What To Read

Last night, the Los Angeles Times celebrated the best books of 2024 at its 45th annual Book Prizes ceremony, held at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The event marked the official kickoff of the 2025 Festival of Books weekend, which continues through April 26–27 at USC.

The Book Prizes honored literary excellence across 13 categories, including fiction, biography, poetry, and more. Here are the winners along with the full list of finalists:

Fiction

Winner: Jennine Capó Crucet, Say Hello to My Little Friend

Finalists:

• Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot

• Percival Everett, James

• Yuri Herrera, Season of the Swamp

• Miranda July, All Fours

First Fiction (Art Seidenbaum Award)

Winner: Jiaming Tang, Cinema Love

Finalists:

• Pemi Aguda, Ghostroots

• Joseph Earl Thomas, God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer

• Jessica Elisheva Emerson, Olive Days

• Julian Zabalbeascoa, What We Tried to Bury Grows Here

Biography

Winner: Laura Beers, Orwell’s Ghosts

Finalists:

• Cynthia Carr, Candy Darling

• Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Survival Is a Promise

• Pamela D. Toler, The Dragon From Chicago

• Jessica Goudeau, We Were Illegal

Current Interest

Winner: Jesse Katz, The Rent Collectors

Finalists:

• Jonathan Blitzer, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here

• Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Message

• Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry

• Wright Thompson, The Barn

Mystery/Thriller

Winner: Danielle Trussoni, The Puzzle Box

Finalists:

• Christopher Bollen, Havoc

• Michael Connelly, The Waiting

• Attica Locke, Guide Me Home

• Liz Moore, The God of the Woods

Scifi and Fantasy

Winner: Kelly Link, The Book of Love

Finalists:

• Jedediah Berry, The Naming Song

• Lev Grossman, The Bright Sword

• Jeff VanderMeer, Absolution

• Nghi Vo, The City in Glass

Graphic Novel/Comics

Winner: Taiyo Matsumoto, Tokyo These Days, Vol. 1

Finalists:

• Kris Bertin & Alexander Forbes, Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol. 2

• Bhanu Pratap, Cutting Season

• Miroslav Sekulic-Struja, Petar & Liza

• Ram V & Filipe Andrade, Rare Flavours

Poetry

Winner: Remica Bingham-Risher, Room Swept Home

Finalists:

• Andrea Cohen, The Sorrow Apartments

• Cindy Juyoung Ok, Ward Toward

• Pam Rehm, Inner Verses

• Alison C. Rollins, Black Bell

History

Winner: Andrea Freeman, Ruin Their Crops on the Ground

Finalists:

• Andrew W. Kahrl, The Black Tax

• Aaron Robertson, The Black Utopians

• Joseph M. Thompson, Cold War Country

• Michael Waters, The Other Olympians

Science & Technology

Winner: Rebecca Boyle, Our Moon

Finalists:

• Ferris Jabr, Becoming Earth

• Daniel Lewis, Twelve Trees

• Kyne Santos, Math in Drag

• Zoë Schlanger, The Light Eaters

Young Adult Literature

Winner: Kim Johnson, The Color of a Lie

Finalists:

• Traci Chee, Kindling

• K.A. Cobell, Looking for Smoke

• Safia Elhillo, Bright Red Fruit

• Carolina Ixta, Shut Up, This Is Serious