Book awards: Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Book awards by cover

Works (216)

TitlesOrder
The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura HillenbrandFinalist
Kill the Messenger by Robert KellyPoetry, 1980
Walter Lippmann and the American Century by Ronald SteelHistory, 1980
The Second Coming: A Novel by Walker PercyFiction, 1980
Without Fear or Favor: The New York Times and Its Times by Harrison E. SalisburyGeneral Award, 1980
Three Pieces by Ntozake ShangePoetry, 1981
Land of Savagery, Land of Promise: The European Image of the American Frontier in the Nineteenth Century by Ray Allen BillingtonHistory, 1981
The White Hotel by D. M. ThomasFiction, 1981
Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number by Jacobo TimermanCurrent Interest, 1981
Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theo by David McCulloughBiography, 1981
Waldo Emerson by Gay Wilson AllenBiography, 1982
Plutonian Ode: And Other Poems 1977-1980 (City Lights Pocket Poets Series) by Allen GinsbergPoetry, 1982
The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution by Jonathan D. SpenceHistory, 1982
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert StoneFiction, 1982
The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan SchellCurrent Interest, 1982
The Changing Light at Sandover by James MerrillPoetry, 1983
The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 2 by Fernand BraudelHistory, 1983
Schindler's Ark by Thomas KeneallyFiction, 1983
Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker PercyCurrent Interest, 1983
The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House by Seymour M. HershBiography, 1983
The Maximus Poems by Charles OlsonPoetry, 1984
The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History by Robert DarntonHistory, 1984
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan KunderaFiction, 1984
Cities and the Wealth of Nations by Jane JacobsCurrent Interest, 1984
The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka by Ernst PawelBiography, 1984
Cross Ties: Selected Poems by X. J. KennedyPoetry, 1985
Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. ConnellHistory, 1985
Love Medicine by Louise ErdrichFiction, 1985
Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life by Robert N. BellahCurrent Interest, 1985
Solzhenitsyn: A Biography by Michael ScammellBiography, 1985
Collected Poems, 1948-1984 by Derek WalcottPoetry, 1986
The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, Second Edition by Geoffrey HoskingHistory, 1986
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodFiction, 1986
Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White by Joseph LelyveldCurrent Interest, 1986
Alexander Pope: A Life by Maynard MackBiography, 1986
Partial Accounts by William MeredithPoetry, 1987
Fools Crow by James WelchFiction, 1987
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard DawkinsCurrent Interest, 1987
Hemingway by Kenneth S. LynnBiography, 1987
New and Collected Poems by Richard WilburPoetry, 1988
Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric FonerHistory, 1988
Love in The Time of Cholera by Gabriel García MárquezFiction, 1988
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William GreiderCurrent Interest, 1988
Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom by Brenda MaddoxBiography, 1988
Peacemaking among Primates by Frans B. M. de WaalScience and Technology, 1989
The One Day by Donald HallPoetry, 1989
An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood by Neal GablerHistory, 1989
The Heart of the Country by Fay WeldonFiction, 1989
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 by Taylor BranchCurrent Interest, 1989
This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias WolffBiography, 1989
Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vacine by Jane S. SmithScience and Technology, 1990
The Color of Mesabi Bones: Poems and Prose Poems by John CaddyPoetry, 1990
The Quest for El Cid by Richard FletcherHistory, 1990
Lantern Slides by Edna O'BrienFiction, 1990
Disappearing Through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century by Jr. O. B. HardisonCurrent Interest, 1990
A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt by Geoffrey C. WardBiography, 1990
Pangs of Love by David Wong LouieArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1991
The Truth About Chernobyl by Grigori MedvedevScience and Technology, 1991
What Work Is by Philip LevinePoetry, 1991
The Promised Land: The Great Migration and How It Changed America by Nicholas LehmannHistory, 1991
White People by Allan GurganusFiction, 1991
Why Americans Hate Politics by E. J. DionneCurrent Interest, 1991
Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874-1952 by T. H. WatkinsBiography, 1991
High Cotton by Darryl PinkneyArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1992
An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991 by Adrienne Cecile RichPoetry, 1992
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared M. DiamondScience and Technology, 1992
Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism by Alexander StilleHistory, 1992
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art SpiegelmanFiction, 1992
The End of History and the Last Man by Francis FukuyamaCurrent Interest, 1992
Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1: 1884-1933 by Blanche Wiesen CookBiography, 1992
Love: Enter by Paul Kafka-GibbonsArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1993
Fuzzy Logic: The Revolutionary Computer Technology That Is Changing Our World by Daniel McneillScience and Technology, 1993
My Alexandria by Mark DotyPoetry, 1993
New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery by Anthony GraftonHistory, 1993
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara KingsolverFiction, 1993
Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority by Peter SkerryCurrent Interest, 1993
Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (An Owl Book) by John Mack FaragherBiography, 1993
Remembering Babylon by David MaloufFiction, 1994
Year of the Frog: A Novel by Martin M. SimeckaArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1994
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan WeinerScience and Technology, 1994
The Angel of History by Carolyn ForchéPoetry, 1994
Gay New York by George ChaunceyHistory, 1994
Diplomacy by Henry KissingerCurrent Interest, 1994
Shot in the Heart by Mikal GilmoreBiography, 1994
American Studies by Mark MerlisArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1995
Naturalist by Edward O. WilsonScience and Technology, 1995
Inferno by Dante Alighieri(Pinsky Translation) Poetry, 1995
Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America by Jackson LearsHistory, 1995
The Blue Afternoon by William BoydFiction, 1995
Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard WilliamsCurrent Interest, 1995
Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 by Doris May LessingBiography, 1995
The Smell of Apples by Mark BehrArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1996
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl SaganScience and Technology, 1996
Mixed Company by Alan ShapiroPoetry, 1996
Black Sea by Neal AschersonHistory, 1996
A Fine Balance by Rohinton MistryFiction, 1996
Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War by Peter MaassCurrent Interest, 1996
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourtBiography, 1996
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes1997
Don't Erase Me: Stories by Carolyn FerrellArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1997
How the Mind Works by Steven PinkerScience and Technology, 1997
Black Zodiac: Poems by Charles WrightPoetry, 1997
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando FigesHistory, 1997
In the Rogue Blood by J BlakeFiction, 1997
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne FadimanCurrent Interest, 1997
Whittaker Chambers: A Biography by Sam TanenhausBiography, 1997
Kalimantaan by C. S. GodshalkArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1998
Rules of the Road by Joan BauerYoung Adult Fiction, 1998
Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas StarrScience and Technology, 1998
Mysteries of Small Houses by Alice NotleyPoetry, 1998
The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity by Roy PorterHistory, 1998
The Rings of Saturn by W. G. SebaldFiction, 1998
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip GourevitchCurrent Interest, 1998
Lindbergh by A. Scott BergBiography, 1998
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth StroutArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1999
Frenchtown Summer by Robert CormierYoung Adult Fiction, 1999
Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava SobelScience and Technology, 1999
Repair: Poems by C. K. WilliamsPoetry, 1999
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. DowerHistory, 1999
A strange and sublime address by Amit ChaudhuriFiction, 1999
Sidewalk by Mitchell DuneierCurrent Interest, 1999
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith ThurmanBiography, 1999
The Romantics: A Novel by Pankaj MishraArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2000
Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline WoodsonYoung Adult Fiction, 2000
The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine by James Le FanuScience and Technology, 2000
The Throne of Labdacus: A Poem by Gjertrud SchnackenbergPoetry, 2000
A Place of Execution by Val McDermidMystery/Thriller, 2000
The Collaborator by Alice KaplanHistory, 2000
Assorted Fire Events: Stories by David MeansFiction, 2000
Way Out There In the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War by Frances FitzGeraldCurrent Interest, 2000
Jefferson Davis, American by William J. CooperBiography, 2000
The Dark Room by Rachel SeiffertArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2001
The Land by Mildred D. TaylorYoung Adult Fiction, 2001
The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies by Richard HamblynScience and Technology, 2001
The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos by Anne CarsonPoetry, 2001
Silent Joe by T. Jefferson ParkerMystery/Thriller, 2001
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick PerlsteinHistory, 2001
Why Did I Ever by Mary RobisonFiction, 2001
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara EhrenreichCurrent Interest, 2001
Theodore Rex by Edmund MorrisBiography, 2001
Prague by Arthur PhillipsArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2002
Feed by M. T. AndersonYoung Adult Fiction, 2002
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda MaddoxScience and Technology, 2002
The Watercourse by Cynthia ZarinPoetry, 2002
Hell to Pay by George P. PelecanosMystery/Thriller, 2002
Six Days of War by Michael B. OrenHistory, 2002
Atonement by Ian McEwanFiction, 2002
Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex by Judith LevineCurrent Interest, 2002
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. CaroBiography, 2002
Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight by Paul HoffmanFinalist 2003
A Northern Light by Jennifer DonnellyYoung Adult Fiction, 2003
Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation by Philip J. HiltsScience and Technology, 2003
Collected Later Poems by Anthony HechtPoetry, 2003
Soul Circus by George PelecanosMystery/Thriller, 2003
An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America by Henry WeincekHistory, 2003
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark HaddonArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2003
The New Chinese Empire: And What it Means for the United States by Ross TerrillCurrent Interest, 2003
Train by Pete DexterFiction, 2003
American Empire by Neil SmithBiography, 2003
Doing It by Melvin BurgessYoung Adult Fiction, 2004
The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change by Charles WohlforthScience and Technology, 2004
Inner Voices: Selected Poems, 1963-2003 by Richard HowardPoetry, 2004
Tijuana Straits: A Novel by Kem NunnMystery/Thriller, 2004
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from The Sedition Act of 1798 to The War on Terrorism by Geoffrey R. StoneHistory, 2004
Harbor by Lorraine AdamsArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2004
The Master by Colm TóibínFiction, 2004
Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan WrightCurrent Interest, 2004
de Kooning: An American Master by Mark StevensBiography, 2004
You & You & You by Per NilssonYoung Adult Fiction, 2005
Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima by Diana PrestonScience and Technology, 2005
Refusing Heaven by Jack GilbertPoetry, 2005
Legends by Robert LittellMystery/Thriller, 2005
Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam HochschildHistory, 2005
Beasts of No Nation: A Novel (P.S.) by Uzodinma IwealaArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2005
Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García MárquezFiction, 2005
Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War by Anthony ShadidCurrent Interest, 2005
Matisse the Master: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Conquest of Colour: 1909-1954 by Hilary SpurlingBiography, 2005
Echo Park by Michael ConnellyMystery/Thriller, 2006
Tyrell by Coe BoothYoung Adult Fiction, 2006
In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. KandelScience and Technology, 2006
Ooga-Booga: Poems by Frederick SeidelPoetry, 2006
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence WrightHistory, 2006
White Ghost Girls by Alice GreenwayArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2006
A Woman in Jerusalem by A. B. YehoshuaFiction, 2006
Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance by Ian BurumaCurrent Interest, 2006
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal GablerBiography, 2006
A Darkling Plain by Philip ReeveYoung Adult Literature, 2007
I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas HofstadterScience & Technology, 2007
Old Heart: Poems by Stanley PlumlyPoetry, 2007
Calling Out For You by Karin FossumMystery/Thriller, 2007
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim WeinerHistory, 2007
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw MengestuArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2007
Be Near Me by Andrew O'HaganFiction, 2007
Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. SametCurrent Interest, 2007
Young Stalin by Simon Sebag MontefioreBiography, 2007
Nation by Terry PratchettYoung Adult Literature, 2008
The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard SusskindScience & Technology, 2008
Watching the Spring Festival: Poems by Frank BidartPoetry, 2008
Envy the Night by Michael KorytaMystery/Thriller, 2008
Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe by Mark MazowerHistory, 2008
The Night of the Mi'raj by Zoe FerrarisArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2008
Home by Marilynne RobinsonFiction, 2008
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton GellmanCurrent Interest, 2008
Ida: A Sword Among Lions by Paula J. GiddingsBiography, 2008
American Rust by Philipp MeyerArt Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2009
Asterios Polyp by David MazzucchelliGraphic Novel, 2009
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda GordonBiography, 2009
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart NevilleMystery/Thriller, 2009
Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963 (Americans and the California Dream) by Kevin StarrHistory, 2009
A Happy Marriage: A Novel by Rafael YglesiasFiction, 2009
Marching For Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary by Elizabeth PartridgeYoung Adult Literature, 2009
Practical Water (Wesleyan Poetry) by Brenda HillmanPoetry, 2009
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham FarmeloScience and Technology, 2009
Zeitoun by Dave EggersCurrent Interest, 2009
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer EganFiction, 2011

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Book awards authors (211)

Works (Title/Author/ISBN)

Award description

The Los Angeles Times has awarded a set of book prizes annually since 1980. Eligibility for the prizes requires a book to have its first United States publication between January 1 and December 31 of any given year. This American publication must be in English; however, English does not have to be the original language of the work. Authors may be of any nationality. They should be alive at the time of their book’s qualifying U.S. publication although eligibility is also extended to significant new translations of the work of deceased writers. Books by current employees of the Los Angeles Times, by current employees of Tribune Company or any of its other affiliates, by currently serving judges of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, or by immediate family members of these groups are not eligible.

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