Jeff Hobbs

Jeff Hobbs is the author of four books. His first work of nonfiction, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, chronicled the life of his best friend from college. This book was a New York Times bestseller and was considered a notable book of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, Amazon, iBooks, and NPR.

It won an LA Times Book Prize, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal and the PEN America award in biography, and has been adapted into a feature film. Among his other books, Show Them You’re Good: Four Boys and the Quest for College explored the modern college application process as well as the poignant passage from childhood to adulthood in very different urban neighborhoods and schools. Children of the State: Survival and Hope in the Juvenile Justice System illuminated the narrow pathways and impossible choices young people faced while being incarcerated in America. Hobbs has taught nonfiction writing at Yale University. He volunteer coaches youth football, basketball, and track teams in Los Angeles where he lives. His next book will follow the struggle of families to keep their children in school while living without shelter.