Jeff Hobbs

Jeff Hobbs grew up in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. He attended Yale University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature. While attending Yale, he won the Meeker Prize and the Gardner Millett Award. After graduation, Hobbs spent three years working as the Executive Director for the African Rainforest Conservancy.

In 2014, Hobbs published his first work of nonfiction titled The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, which was a New York Times bestseller, Amazon’s #4 Best Book of the Year, and a Notable Book of the Year selection by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. In this tragic and compelling true story, Hobbs documents the life of his brilliant college roommate and friend who, years after graduating from Yale, was violently murdered. It is a story that encompasses the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love.

In his newest book, Show Them You’re Good: A Portrait of Boys In the City Of Angels Before the College Years, Hobbs recounts the true stories of four Los Angeles high school boys during their senior year as they apply to college. The boys come from vastly different backgrounds and resources and Hobbs’ writing deftly captures the challenges and triumphs of being a young person confronting the future—both their own and the cultures in which they live—in contemporary America. Hobbs’ portrayal of these young men is revelatory and relevant and destined to ignite conversations about class, race, expectations, cultural divides, and even the concept of fate.

Hobbs is also the author of national bestseller The Tourists published in 2007. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.