Ladee Hubbard, M.A. '98, Ph.D. '03

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New Orleans-based writer and academic educator Ladee Hubbard, M.A. '98, Ph.D. '03, has won the 2017 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for her original debut novel "The Talented Ribkins."

An adjunct lecturer in the Africana Studies program at Tulane University, Hubbard’s novel was inspired by W.E.B. DuBois’ famous essay, "The Talented Tenth" and incorporates race, class and politics.  Readers explore the life of Johnny Ribkins, a 72-year-old former civil rights activist whose family is on a quest to dig up stolen money stashed all over Florida.  As Johnny illustrates persistence and heroism throughout the novel, his family uses unusual superpowers to help him in his search, rebuilding family bonds and self-acceptance.

Winner of the 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition for the Short Story, Hubbard appeared as a guest on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and discussed in depth how the characters in her novel develop many talents while limiting their potential to use them.

Hubbard was mentored by Nobel-Prize winning author Toni Morrison while attending Princeton University as an undergraduate. She then went on to pursue an M.F.A. in dramatic writing from New York University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin. She earned her degrees from UCLA in folklore and mythology.