Art Seidenbaum was the founder of the Book Prizes. At The Times from 1962 until his death in 1990, Seidenbaum was successively a columnist, book editor and opinion editor. The award recognizing debut works of fiction was established in his honor in 1991.

Winner: Cinema Love: A Novel, Jiaming Tang, Dutton

Finalists:

• Ghostroots: Stories, Pemi Aguda, W. W. Norton & Company
• Olive Days: A Novel, Jessica Elisheva Emerson, Counterpoint Press
• God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer: A Novel, Joseph Earl Thomas, Grand Central Publishing
• What We Tried to Bury Grows Here, Julian Zabalbeascoa, Two Dollar Radio

Judges: Natashia Deón, Scott O’Connor, Amy Wallen

The Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Achievement in Audiobook Production is given in collaboration with Audible. Established in 2023, the prize focuses on performance, production and innovation in storytelling, and recognizes a person or an ensemble cast.

Winner: James: A Novel, Dominic Hoffman (Narrator), Linda Korn (Producer), Random House Audio

Finalists:

• Giovanni’s Room: A Novel, Matt Bomer (Narrator), Kelly Gildea (Director, Co-Producer), Lauren Klein (Producer), Random House Audio
• New Nigeria County, Clare Brown (Narrator), Allison Light (Producer), Simon & Schuster Audio Originals
• George Orwell’s 1984: An Audible Original adaptation, Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo and an Ensemble Cast (Narrators), Producer (Audible), Audible Original
• Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity, Michele Norris With A Full Cast (Narrators), Mike Noble (Producer), Simon & Schuster Audio

Judges: Andy Bowers, Kerry Donahue, Diana Wagman

Winner: Orwell’s Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century, Laura Beers, W. W. Norton & Company

Finalists:

• Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, Cynthia Carr, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• We Were Illegal: Uncovering a Texas Family’s Mythmaking and Migration, Jessica Goudeau, Viking
• Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany, Pamela D. Toler, Beacon Press

Judges: Andy Bowers, Kerry Donahue, Diana Wagman

This award encompasses fiction, travel writing, memoir and diary and honors exceptional work.

Winner: Health and Safety: A Breakdown, Emily Witt, Pantheon

Journalist Emily Witt is the winner of the 2024 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose for “Health and Safety: A Breakdown,” which chronicles her experience with psychedelics and Brooklyn’s underground party scene during the first Trump presidency. The memoir offers Witt’s life as a lens into America from 2016 to 2020, and exposes a country in the throes of ongoing trauma — it is keenly observed and unapologetically told.

Judges: Dinah Lenney, Adriana Ramirez, Rick Whitaker

Winner: The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA, Jesse Katz, Astra House

Finalists:

• Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis, Jonathan Blitzer, Penguin Press
• The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World
• The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Scribner
• The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi, Wright Thompson, Penguin Press

Judges: Andrew Aydin, Celeste Fremon, Miriam Pawel

Winner: Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Novel, Jennine Capó Crucet, Simon & Schuster

Finalists:

• Headshot: A Novel, Rita Bullwinkel, Viking
• James: A Novel, Percival Everett, Doubleday
• Season of the Swamp: A Novel, Yuri Herrera translated by Lisa Dillman, Graywolf Press
• All Fours: A Novel, Miranda July, Riverhead Books

Judges: Natashia Deón, Scott O’Connor, Amy Wallen

Winner: Tokyo These Days, Vol. 1, Taiyō Matsumoto, VIZ Media

Finalists:

• Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol. 2: The Cursed Hermit, Kris Bertin, Alexander Forbes, Oni Press
• Cutting Season, Bhanu Pratap, Fantagraphics
• Petar & Liza, Miroslav Sekulic-Struja translated by Jenna Allen, Fantagraphics
• Rare Flavours, Ram V, Filipe Andrade, BOOM! Studios

Judges: Andrew Neal, Nero Villagallos O’Reilly, Zach Hazard Vaupen

Winner: Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch , Andrea Freeman, Metropolitan Books

Finalists:

• The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America, Andrew W. Kahrl, The University of Chicago Press
• The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America, Aaron Robertson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Cold War Country: How Nashville’s Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism, Joseph M. Thompson, The University of North Carolina Press
• The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports, Michael Waters, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Judges: Anna-Lisa Cox, Martha S. Jones, Alaina E. Roberts

The Innovator’s Award recognizes the people and institutions that are doing cutting-edge work to bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future, whether in terms of new business models, new technologies or new applications of narrative art.

Winner: Amanda Gorman

The 2024 Innovator’s Award winner is Amanda Gorman, the award-winning writer and activist, and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Gorman has used her platform to raise awareness on a host of issues from climate change and social justice to literacy. She speaks out against book bans and highlights the importance of representation and education. Her organization One Pen One Page promotes literacy through free creative writing programs for underserved youth. Her latest picture book, “Girls on the Rise,” celebrates the power of girls and highlights how girls have shaped history and why they should march boldly into the future.

Winner: The Puzzle Box: A Novel, Danielle Trussoni, Random House

Finalists:

• Havoc: A Novel, Christopher Bollen, Harper
• The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company
• Guide Me Home (A Highway 59 Novel), Attica Locke, Mulholland Books
• The God of the Woods: A Novel, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books

Judges: Oline Cogdill, Ivy Pochoda, Paula L. Woods

Winner: Room Swept Home, Remica Bingham-Risher, Wesleyan University Press

Finalists:

• The Sorrow Apartments, Andrea Cohen, Four Way Books
• Ward Toward, Cindy Juyoung Ok, Yale University Press
• Inner Verses, Pam Rehm, Wave Books
• Black Bell, Alison C. Rollins, Copper Canyon Press

Judges: John Evans, Airea D. Matthews, Courtney Faye Taylor

The Robert Kirsch Award recognizes the body of work of a living author who resides in and/or whose work focuses on The West and whose contributions to American letters deserve special recognition.

Winner: Pico Iyer

Award-winning writer Pico Iyer is 2024’s Robert Kirsch Award winner which recognizes a writer with a substantial connection to the American West. Iyer is the author of more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from the Dalai Lama to globalism. His recent memoir, “Aflame: Learning from Silence,” explores the power of calm and helps readers find deeper peace of mind. His acclaimed work also includes “The Half Known Life,” “Video Night in Kathmandu,” “The Lady and the Monk,” “The Global Soul,” “The Open Road” and “The Art of Stillness.” He contributes regularly to countless publications and has received numerous accolades throughout his career.

Winner: The Book of Love: A Novel, Kelly Link, Random House

Finalists:

• The Naming Song, Jedediah Berry, Tor Books
• The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur, Lev Grossman, Viking
• Absolution: A Southern Reach Novel, Jeff VanderMeer, MCD
• The City in Glass, Nghi Vo, Tordotcom

Judges:Maurice Broaddus, Craig Laurance Gidney, Lucy A. Snyder

Winner: Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are, Rebecca Boyle, Random House

Finalists:

• Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, Ferris Jabr, Random House
• Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future, Daniel Lewis, Avid Reader Press
• Math in Drag, Kyne Santos, Johns Hopkins University Press
• The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth, Zoë Schlanger, Harper

Judges: Shraddha Chakradhar, Leila Philip, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Winner: The Color of a Lie, Kim Johnson, Random House Books for Young Readers

Finalists:

• Kindling, Traci Chee, Clarion Books
• Looking for Smoke, K.A. Cobell, Heartdrum
• Bright Red Fruit, Safia Elhillo, MAKE ME A WORLD
• Shut Up, This Is Serious, Carolina Ixta, Quill Tree Books

Judges: Sharon Levin, Renee Roberson Tecco, Julia E. Torres