to California Writers and Publishers since 1931. The event is sponsored by Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. The California Book Awards are funded by an endowment from Dr. Ma ...
Gold Medal Fiction winner for ''The Barbarian Nurseries''
*2014: California Book Awards Silver Medal Nonfiction winner for ''Deep Down Dark''
*2021: Radcliffe Fellowship, Harvard University
*2023: Guggenheim Fellowship, Fiction
*2023:
Kirkus Prize
The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, ...
, nonfiction winner, for ''Our Migrant Souls''
Adaptations
* ''
The 33
''The 33'' (; "") is a 2015 biographical disaster-survival drama film directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Michael Thomas, and José Rivera. The film is based on the real events of the 2010 Copiapó mining ...
'' (2015), film directed by
Patricia Riggen
Patricia Riggen (born June 2, 1970) is a Mexican film director.
She is best known for directing the 2007 film '' Under the Same Moon,'' the 2011 Disney Channel original film '' Lemonade Mouth,'' and the 2025 Amazon Prime action thriller film ...
, based on ''Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free''