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    LA Times Book Prize winners named in a ceremony filled with support for USC valedictorian Asna Tabassum

    by Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times Apr 20, 2024 6 minutes
    LZ Granderson emcees the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes at USC's Bovard Auditorium on April 19, 2024, in Los Angeles.

    LOS ANGELES — The spotlight shined on great literature Friday night at the 44th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony at USC's Bovard Auditorium, where winners took the stage to celebrate their honors and, in some cases, call attention to the free speech controversy unfolding on campus.

    A political undercurrent ran through the night's speeches following the university's cancellation of a commencement speech by pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum. Emily Carroll, who won the Book Prizes' graphic novel/comic category, ended her speech by calling on USC to restore Tabassum's appearance, "so that she may inspire her community of peers with, as she's put it, her 'message of hope.' Also, I would like to express my own solidarity with Asna and also my solidarity with Palestine."

    Applause drowned out Carroll's words at times. Later, Tananarive Due, who won for science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction for her novel "The Reformatory," used her speech to add: "As we face the horrors in our in our cities, in Gaza and elsewhere, and witness true-life racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism, let us honor the courage of young people." They,

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