The Book Prizes cover twelve subject categories: biography, current interest, autobiographical prose (the Christopher Isherwood Prize added 2016), fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added 1991), graphic novel (added 2009), history, mystery/thriller (added in 2000), poetry, science fiction/fantasy (added 2019), science and technology (added in 1989), and young adult literature (added in 1998).
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.
The Innovator’s Award (added 2009) — 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.
The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose (added 2016) spans fiction, travel writing, memoir and diary, all genres in which Isherwood worked. During his lifetime, he authored novels, autobiography, travel books, and over a million words of diaries. Katherine Bucknell, executive director of
The Christopher Isherwood Foundation, says, “ we are absolutely delighted to be giving this prize with the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles was Christopher Isherwood’s adoptive home, and in 1984 he was awarded the Robert Kirsch Award for his own writing.” A five-judge panel has selected the 2022 winner.
The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction (added 2019) — Sponsored by
Ray Bradbury Foundation, this award honors and extends Bradbury’s literary legacy by celebrating and elevating the writers working in his field today. “We are thrilled to present this prize in partnership with the LA Times,” the family of Ray Bradbury said in a statement. “Ray was a proud Angeleno who used words to both predict and prevent the future — this prize recognizes authors with a similar passion for storytelling and the far-reaching effects their words have in this world.” A 3-judge panel chose the 5 finalists for the 2022 prize.
The Kirsch and Innovator’s Award winners are selected by an anonymous internal Los Angeles Times committee and will be announced with the winner of the Isherwood Prize and all the category finalists on February 22, 2023.