The finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been revealed, with Percival Everett, Miranda July, and Ta-Nehisi Coates among the authors in the running for the annual literary awards.
Everett’s James, which won the Kirkus Prize and the National Book Award, and July’s All Fours, a National Book Award finalist, were named finalists in the fiction category. Also making the fiction shortlist were Headshotby Rita Bullwinkel, Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet, and Season of the Swamp, written by Yuri Herrera and translated by Lisa Dillman.
Coates was shortlisted in the current interest category for The Message, alongside Jonathan Blitzer for Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Jesse Katz for The Rent Collectors, Robin Wall Kimmerer for The Serviceberry, and Wright Thompson for The Barn.
K.A. Cobell was named a finalist in the young adult literature category for Looking for Smoke, as were Traci Chee for Kindling, Safia Elhillo for Bright Red Fruit, Kim Johnson for The Color of a Lie, and Carolina Ixta for Shut Up, This Is Serious.
The mystery/thriller finalists are Christopher Bollen for Havoc, Michael Connelly for The Waiting, Attica Locke for Guide Me Home, Liz Moore for The God of the Woods, and Danielle Trussoni for The Puzzle Box.
Author Pico Iyer (The Lady and the Monk, Aflame) was named the winner of the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, while poet Amanda Gorman (Call Us What We Carry) will receive the Innovator’s Award.
The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were established in 1980; past winners include Louise Erdrich for Love Medicine, Adam Haslett for Imagine Me Gone, and Elizabeth Acevedo for The Poet X.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at a ceremony at the University of Southern California on April 25. A full list of finalists is available at the Times website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
