L A. Times Releases Its List of Finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prize

Award season is here and the Los Angeles Times gets a headstart as one of the first organization releasing a list list of its finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prize. Keep reading to find out all 66 nominees for the awards!

In its 44th annual award, the L.A. Times celebrates accomplished and new authors for the best works of literature. And as the times change, so do the L.A Times. This year, they will be introduciing an award for audiobook productions. That is being given in “collaboration with Audible and spotlights performance, production and innovation in storytelling.”

The award ceremony will take place on April 19 at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. That will be just the day before the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. You can see all the nominations below!

Achievement in Audiobook Production

• Maria Bamford, narrator, “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere”
• Sophia Bush, narrator, “Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver”
• Helena de Groot, lead producer, “Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver”
• Dion Graham, narrator, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir”
• Kerri Kolen, executive producer, “Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver”
• Helen Laser, narrator, “Yellowface”
• Adam Lazarre-White, narrator, “All the Sinners Bleed”
• Elishia Merricks, producer, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir”
• Elishia Merricks, producer, “All the Sinners Bleed”
• Suzanne Franco Mitchell, director/producer, “Yellowface”

The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

• Stephen Buoro, “The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa: A Novel”
• Sheena Patel, “I’m a Fan: A Novel”
• Shannon Sanders, “Company: Stories”
• James Frankie Thomas, “Idlewild: A Novel”
• Ghassan Zeineddine, “Dearborn”

Biography

• Leah Redmond Chang, “Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power”
• Gregg Hecimovich, “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative”
• Jonny Steinberg, “Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage”
• Elizabeth R. Varon, “Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South”
• David Waldstreicher, “The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence”
• The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose
• Claire Dederer, “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma”

Current Interest

• Bettina L. Love, “Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal”
• Roxanna Asgarian, “We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America”
• Zusha Elinson, “American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15”
• Cameron McWhirter, “American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15”
• Christina Sharpe, “Ordinary Notes”
• Raja Shehadeh, “We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir”

Fiction

• Susie Boyt, “Loved and Missed”
• Yiyun Li, “Wednesday’s Child: Stories”
• Elizabeth McKenzie, “The Dog of the North: A Novel”
• Ed Park, “Same Bed Different Dreams: A Novel”
• Justin Torres, “Blackouts: A Novel”

Graphic Novel/Comics

• Derek M. Ballard, “Cartoonshow”
• Matías Bergara, “CODA”
• Emily Carroll, “A Guest in the House”
• Sammy Harkham, “Blood of the Virgin”
• Chantal Montellier, “Social Fiction”
• Simon Spurrier, “CODA”

History

• Ned Blackhawk, “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History”
• Joya Chatterji, “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century”
• Malcolm Harris, “Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World”
• Blair L.M. Kelley, “Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class”
• Nikki M. Taylor, “Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women’s Lethal Resistance”

Mystery/Thriller

• Lou Berney, “Dark Ride: A Thriller”
• S. A. Cosby, “All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel”
• Jordan Harper, “Everybody Knows: A Novel”
• Cheryl A. Head, “Time’s Undoing: A Novel”
• Ivy Pochoda, “Sing Her Down: A Novel”

Poetry

• K. Iver, “Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco”
• Airea D. Matthews, “Bread and Circus: Poems”
• Maggie Millner, “Couplets: A Love Story”
• Jenny Molberg, “The Court of No Record: Poems”
• Simon Shieh, “Master: Poems”

Science & Technology

• Eugenia Cheng, “Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths”
• Jeff Goodell, “The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet”
• Jaime Green, “The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos”
• Caspar Henderson, “A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous”
• Zach Weinersmith, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?”
• Kelly Weinersmith, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?”

Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction

• Tananarive Due, “The Reformatory: A Novel”
• Daniel Kraus, “Whalefall”
• Victor LaValle, “Lone Women: A Novel”
• V. E. Schwab, “The Fragile Threads of Power”
• E. Lily Yu, “Jewel Box: Stories”

Young Adult Literature

• Jennifer Baker, “Forgive Me Not”
• Olivia A. Cole, “Dear Medusa”
• Kim Johnson, “Invisible Son”
• Amber McBride, “Gone Wolf”
• Sarah Myer, “Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story”

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