Writer Jennifer Baker, sitting in front of a crowd of dozens of book lovers, started the morning with a joke: She didn’t have enough caffeine at 10 a.m.
The author and host of the “Minorities in Publishing” podcast then took a more serious tone by launching into a discussion about her 2023 novel “Forgive me Not.” Baker explained how she tried to incorporate issues of racism and other biases, while chronicling a black teenage girl’s journey through the juvenile justice system after driving drunk and causing an accident who killed his younger sister.
The story of the book’s protagonist, 15-year-old Letta, concerns judgment both in and out of the courtroom. In Baker’s novel, it is Letta’s own family, rather than a judge, who must determine her sentence. Baker said the book raised questions about various issues, including racism and how justice was administered.
“The goal is to do it in a subtle way, so that you focus on the dynamics of a family and you can really develop your own type of critical thinking in that way,” she told the audience gathered Saturday on the USC campus for the 2024 Los Angeles Games. Times Festival of Books, which runs through Sunday. The 44th Los Angeles Times Book Awards were announced Friday evening during a ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium.
Panelists Sharon Levin, Kim Johnson, Paula Yoo and Jennifer Baker speak during the panel Do the Right Thing: Social Justice and Dystopias in Young Adult Fiction on the Young Adult Stage during the LA Times Book Festival on the campus of the USC on Friday, April 19. 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Baker joined other writers in an hour-long discussion titled “Do the Right Thing: Social Justice and Dystopias in Young Adult Fiction.” Authors Paula Yoo and Kim Johnson also discussed how they write about race, bias, and criminal justice.
Johnson said young people have complex lives and face many of the same issues as adults, but reality is often not reflected in literature, turning them away from certain books.
His book “Invisible Son” is billed as a “social justice thriller” about a black teenager, Andre, living in a gentrified neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was shutting down the school, who is wrongly arrested while trying to find the missing brother of his longtime crush.
“This is taking place in the early months of the pandemic,” Johnson said. “Young people (…) experience all these things, they want love and they want to have fun.”
The panel discussion was one of many discussions planned during the popular two-day festival, which will feature authors such as TC Boyle, Chelsea Clinton, Cory Doctorow, Roxane Gay, Don Winslow and more. Attendees can also purchase books and listen to live music.
People sign books they read during the LA Times Book Festival on the USC campus Friday, April 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
“Being surrounded by books, I just think it’s fun,” said Kathy Becerra, a 25-year-old Whittier resident who attended Saturday’s event. “It feels like home.”
The Times Book Festival is the largest literary event in the United States, frequently attracting 155,000 people over two days. This year there will be more than 200 events bringing together more than 550 participants, including authors, experts and more.
Rupaul laughs as he addresses a large audience to discuss his memoir “The House of Hidden Meaning” during the LA Times Book Festival on the USC campus Friday, April 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Featured attendees Saturday included drag queen RuPaul, actress Kerry Washington and California Atty. General Rob Bonta. Discussions were held on topics as diverse as science writing, the 2024 election, and romance novels.
On Sunday, comedian, actress and author Tiffany Haddish is scheduled to speak with Times Deputy Managing Editor Angel Jennings, and celebrity chef Nancy Silverton will give a cooking demonstration.
Robert Watt is a frequent participant in the LA Times Book Festival. In the 1970s, he became the first African-American horn player hired by a major American symphony when he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Watt, who recently published a book about the experiences of African-American symphony musicians, has listened to the discussion of social justice in young adult novels.
“People need to read to understand and discover these things,” he said.
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