Ladee Hubbard (born 1970) is an American author and English professor at Tulane University.[1] Her debut novel, The Talented Ribkins won multiple awards.[2] She released its prequel, The Rib King, in 2021.[3] Hubbard has received a Berlin Prize and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship.[4]
Ladee Hubbard | |
|---|---|
 Ladee Hubbard at the 2017 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | 1970 Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, professor |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards |
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| Website | |
| ladeehubbard | |
Early life
editHubbard was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] Her mother found work as a lawyer on Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, so she spent some of her childhood in the Virgin Islands,[5] and spent summers in Florida with her grandparents.[1] Hubbard has lived in New Orleans since 2003.[1] She earned her bachelor's degree from Princeton University,[6] and studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.[1][7] She has a PhD in Folklore and Mythology from the University of California, Los Angeles.[8]
Work
editHubbard began work on her first novel, The Talented Ribkins, while studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[1] The book won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for Debut Novel,[9] and Hubbard herself won the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award.[10][9] The central characters of the story each possess odd superpowers. Protagonist Johnny Ripkins is capable of drawing a map of any place regardless of whether he has any firsthand knowledge. Ripkins begins the novel on the run, and Hubbard has said that "debt and paying back what you owe" as motivating factors inspired her.[11] The odd powers were influenced by W. E. B. Du Bois's idea of the talented tenth and common misinterpretations of the concept.[1][11]
The Rib King, her second novel, is a revenge story set in the early 20th century in a fictional city based on Chicago, Illinois.[12][13] It is a prequel to her debut novel.[3] The first half follows the story of Mr. Sitwell, the Black groundskeeper for the White Barclay family. The Barclays sell bottled barbecue sauce with a cartoonish version of Sitwell—the "Rib King"—on the label. The book focuses on racism, inequality, the Black middle class, and unpunished violence.[14][3]
Released in 2022, The Last Suspicious Holdout, is a collection of short stories, all set in the 1990s to early 2000s in a mostly Black suburb.[15] The stories were written over a period several years beginning when Barack Obama was elected as the United States' first Black president.[15] Hubbard says the stories reflect her experience growing up in "the post-civil rights era" and "the resiliency and artistry" in the Black community.[15] Critic Mike Peed noted how the stories chart personal and political traumas that are intertwined.[16]
Bibliography
editBooks
edit- The Talented Ribkins. Melville House. 2017. Excerpt.
- The Rib King. Amistad. 2021.
- The Last Suspicious Holdout. Amistad. 2022.
Selected publications
edit- "False Cognates (1991)". Guernica Magazine. March 2018.
- "Yams". Virginia Quarterly Review. Summer 2018. Archive.
- "Camila Pitanga". Revista Pessoa. September 2020.
- "Five People Who Crave Sauce". Oxford American Magazine. June 2021.
- "How The Sauce Is Made". Oxford American Magazine. July 2021.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Lea, Richard (September 14, 2017). "Ladee Hubbard: 'There's an official history of how things were – and there's the truth'". The Guardian.
- ^ Blunschi, Jane V. (October 13, 2023). "Acclaimed Novelist Ladee Hubbard to Read in Fayetteville". University of Arkansas News. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ a b c Bancroft, Colette (January 8, 2021). "Ladee Hubbard's 'The Rib King' looks beyond the labels". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ "On finding your own perspective". The Creative Independent. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ Johnson, Chevel (November 17, 2017). "Former V.I. Resident Wins Gaines Award for Literary Excellence". The Virgin Islands Daily News. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ "Novelist Ladee Hubbard's reading list focused on black identity". Tampa Bay Times. October 25, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ "Contributors". Callaloo. 39 (4): 962–966. 2016. ISSN 0161-2492.
- ^ "Ladee Hubbard". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ a b "Winner, Ladee Hubbard". The Rona Jaffe Foundation. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ McCluskey, John (2016). "LADEE HUBBARD: 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award Winner". Callaloo. 39 (4): 773–774. ISSN 0161-2492.
- ^ a b Fisher, Rich (November 28, 2017). ""The Talented Ribkins" by Ladee Hubbard (Encore Presentation)". Public Radio Tulsa. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ Enjetti, Anjali (March 23, 2021). "Who Gets to Profit off Black Culture?". Electric Literature. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ Jackson, Naomi (January 21, 2021). "Ladee Hubbard's 'The Rib King' is a fascinating look at ambition, race and revenge". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ Gillespie, Karin (January 30, 2021). "By the book: Money, class issues are theme in Southern books". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ a b c Summers, Juana; Hodges, Lauren (March 22, 2022). "Author Ladee Hubbard on love, family and resilience". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ Peed, Mike (May 6, 2022). "Stories of Survival, in the Wilds, in Cities and at Home". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
