THE PROCESS
Last fall, Alta Journal editors surveyed authors, critics, and booksellers about California literature. We asked them, among other topics, to name their “favorite California novels,” allowing each respondent to define “favorite” in their own way. The only guidance we provided was to “lean toward works published since 1900.”
More than 200 novels were nominated, often with a few sentences in support. We tallied the responses to produce this list of 25 novels that define California.
THE PANELISTS
We’re grateful to the following respondents for their contributions to this project:
- Gustavo Arellano
- Mark Athitakis
- Aimee Bender
- Carla Blank
- James Cagney
- Steph Cha
- Anna E. Clark
- Chris Daley
- Jackie DesForges
- William Deverell
- Jennifer Egan
- John Evans
- Karen Finlay
- Sherri Gallentine
- Lynell George
- Tod Goldberg
- Jessica Hagedorn
- Rachel Howzell Hall
- Brenda Hillman
- Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein
- Naomi Hirahara
- Vanessa Hua
- Porochista Khakpour
- Laila Lalami
- Edan Lepucki
- Ilana Masad
- Carolina A. Miranda
- Natalia Molina
- James Penner
- Gary Phillips
- Ivy Pochoda
- Ishmael Reed
- Peter Richardson
- Kim Stanley Robinson
- Luis J. Rodriguez
- Rasheeda Saka
- Michael Schaub
- Julia Scheeres
- Danzy Senna
- Kim Shuck
- Mark Haskell Smith
- Emily St. Martin
- Héctor Tobar
- Bonnie Tsui
- José Vadi
- Diana Wagman
- Amy E. Wallen
- Lawrence Weschler
- Paul Wilner
- Matthew Zapruder
