Luis J. Rodriguez, Reginald Dwayne Betts Among Winners Of L.A. Times Book Prizes

Randy Flores peruses the book selection at the 2016 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC. (Photo/ David Sprague)

BY ALISON FARIAS

LOS ANGELES (NEWS USC) - The Book Prizes ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium is a prologue to this weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC, the nation’s largest literary and cultural festival.

he 42nd annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded Friday night at the USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The Book Prizes are committed to literary excellence, championing new voices and celebrating the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers.

The ceremony recognized 12 outstanding literary works published last year. Luis J. Rodriguez was honored with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, and Reginald Dwayne Betts received the Innovator’s Award for his work advocating for literacy in prisons through increasing access to books, writers and performing artists.

The Book Prizes ceremony is a prologue to this weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the nation’s largest literary and cultural festival. The event on the USC University Park Campus brings together more than 500 writers, musicians, artists and chefs, hundreds of exhibitors and an estimated 150,000 attendees each year.

Other winners of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes

• Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: Jackie Polzin, Brood: A Novel, Doubleday.

• Biography: Paul Auster, Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane, Henry Holt & Company.

• Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose: Deborah Levy, Real Estate: A Living Autobiography, Bloomsbury.

• Current Interest: Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could, Random House.

• Fiction: Véronique Tadjo, In the Company of Men, Other Press.

• Graphic Novel/Comics: R. Kikuo Johnson, No One Else, Fantagraphics.

• History: Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History, Scribner.

• Mystery/Thriller: Megan Abbott, The Turnout: A Novel, G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

• Poetry: Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets, Graywolf Press.

• Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction: Zen Cho, Spirits Abroad: Stories, Small Beer Press.

• Science and Technology: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, Bold Type Books.

• Young Adult Literature: Rita Williams-Garcia, A Sitting in St. James, Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Visit the Times’ Book Prizes website for more information about the Book Prizes, including the complete list of 2021 finalists and previous winners; eligibility and judging information; and how to make a tax-deductible donation in support of the annual literary awards.