Steven M. Lopez (born 1953) is an American journalist and four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who has been a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' since 2001.

Life and work

Lopez is a native of

Pittsburg, California Pittsburg is a city in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is an industrial suburb located on the southern shore of the Suisun Bay in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, and is part ...

, and attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. He has been on staff at

Time Inc. Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...

and written for ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'', ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. In addition, he was on staff at ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

,'' the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' and the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

.'' He wrote the novels ''

Third and Indiana ''Third and Indiana'' is a novel written by Steve Lopez about the experiences of several people connected to 14-year-old Gabriel Santoro, while living in the dangerous gang-controlled streets of the Badlands section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

'', ''The Sunday Macaroni Club'', and ''In the Clear.'' He has also compiled a collection of his works from ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' titled ''Land of Giants,'' and a collection of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' columns called ''Dreams & Schemes.'' Lopez's series of columns about his unlikely relationship with a homeless Juilliard-trained musician with schizophrenia Nathaniel Anthony Ayers became the subject of a national best-selling book by Lopez that inspired the film ''

The Soloist ''The Soloist'' is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The plot is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia and became homeless. The film was released i ...

'', which stars

Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

as Lopez.Lopez, Steve (2008). ''The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music.'' Berkley Trade, He has two sons, Andrew Lopez (1980-) and Jeffrey Lopez (1978-2021), and a daughter, Caroline Lopez (2001-). Ayers' and Lopez's relationship was also nationally highlighted in the March 22, 2009, episode of ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

''.

Awards

Lopez has won numerous national journalism awards including the H.L. Mencken, Mike Royko and Ernie Pyle awards. As a four-time Pulitzer finalist, his subjects were elder care, income inequality, homelessness and the California housing crisis. In 2008 Lopez received the President's Award from the Los Angeles Press Club at the 50th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards. His book, The Soloist, won the PEN USA award for literary non-fiction. Lopez has also won three local news Emmys and a share of the Columbia DuPont Award for his civic affairs reporting at

KCET-TV KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV ...

in Los Angeles. He won the

Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center that explores the intersection and impact of media, politics and public policy in theory and practice. Among other activities, the center or ...

’s 2021 Nyhan Prize in Political Journalism. On April 29, 2011, Lopez received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

degree from his alma mater,

.Lopez, Steve (May 5, 2011)
Honored SJS alumnus criticizes Cal State cuts as blocking path of upward mobility.
mercurynews.com

References

External links

Steve Lopez biography via ''Los Angeles Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Steve American columnists American newspaper reporters and correspondents Los Angeles Times people San Jose State University alumni American agnostics 1953 births Living people The Mercury News people Ernie Pyle Award winners People from Pittsburg, California