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Columnists - Los Angeles Times
Al Martinez
The insight of columnist Al Martinez flows from his myriad creative talents and experience as a reporter, author, scriptwriter, documentarian and television series creator.
He contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning efforts and was nominated for a 1992 Emmy for the CBS-TV movie "Out on the Edge." His Pulitzer contributions involved a 1983 series on the Southern California Latino community, team coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and a staff award for reporting on the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
He has written columns for The Times since 1984, before which he was a news feature writer and reporter for 12 years. Prior to that he was a columnist, feature writer and military reporter for the Oakland Tribune.
The California Chicano News Media Association named him 2002 Print Journalist of the Year and the Society of Professional Journalists chose him as Journalist of the Year in 1996. Other honors include a 1988 National Ernie Pyle Award and a 1988 National Headliner Award.
He authored "The Last City Room" and "City of Angles, a Drive-By Portrait of L.A." He also wrote two books profiling Spanish-speaking Americans, "Rising Voices" in 1974 and "Rising Voices: A New Generation" in 1994. In addition to creating three network television series, he has 20 writing credits for TV movies.
Martinez attended San Francisco State College and the University of California, Berkeley, and received an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters from Whittier College in 1996. He was born in Oakland and is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
He is married and has three children.
In Topanga Canyon, watching, waiting . . . writing
October 23, 2007
They're here again, the crazy ladies with fire in their eyes and smoke in their hair, blowing hot winds into Southern California.
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