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The Los Angeles Review of Books is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and disseminating rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts. The Los Angeles Review of Books magazine was created in part as a response to the disappearance of the traditional newspaper book review supplement, and, with it, the art of lively, intelligent long-form writing on recent publications in every genre, ranging from fiction to politics. The Los Angeles Review of Books seeks to revive and reinvent the book review for the internet age, and remains committed to covering and representing today’s diverse literary and cultural landscape.

Danzy Senna's ''Colored Television"

Kate Wolf talks to Danzy Senna about her latest novel, Colored Television. It follows a writer named Jane Gibson who’s finally making headway on her second book, a magnus opus her husband calls the “mulatto War and Peace” that’s been nearly a decade in the making. Jane’s helped along by her family’s stay in the tony, Eastside Los Angeles home of a friend of hers—a former fiction writer who long ago sold out to work in TV. Jane and her husband, Lenny, help themselves to this friend's wine and clothes, and Jane yearns for his financial stability. When her novel is rejected by her agent, she decides to try on his career in Hollywood as well. Colored Television is a hilarious unpacking of class, marriage, race, midlife, exploitation, Los Angeles, and what it takes to be an artist when no one cares about your work. Also, Charlotte Shane, author of An Honest Woman, returns to recommend a trilogy of historical novels by Sharon Kay Penman: Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, and The Reckoning.

Sofia Samatar's "Opacities: On Writing and the Writing Life"

Sofia Samatar speaks with Kate Wolf about her new book Opacities: On Writing and the Writing Life. Opacities is addressed to a fellow writer, Samatar’s close friend Kate Zambreno, and considers both the process of composing a book—the wellspring of inspiration, wishes and anxieties that accompany it— as well as the distance between a work and its author. Samatar explores how to stay alive as a writer through things such as community, extensive reading, and research alongside the dissonant ways writers are often asked to codify their identities and constantly promote themselves. Drawing on the words of writers like Eduard Glissant, Maurice Blanchot, Clarice Lispector, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Opacities is at heart a book about the furnace of creativity, and the fuel that keeps it burning despite its many trials, risks, and disappointments. Also, Eugene Lim, author of Fog and Car, returns to recommend Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal.

Charlotte Shane's "An Honest Woman: A Memoir of Love and Sex Work"

Charlotte Shane joins Kate Wolf to speak about her latest book, An Honest Woman: A Memoir of Love and Sex Work. Detailing Shane’s many years as a sex worker, the book is also a candid examination of her own sexuality, as well as her deep fascination with the sex lives and interior worlds of men. Shane writes about the importance of her early “sexperimentation” with a group of close guy friends in high school; the nuances of her relationship to her father, her husband, and her clients—especially the almost decade long bond she shared with one of them named Roger. She comes to sex work, and even heterosexuality, with both curiosity and empathy, as well as a feminist perspective. Her book focuses less on matters of harm and power than the intricacies of desire and the variety of intimacy possible between women and men. Also, Sarah Manguso, author of Liars, returns to recommend Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy.

Eugene Lim's "Fog & Car"

Eric Newman speaks with Eugene Lim about his novel Fog & Car. First published in 2008 and freshly brought back into print this year, the novel dilates on the experiences of a couple making a life on their own in the wake of their divorce, the novel explores loneliness, grief, and the struggles of human relation through rotating perspectives of each member of the former couple as well as the friend they share in common. Walking through the novel's key moments, the discussion also explores how the passage of time has changed Lim's relationship to the characters and the existential loneliness that orbits the core of Fog & Car. Also, Mark Krotov co-editor of The Intellectual Situation: The Best of n+1’s Second Decade, retruns to recommend Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library.

Writing Climate Futures

On July 18th, Los Angeles Review of Books and The Berggruen Institute hosted a panel discussion titled "Writing Climate Futures," featuring David Wallace-Wells, Jenny Offill, Bharat Venkat, and Jonathan Blake. As our planet faces a climate crisis, questions about the role and efficacy of environmental writing assume greater urgency by the day. Through education, envisioning fictitious new worlds, and pushing forward the public discourse, writing holds the power to move the conversation we have around the future of our planet. LARB and The Berggruen Institute convened exciting voices in the climate movement from across genres to discuss how writing can enact change. David Wallace-Wells is the author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming (Penguin Random House, 2019), which argues that the state of the world, environmentally speaking, is “worse, much worse, than you think.” He is a weekly columnist and staff writer for the New York Times, deputy editor of New York Magazine, and he was previously the deputy editor of The Paris Review. He writes frequently about climate and the near future of science and technology. Jenny Offill is the author of three novels, Last Things, Dept. of Speculation, and most recently, Weather, which was shortlisted for the Women's Fiction Prize and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. She is also the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. She teaches at Bard College and lives in upstate New York. Dr. Bharat Jayram Venkat is an Associate Professor at UCLA with a joint appointment spanning the Institute for Society & Genetics, the Department of History, and the Department of Anthropology. His forthcoming title—tentatively titled Swelter: A History of Our Bodies in a Warming World— is about thermal inequality, the history of heat, and the fate of our bodies in a swiftly warming world riven by inequality. Dr. Venkat is the founding director of the UCLA Heat Lab, which investigates thermal inequality from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, ranging from biology and history to anthropology and urban planning. Jonathan Blake directs the Planetary Program at the Berggruen Institute. He is the coauthor, with Nils Gilman, of Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises and author of Contentious Rituals: Parading the Nation in Northern Ireland.

Pessimism and Politics

Could feeling bad actually be good? In this special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman consider the uses of pessimism in our approach to contemporary politics. Digging into Joshua Foa Dienstag’s 2006 book Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit they discuss this branch of philosophical thought: its core beliefs and practitioners, how it’s been misunderstood, and how we might use it to navigate the boomeranging emotions of our present political climate.

Sarah Manguso's "Liars"

Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak to Sarah Manguso about her new novel, Liars, which focuses on a marriage and its disintegration. Jane is a writer, and her husband John is an artist and entrepreneur. Even early on in their relationship, John gives Jane plenty of reason to doubt their future. By the time they have their first child, Jane is subsumed by the role of wife and mother, responsible for tackling the domestic work as well as the chaos of John’s finances and shifting career ambitions, and ultimately his betrayal. The novel focuses on the trespasses of a single relationship, but it’s also about art, wifehood, and the institution of marriage itself, as well as the stories we tell about it from inside and outside its vows. Also, Dayna Tortorici, co-editor of The Intellectual Situation: The Best of n+1’s Second Decade, returns to recommend All Fours by Miranda July.

Two Decades of N+1

Editors Dayna Tortorici and Mark Krotov join Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about 20 years of the magazine n+1, as well as their new anthology The Intellectual Situation: The Best of n+1’s Second Decade. The book collects n+1 essays, short stories, and reviews from the last ten years, covering the rise of Bernie Sanders and democratic socialism, the George Floyd protests, #MeToo, and the Covid pandemic. The guests discuss the ins and outs of running a small magazine, the current media landscape, their commitment to formal experimentation and political discourse, and their vision for the future of print. Also, Yasmin Zaher, author of The Coin, returns top recommend The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrere.

Ratings & Reviews

Incredible interviews, excellent subjects and great hosts/guests. Good book recommendations.

Literary Treasure

I listen to the LARB Radio Hour almost every week. It’s a treasure trove of smart interviews with new and returning authors. Often, I listen to episodes more than once to really let what they’re talking about sink in. The radio hosts are all well informed and ask great questions. I get to listen to interviews with my favorite writers who have already written multiple books, and I also discover new writers whom I haven’t heard of before or are writing their first books. I can’t believe this is a free resource for literary folks out there. I also download episodes and listen to them while I’m driving - or doing chores around the house, or exercising. This is a must for all things books. One of the top literary podcasts out there.

Rachel Greenwald Smith…

Great discussion…I wish Rachel would have slowed down her speaking…when you know your stuff this is what happens but it made listening to the discussion difficult at times! I love this podcast!

Author Names Should Be Pronounced Correctly

Firstpodcastreview

I found it very unfortunate and off-putting that Medaya did not pronounce author, Mieko Kawakami’s first name correctly throughout the entire podcast episode on “Breasts and Eggs”. I couldn’t listen to the episode because that bothered me too much.

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• Creator LA Review of Books
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Is L.A. The World's Next Great Literary City? The Los Angeles Review of Books Says Yes

That's right: the days of dogging LA book culture might soon (finally!) be behind us thanks to The Los Angeles Review of Books , an ambitious new LA-based literature review journal that’s re-imagining the art of literary critique and propelling it into the 21st century. Digital, sprawling, and fearless, the LARB aims to reinvigorate book discourse by widening the margins of literary coverage and overthrowing the traditional book review format.

Firmly rooted in a city that shares the same decentralized qualities of the Internet, the LARB poses a pretty solid argument on why the world’s next major literary hub ought to be LA. And with national attention from The New Yorker and The Chronicle of Higher Education , The Los Angeles Review of Books might just be right.

Via e-mail interview, editor-in-chief Tom Lutz shed light onto LARB, the future of publishing, and why literature's new 'it' city is likely our own.

LAist : What inspired you to develop the Los Angeles Review of Books ?

Tom Lutz : The New York Times Book Review was my introduction to literary culture when I was a kid, and as I watched the Sunday supplement book review dying off in city after city, I decided I had to do something. We have twenty times as many titles published each year than when I was a teenager, and one-twentieth of the book reviews, at least in print. And I noticed that nobody was complaining that people read too much.

The LARB attests it "looks out at the world of books from its perch on the Pacific Rim." How does that view differ than, say, one found from a New York City skyscraper?

For one thing everyone in the New York book world is depressed. We’re excited. For another, we are looking at the world of books as something directed by readers, while New York tends to think of the world of books as directed by the publishing industry. I've written about literary regionalism, and so I'm very used to thinking about 'the center' and 'the periphery', about cosmopolitanism and provincialism. I think Angelenos are used to thinking of being a center and not a center, of living in a decentered place that is nonetheless the center of many industries and movements. I once pitched a book about the 1920s, and my editor asked me what competing books were out there, and I said just the one about the 1920s in Manhattan, and he literally sniffed, and said, "Oh, is that all?"-- that doesn't happen here. If someone said, I want to do a book about the film industry, but the film industry outside of Hollywood, nobody here would sniff.

I should add, too, that we knew we were using a kind of steampunk name and concept — a name that hearkens back to the tradition as we look forward, a geographically-based name for a digital cloud. We're a web publication — we are here in LA, we are nowhere, we are everywhere. We bounce through servers in Sri Lanka and Guam.

In the publishing industry, ‘dead’ is the well-worn buzz-word. The printed word, bookstores, publishing houses, ‘The Novel.’ In an article you wrote for LARB entitled “Odious and Unpleasant,” you responded to an n+1 article, "Against Reviews," which argued the book review is (also) ‘dead.’ In defense, you wrote, “I need help to know what virus protection program to use, whether or not I have cancer, when my timing belt needs changing; I need the advice of people who pay attention to such things. People should be able to count on us, professional readers and writers, to let them know what’s up, to give them, as best we can, a review of books.” In addition to serving as a knowledgeable literary ‘guide,’ why is the comprehensive book review—many of which have gone missing from newspapers across the country—still a relevant publication?

Yes, pronouncements of death abound. Our first piece, by Ben Ehrenreich, was “The Death of the Book,” addressing these very claims. Book publishing is in the midst of a radical transformation, but people are reading more than ever. A year ago on the NYC subways, I noticed that 9 out of 10 readers, at least, were reading print; last month it seemed half were reading electronically. And although some surveys suggest a drop-off in reading, tell it to J.K. Rowling. The latest major California survey claimed 80% of Californians had read a book in the last month. Reading is alive and well, and all the research shows that people with eReaders read more than they did before getting the reader. Nothing’s dying, everything is changing. One example is the recent move of former LA Times book columnists Richard Rayner and Susan Salter Reynolds to the Los Angeles Review of Books. Their columns did not die, they just moved.

The LARB underwent a 'soft-launch' in April, and a 'full-launch' is scheduled for late 2011. What will the LARB look like post-launch this fall?

Stay tuned! Bells and whistles! Right now we’re a simple Tumblr site, still in our preview phase, but the very talented designer and art director Margot Frankel put together our prototype site, and we have an extremely interesting and innovative web company, TedPerez.com working for us pro bono, for which we are eternally grateful. Taj Tedrow, who runs the company, is a big reader, and he saw immediately what Margot and I were after. He is designing a complex, yet friendly, engaging interface for us—it’s quite beautiful—and a complete Content Management System for our side.

How will the Internet enhance the experience of reading LARB?

When the main site launches at the end of the year, we will have video interviews with authors, we will have audio, podcast downloads, interactive forums of various kinds, and we will be an intricately relational site: we want to give readers not just the word-search, Google-directed experience of finding what they are looking for, but the serendipitous experience of browsing in a book store, or in library stacks, the experience of bumping into interesting things they had no idea existed, that they wouldn’t have thought to search for. Curating the internal links will be the most interesting, and fun, part of continually building the site.

What will the LARB provide that online customer reviews and book blogs don’t?

At LARB, we feel we’re adding to the mix online - there are some excellent blogs out there, but one person, or even a small group of friends, can only read so much. And more importantly, to our way of thinking, we put pieces through a serious editing process, several editors working with each author, fact-checking, expanding some pieces and trimming others - this is the opposite of the quick-take blog, the diary-style dispatch. We aim for highly curated, rigorously edited, lasting pieces of literary prose.

I remember checking customer reviews on Amazon, when Amazon was still new, and finding them oddly interesting. Crowd-sourced information has a lot going for it: many heads are better than one. But many very smart heads working together towards a clear objective are better than many heads collected at random, each of which works alone in its own vacuum; the result of crowd sourcing, as in the case of amazon reviews, resembles the "one" more than it does the "many," accruing none of the benefits of combining the best efforts of many minds.

Our writers have been very happy with the editing process, and we feel that all the work we do, the thousands of hours of back and forth, add considerable value. If we didn't think so, of course, we'd be pretty loony to be doing it.

How often does new content appear on the site?

On the Preview site, we put something up once a day, very occasionally twice. On the full site I hope we can be updating with five or six times a day, three reviews and a couple or few other features each day.

Kathryn Schulz wrote an article for LARB entitled, “Life of the Party," which ruminates on the contradictory nature of essayist Montaigne, who favored a combination of both "erudition and vulgarity" within his work. Can one expect to find a similar mix of curated material in LARB—content belletristic enough for The New Yorker , and edgy enough for lo-fi 'zines and underground blogs?

“Bringing You Erudition and Vulgarity Since 2010.” I believe I’ll add that to the masthead.

I think readers can find, already, a dozen pieces that couldn’t get past the censors, either linguistically or topically, of the high-brow outlets. We are West Coast in that way - we don’t mind wearing sneakers to a dinner party. We don't always take our hats off indoors.

Because the LARB aims to publish reviews on a diverse range of literary genres including horror, noir, young adult fiction, philosophy, university press titles, poetry, and sci-fi, are there limits to the titles that are covered? Might we ever find reviews of, say, Tucker Max or Snooki’s book on the site—or is the line drawn somewhere?

Of course there’s a line, but it is drawn by our finite resources rather than a cultural demarcation of any kind. We’ve already reviewed books by Glenn Beck - and so how low can we go? I couldn’t remember whether Tucker Max was the guy on FoxNews with the bow-tie or the other professional asshole - I see he’s the latter. In both of the cases you mention, I think we’d be interested in essays that take account of those two as phenoms, rather than as writers. I find it difficult to imagine readers would come to us trying to decide whether to buy Snooki’s book or Jwoww’s or Kardashian Konfidential . But now that you’ve made me think about it, I think I’ll assign a batch of them to a really interesting critic ….

The LARB is a rare digital nonprofit organization, in that it is committed to paying its contributors. How do you stay afloat and will LARB ever offer subscriptions to support the publication financially?

Newspapers are not closing down their book review sections because they are too profitable. We are a nonprofit public service, and like the library, the university, or the scholarly journal, we will always operate at a loss for the public good. But there is some money to be made in click-through sales, some to be made in syndication, some in producing sellable merchandise from books to t-shirts to apps dedicated to genres - poetry, sports, science fiction. We think the mixed model will be heavily skewed toward grants and gifts (including voluntary subscriptions) as we get off the ground, and we hope that the economics of web content, however it shakes out, will allow us, over the years, to get closer and closer to supporting our efforts without constant fundraising. Since we want to produce not just reviews and essays, but film and audio, since we need a fairly significant staff to do all this well, and they need to eat, and because we are dedicated to paying our contributors for their efforts, it will take a big wad of dough. Of course a couple of angels would really help: Steve Martin? Hugh Hefner? David Geffen? Call us!

Does the LARB favor LA-based and West Coast writing? How much national and international coverage can one expect to find on the site?

Roughly a fifth of our readers are from Southern California, roughly a fifth from the NY-New England area, and a quarter from overseas. The majority of our editorial staff and contributors are from the LA area, but we have had dispatches from London, Mexico, and Trinidad, and expect some from Russia, France, China, South Africa, and elsewhere. Literature is a global, cosmopolitan affair, and we have readers in over 100 countries. The world is our oyster.

LA is often unfairly reputed as a less-than-literary city. Do you think people will be resistant to the idea of a literary review based out of Los Angeles?

Of course I knew when I started that the resistance would be there, and for me, that was going to be part of the fun. So far, though, we’re finding the opposite. Los Angeles is the biggest book market in the country - yes, bigger than New York, despite the fact that we buy fewer Jersey Shore authors—and has been for some time now. Writing talent has always gravitated here. Decentralization is the future of publishing, just as it was for music, and there has been a dream in literary circles since the late 19th century of wrestling control of publishing from New York. It’s happening. Some of the most exciting publishers in the country—McSweeney’s, Greywolf, City Lights—are West coast born and bred. The New York literary world has welcomed us, the publishers are thrilled to have another outlet for book talk, writers from New York — and Illinois and Nebraska and Texas -- are doing things for us. I'm frankly a little disappointed about the lack of LaLaLand yogurt jokes.

So then is it true--will Los Angeles likely bear the next literary revolution?

Yes, and if you read the Los Angeles Review of Books, you won’t miss a beat of it.

For more information, visit the Los Angeles Review of Books website .

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Los Angeles Times A Year In Review: The Most Memorable Moments of 2021 Paperback – December 10, 2021

• Print length 96 pages
• Language English
• Publication date December 10, 2021
• Dimensions 8 x 0.23 x 10.88 inches
• ISBN-10 1547858206
• ISBN-13 978-1547858200
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ LA Times (December 10, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1547858206
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1547858200
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.5 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.23 x 10.88 inches
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Literary Criticism

"Writing only leads to more writing." — Colette

Freudulence

Jamieson Webster invokes Sigmund Freud and Ambassador William C. Bullitt in an attempt to psychoanalyze political leaders, in an essay from the LARB...

Jamieson Webster Aug 24

Memoir & Essay

Biography & Autobiography

Stupidity for Dummies

Aaron Schuster explores the intersection of Flaubert, language, and ChatGPT in an essay from the LARB Quarterly issue no. 42, “Gossip.”

Aaron Schuster Aug 21

Gossip as a Literary Genre, or Gossip as “L’Écriture feminine”?

Francesca Peacock roots through the archives for a deeper understanding of scandal and speech in an essay from the LARB Quarterly issue no. 42, “Gossip.”

Francesca Peacock Aug 13

Gender & Sexuality

America’s War on Theater

Daniel Blank reviews James Shapiro’s “The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War.”

Daniel Blank Jul 22

Cultural Studies

Meeting as Wonderstruck Kin

Marissa Grunes reviews Renée Bergland’s “Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science.”

Marissa Grunes Jul 21

Science & Technology

Environment

Reconfiguring the Categories

Yelena Furman reviews Karolina Krasuska’s “Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction.”

Yelena Furman Jul 15

The Gap at the End of the World

In an excerpt from LARB Quarterly no. 41, “Truth,” Cynthia Cruz seeks truth in melancholia, Hegel, and capitalist civilization’s possible futures.

Cynthia Cruz Jul 8

What Is the Point of Such Inhumane Programs? On Magdalena Saryusz-Wolska’s “Microhistories of Memory”

Harry Waksberg reviews a new book about a German television series about the Holocaust, written by Magdalena Saryusz-Wolska.

Harry Waksberg Jun 7

Another World, Another Life: On Anaïs Ngbanzo’s “Who Are You Dorothy Dean?”

Conor Williams reviews a new biography of Dorothy Dean, edited by Anaïs Ngbanzo.

Conor Williams Jun 2

Art & Architecture

The Commonsense Critic: A Personal Tribute to Helen Vendler

Cinque Henderson writes a personal tribute for Helen Vendler.

Cinque Henderson May 29

Mythic Appetites: On Meta-Desires, Marriage, and Meals in the Personal Essay

Kristen Malone Poli examines the true hunger at the heart of the divorce plot.

Kristen Malone Poli May 9

Theft of the Commons: On David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu’s “Who Owns This Sentence?”

Jessica Rizzo reviews David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu’s “Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs.”

Jessica Rizzo May 4

Honorees and Awards Ceremony

2023 Winners & Finalists

Art Seidenbaum Award

Company: Stories

Shannon Sanders

• The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa: A Novel by Stephen Buoro
• I'm a Fan: A Novel by Sheena Patel
• Idlewild: A Novel by James Frankie Thomas
• Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine

Audiobook Prize Presented by Audible

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir

Dion Graham (Narrator), Elishia Merricks (Producer)

• Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere by Maria Bamford (Narrator)
• All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel by Adam Lazarre-White (Narrator), Elishia Merricks (Producer)
• Yellowface by Helen Laser (Narrator), Suzanne Mitchell (Casting Director & Executive Producer)
• Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver by Sophia Bush (Narrator), Helena de Groot (Lead Producer), Kerri Kolen (Exec. Producer)

The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative

Gregg Hecimovich

• Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power by Leah Redmond Chang
• The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich
• Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg
• Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South by Elizabeth R. Varon
• The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence by David Waldstreicher

Christopher Isherwood Prize

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

Claire Dederer

Bestselling author and essayist Claire Dederer is the winner of the 2023 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose for “Monster: A Fan’s Dilemma,” which expands on her popular 2017 essay in the Paris Review titled “What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?” Sponsored by the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the award honors exceptional work and encompasses fiction, travel writing, memoir and diary. “Monsters” explores the problematic relationship between masculinity and fame, and considers how we come to love art made by less than perfect humans. Dederer engages the essayist form at its best and the result is both critical, literary and provocative. We can love art despite hating the artist, Dederer’s breathtaking sentences argue, but it always comes with a cost.

Current Interest

We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America

Roxanna Asgarian

• Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love
• American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 by Cameron McWhirter & Zusha Elinson
• We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh
• Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe

Same Bed Different Dreams

• Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
• Wednesday's Child: Stories by Yiyun Li
• The Dog of the North: A Novel by Elizabeth McKenzie
• Blackouts: A Novel by Justin Torres

Graphic Novel/Comics

A Guest in the House

Emily Carroll

• Cartoonshow by Derek M. Ballard
• Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham
• Social Fiction by Chantal Montellier
• CODA by Simon Spurrier, Matías Bergara (Illustrator)

Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century

Joya Chatterji

• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S History by Ned Blackhawk
• Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcom Harris
• Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair L. M. Kelley
• Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women's Lethal Resistance by Nikki M. Taylor

Innovator's Award

Access Books

The 2023 Innovator’s Award, which spotlights efforts to bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future, will be presented to Access Books. The nonprofit organization will be honored for its work renovating school libraries and ensuring that underserved students and communities have access to quality literacy resources. The work Access Books does in creating comfortable and welcoming environments for students to explore literacy and the world of books is incredibly important and has lasting effects. We are thrilled to honor Access Books with the Innovator’s Award as it continues to improve libraries in the communities that need it the most.

Mystery/Thriller

Sing Her Down: A Novel

Ivy Pochoda

• Dark Ride: A Thriller by Lou Berney
• All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel by S. A. Cosby
• Everybody Knows: A Novel by Jordan Harper
• Time's Undoing: A Novel by Cheryl A. Head

Bread and Circus: Poems

Airea D. Matthews

• Short Film Starring My Beloved's Red Bronco by K. Iver
• Couplets: A Love Story by Maggie Millner
• The Court of No Record: Poems by Jenny Molberg
• Masters: Poems by Simon Shieh

Robert Kirsch Award

Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “A Thousand Acres,” is the 2023 Robert Kirsch Award recipient. The award recognizes a writer with a substantial connection to the American West. In addition to being an accomplished novelist, L.A-born Smiley has written short fiction, nonfiction and several books for young adults. Whether it's her epic reimagining of King Lear in 'A Thousand Acres,' exploring campus life at Moo University in the hilarious 'Moo,' or her insightful writing about her beloved horses for readers of all ages, Smiley's work brings a deeper understanding of the American landscape and the people (and creatures) that inhabit it. Amongst her acclaimed works are “The Greenlanders” and the Last Hundred Years Trilogy: “Some Luck,” “Early Warning” and “Golden Age.” She has received countless accolades during her career, including the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

The Reformatory: A Novel

Tananarive Due

• Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
• Lone Women: A Novel by Victor LaValle
• The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab
• Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu

Science & Technology

Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths

Eugenia Cheng

• The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell
• The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos by Jaime Green
• A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous by Caspar Henderson
• A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith

Young Adult Literature

Amber McBride

• Forgive Me Not by Jennifer Baker
• Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole
• Invisible Son by Kim Johnson
• Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer

2023 Finalists

We couldn't find records for this prize for year 2023. please select another category or year..

Prize Presenters

Past Years’ Awards

FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

© 2024 book prizes.

Los Angeles Times Book Club

See, hear and interact with world-class authors and newsmakers

Why Dean Koontz’s new book is his favorite

Welcome to the Los Angeles Times Book Club

Every month, we share book club selections, publish author interviews and stories and invite you to read along. Then we host a live conversation with the authors and invite you to join that, too. Our focus is on stories and storytellers relevant to Southern California and the West, and our mission is to make your newspaper something not just to read but to experience — something that brings us together.

Book Club newsletter: Get the latest live events, author interviews and book news in your inbox. Sign up for the free Los Angeles Times Book Club newsletter . Join us : On Jan. 28 bestselling author Dean Koontz will discuss his new novel, “The Bad Weather Friend.” Get tickets . Memorable moments: Check out these highlight’s from L.A. Times Book Club’s first four years .

Help the Book Club and Book Prizes

The Los Angeles Times Community Fund supports the newspaper’s literacy and literary programs, connecting readers with authors at live events. Here’s how to contribute.

Video conversations

Bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson on Elon Musk's complicated history

Aug. 16: Christian Cooper discusses 'Better Living Through Birding'

LeVar Burton discusses the state of banned books

Gabrielle Zevin on how TikTok is a perfect platform for her book

Annalee Newitz discusses 'The Terraformers'

Brendan Slocumb discusses “The Violin Conspiracy”

Jan. 26: Tracy Kidder discusses 'Rough Sleepers'

Ann Patchett on "These Precious Days"

Silvia Moreno-Garcia discusses 'The Daughter of Doctor Moreau'

Celeste Ng discusses 'Our Missing Hearts'

Authors and Book Club Events

Why this AI pioneer is calling for ‘human centered’ computing

Fei-Fei Li, author of ‘The Worlds I See’ and co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, joins the L.A. Times Book Club Nov. 14.

Column: She set out to build robots. She ended up exposing big tech

Joy Buolamwini, author of “Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines,” joins the L.A. Times Book Club on Nov. 14.

Manic moods and 3 a.m. texts: How Walter Isaacson navigated Elon Musk and his demons

Walter Isaacson reveals how he shadowed Elon Musk and details billionaire’s brutal treatment of workers, impulsive decisions and chaotic romantic life in a new biography.

How the nation’s most famous newspaper editor took on Trump and his own reporters

Former Washington Post editor Martin Baron joins the L.A. Times Book Club Oct. 11 to discuss “Collision of Power,” his book about Trump, Bezos and the future of journalism.

How Christian Cooper turned one of the worst days of his life into a megaphone for inclusion and the joy of birding

Christian Cooper, author of “Better Living Through Birding” and host of Disney+’s “Extraordinary Birder,” joins the L.A. Times Book Club Aug. 16.

Who are the ‘Donut Dollies’? The story behind the frontline WWII heroes

Bestselling author Luis Alberto Urrea joins the L.A. Times Book Club to discuss ‘Good Night, Irene,’ a novel inspired by his mother’s WWII service.

The survival of Elliot Page

In his new memoir, ‘Pageboy,’ the most famous trans man in the world recounts the dark night of the soul — at home, in Hollywood — that led him here.

40 years after ‘Reading Rainbow,’ LeVar Burton is still fighting for literacy

Forty years after the launch of ‘Reading Rainbow,’ ‘Star Trek’ actor LeVar Burton is championing literacy programs for children with the documentary ‘The Right to Read.’

Gabrielle Zevin takes us inside her video game-inspired, juggernaut bestseller

Bestselling novelist Gabrielle Zevin joins the L.A. Times Book Club April 22 to discuss ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ at the Festival of Books.

How sci-fi writer Annalee Newitz turned to real-life scientists to build a (better) future

Novelist and science journalist Annalee Newitz brings ‘The Terraformers’ to the L.A. Times Book Club March 28.

How a real-life stolen violin inspired Brendan Slocumb’s bestselling mystery

Bestselling author Brendan Slocumb joins the L.A. Times Book Club on Feb. 23 to discuss his debut, “The Violin Conspiracy.”

Column: It shouldn’t take a saint to ease homelessness. But Dr. Jim tries in ‘Rough Sleepers’

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder joins the Los Angeles Times Book Club on Jan. 26 to discuss his newest book, “Rough Sleepers.’

Why Celeste Ng calls her new novel, ‘Our Missing Hearts,’ ‘scarily real’

“Little Fires Everywhere” author Celeste Ng joins the L.A. Times Book Club Dec. 8 to discuss her latest bestseller, “Our Missing Hearts.”

5 revelations about Willie Nelson and his new memoir, ‘Me and Paul’

Watch singer Willie Nelson at the L.A. Times Book Club on Oct. 13 discussing his new book, “Me and Paul.”

Silvia Moreno-Garcia ignored the experts and trusted her instincts. Now she’s a bestseller

Novelist Silvia Moreno-Garcia brings ‘The Daughter of Doctor Moreau’ to the L.A. Times Book Club Sept. 27

Commentary: The brutal but deeply touching true story behind one of L.A.’s most celebrated chefs

Chef Keith Corbin will discuss ‘California Soul’ with the L.A. Times Book Club.

An ‘emotional’ Jennifer Grey opens up about how abortion changed her life

The ‘Dirty Dancing’ star discusses the upcoming sequel, her memoir and the Supreme Court’s ‘fundamentally wrong’ abortion ruling.

Ibram X. Kendi on preparing children for the realities of racism

Ibram X. Kendi joined Times columnist Sandy Banks for a thought-provoking L.A. Times Book Club conversation about his book, ‘How to Raise an Antiracist.’

Watch poet Amanda Gorman’s first public performance since the inauguration

Gorman read her poem “Fugue,” about the ravages of the pandemic, publicly for the first time at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday.

How growing up in L.A. shaped Amanda Gorman’s poetry

Amanda Gorman brings her new collection, ‘Call Us What We Carry,’ to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 23.

Reyna Grande wants her new novel to help us rethink the term ‘invasion’

Reyna Grande, author of “A Ballad of Love and Glory,” will join the L.A. Times Book Club on March 29.

Jane Goodall is still surprised at her ever-growing fame

Jane Goodall brings “The Book of Hope” to the Los Angeles Times Book Club Feb. 25.

She has a bestseller and hit Netflix series. But Stephanie Land’s ‘Maid’ isn’t just about being a ‘palatable poor person’

Stephanie Land, the author of ‘Maid,’ joins the L.A. Times Book Club on Jan. 25.

Ann Patchett on why she isn’t doing a conventional book tour — possibly ever again

Bestselling author Ann Patchett talks about book tours, Tom Hanks and ‘These Precious Days,’ her new book of essays.

Showbiz lives: Ron and Clint Howard open up in their breezy, brotherly Hollywood memoir

In ‘The Boys,’ Oscar-winning director Ron Howard and longtime character actor Clint Howard write the book of their family in distinctly different voices.

She died protecting California: ‘Breathing Fire’ tracks female inmate firefighters

In 2016, Jaime Lowe read the obituary of a female inmate firefighter. Five years later, her new book opens up the world the woman lived and died in.

Elliott: Why Billie Jean King finally took control of her own story

As she releases her memoir “All In,” tennis icon Billie Jean King discusses her career, her causes and “living truthfully.”

Rodrigo Garcia’s memoir wrestles with the death of his father, novelist Gabriel García Márquez

In ‘A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes,’ filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia writes about losing both parents — and the one event his renowned father couldn’t record: his own death.

How Charles Yu fights anti-Asian hate and Hollywood stereotypes in his award-winning novel

Charles Yu, the National Book Award-winning author of ‘Interior Chinatown,’ joins the L.A. Times Book Club in a chat with film critic Justin Chang.

What’s it like inside an ER? This doctor and author shares raw, honest stories

Emergency room doctor Michele Harper, author of ‘The Beauty in Breaking,’ joins Times readers on June 29

Review: Barack Obama’s memoir is a masterful lament over the fragility of hope

“A Promised Land,” out Tuesday in a worldwide release, eloquently and ruefully documents the first two and a half years of Obama’s presidency.

These female divers are living legends. How novelist Lisa See captured their story

Bestselling novelist Lisa See brings’The Island of Sea Women’ to the L.A. Times Book Club

Review: A powerful climate novel reminds us that people are animals too

In the beautiful if overladen “Migrations,” by Charlotte McConaghy, animals are vanishing and a troubled woman follows the last terns to Antarctica.

Viet Thanh Nguyen on his ‘Sympathizer’ sequel and the ‘scarcity’ of voices like his

After a panel for the Festival of Books, Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses his forthcoming novel ‘The Committed,’ the sequel to ‘The Sympathizer.’

Her mom inspired her book on race and identity. Then came the Hollywood bidding war

‘Vanishing Half’ author Brit Bennett talks about the inspiration behind her bestselling novel.

‘Why We Swim’ dives into water’s transformative power

In ‘Why We Swim,’ Bonnie Tsui tells extraordinary tales of swimmers who brave sharks, extreme cold and vicious currents around the globe.

‘Streets raised us. Horses saved us.’ Why the Compton Cowboys ride

Walter Thompson-Hernández tells the stories of “The Compton Cowboys” as they look for the next generation of young riders.

Review: The cowboys of Compton, first a curiosity and then a legacy

Walter Thompson-Hernández’s “The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland” tells a grand story in granular detail.

How to watch Martin Baron discuss ‘Collision of Power’ at the L.A. Times Book Club

Editor Martin Baron will discuss “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and the Washington Post” at L.A. Times Book Club night at USC.

Cooking in quarantine: ‘Always Home’ author Fanny Singer retreats to Alice Waters’ kitchen

Fanny Singer’s stories and recipes, ‘Always Home,’ show life growing up in the orbit of her mother, farm-to-table chef Alice Waters.

Steph Cha and Joe Ide talk noir with the L.A. Times Book Club

“Your House Will Pay” author Steph Cha and “Hi Five” author Joe Ide join the L.A. Times Book Club in Long Beach.

Luis J. Rodriguez on changing lives through poetry

Luis J. Rodriguez shared his new book, ‘From Our Land to Our Land,’ with the Los Angeles Times Book Club

Author Laila Lalami on the power of stories and being ‘The Other’

Growing up in Rabat, Morocco, author Laila Lalami loved “Adventures of Tintin” comic books and identified with Tintin, a young reporter who solves crimes.

Ocean Vuong shares stories behind ‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’

Ocean Vuong, bestselling author of “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” talks about writing and inspiration with the L.A. Times Book Club.

Susan Orlean and readers share library stories at L.A. Times Book Club launch

In her research for “The Library Book,” Susan Orlean was surprised to learn how many people call the Los Angeles Library on a daily basis with outlandish questions.

Father Gregory Boyle talks hope, homelessness and the power of kinship

Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, shared “Barking to the Choir” with the L.A. Times Book Club.

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