Last week, the Los Angeles Times announced the winners of the 44th annual Book Prizes in a ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The Times’ Book Prizes recognize outstanding literary achievements and celebrate the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers.
Winners were announced in 13 categories for works published
last year, including the new prize for achievement in audiobook production,
presented by Audible. Additionally, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley
was honored with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement and Access
Books received the Innovator’s Award for its work renovating school libraries
and ensuring that underserved students and communities have access to quality
literacy resources. A complete list of this year’s Book Prizes winners follows.
2023 Book Prizes Winners
Achievement in Audiobook Production (presented by Audible): Dion
Graham and Elishia Merricks, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): AMemoir,” Macmillan Audio (UNAVAILABLE IN AUDIO IN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM)
Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: Shannon
Sanders, “Company: Stories,” Graywolf Press
Biography: Gregg Hecimovich, “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative,” Ecco/HarperCollins
Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose: Claire
Dederer, “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma,” Knopf
Current Interest: Roxanna Asgarian, “We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America,” Farrar, Straus
and Giroux
Fiction: Ed Park, “Same Bed Different Dreams: A Novel,”
Random House
Graphic Novel/Comics: Emily Carroll, “A Guest in the House,” First Second
History: Joya Chatterji, “Shadows at Noon: The South
Asian Twentieth Century,” Yale University Press (UNAVAILABLE IN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM)
Mystery/Thriller: Ivy Pochoda, “Sing Her Down: A Novel,” MCD
Poetry: Airea D. Matthews, “Bread and Circus: Poems,”
Scribner
(UNAVAILABLE IN THE JEFFERSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM)
Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction: Tananarive
Due, “The Reformatory: A Novel,” Saga Press
Science & Technology: Eugenia Cheng, “Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths,” Basic Books
Young Adult Literature: Amber McBride, “Gone Wolf,”
Feiwel & Friends
For more information about the Book Prizes, including the
complete list of 2023 finalists and past winners; eligibility and judging
information, go to latimes.com/BookPrizes.
The Book Prizes ceremony is a prologue to the Los Angeles
Times Festival of Books, the nation’s largest literary festival, which will
bring together more than 550 writers, experts and storytellers, hundreds of
exhibitors and an estimated 155,000 attendees. The 29th annual Festival of
Books is presented in association with USC. Festival news and updates are
available on the event website and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles
(#bookfest).
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