Pulitzer Prize winner Powers, author of The Overstory, attributes some inspiration to a childhood book on coral reefs.

His new book traces his move into a monastery in 1991, encounters with the Dalai Lama and Leonard Cohen, and what it takes to translate silence onto the page.

It was first reported at around 4:50 a.m. at a home in the 9400 block of Harrell Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.