The 36th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded on Saturday, April 9, 2016, in a public ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The best books of 2015 were recognized in 10 categories, along with the winners of the Innovator’s and Robert Kirsch awards.

For more information, please visit www.latimesbookprizes.com.

2015 Winners

Innovator's Award
James Patterson

Robert Kirsch Award
Juan Felipe Herrera

Biography
LISTENING TO STONE: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi, by Hayden Herrera (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 

Current Interest
THIEVES OF STATE: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security, by Sarah Chayes (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Fiction
THE STORY OF MY TEETH written by Valeria Luiselli, translated by Christina MacSweeney (Coffee House Press)

Graphic Novel/Comics
ARAB OF THE FUTURE: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir, by Riad Sattouf (Metropolitan Books)

History
KILLING A KING: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel, by Dan Ephron (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Mystery/Thriller
THE CARTEL by Don Winslow (Alfred A. Knopf)

Poetry
FROM THE NEW WORLD: Poems 1976-2014 by Jorie Graham (Ecco/HarperCollins)

Science & Technology
THE INVENTION OF NATURE: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, by Andrea Wulf (Alfred A. Knopf)

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
THE FISHERMEN by Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown and Company)

Young Adult Literature
MY SENACA VILLAGE by Marilyn Nelson (namelos) 

2015 Finalists

Innovator's Award

• James Patterson

Robert Kirsch Award

• Juan Felipe Herrera

Biography

• FORTUNE'S FOOL: The Life of John Wilkes Booth, by Terry Alford (Oxford University Press)
• LISTENING TO STONE: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi, by Hayden Herrera (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• JONAS SALK: A Life, by Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs (Oxford University Press)
• YOUNG ORSON: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane, by Patrick McGilligan (HarperCollins)
• MARY McGRORY: The First Queen of Journalism, by John Norris (Viking)

Current Interest

• THIEVES OF STATE: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security, by Sarah Chayes (W.W. Norton & Co.)
• BLUE: The LAPD and the Battle to Redeem American Policing, by Joe Domanick (Simon & Schuster)
• DREAMLAND: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, by Sam Quinones (Bloomsbury Press)
• CHILDREN OF THE STONE: The Power of Music in a Hard Land, by Sandy Tolan (Bloomsbury USA)
• HOW MUSIC GOT FREE: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy, by Stephen Witt (Viking)

Fiction

• THE GREEN ROAD by Anne Enright (W.W. Norton & Co.)
• DELICIOUS FOODS by James Hannaham (Little, Brown & Co.)
• FORTUNE SMILES by Adam Johnson (Random House)
• THE STORY OF MY TEETH written by Valeria Luiselli, translated by Christina MacSweeney (Coffee House Press)
• BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT by Helen Phillips (Henry Holt and Co.)

Graphic Novel/Comics

• NEW CONSTRUCTION: Two More Stories, by Sam Alden (Uncivilized Books)
• TIM GINGER by Julian Hanshaw (Top Shelf Productions, an imprint of IDW Publishing)
• ARAB OF THE FUTURE: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir, by Riad Sattouf (Metropolitan Books)
• HONOR GIRL by Maggie Thrash (Candlewick)
• SOLDIER'S HEART: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father: A Daughter’s Memoir, by Carol Tyler (Fantagraphics)

History

• SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard (Liveright / W.W. Norton & Co.)
• DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH: The Voyage of the Slave Ship Antelope, by Jonathan Bryant (Liveright / W.W. Norton & Co.)
• KILLING A KING: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel, by Dan Ephron (W.W. Norton & Co.)
• ONCE IN A GREAT CITY: A Detroit Story, by David Maraniss (Simon & Schuster)
• THIS GULF OF FIRE: The Destruction of Lisbon, or Apocalypse in the Age of Science and Reason, by Mark Molesky (Alfred A. Knopf)

Mystery/Thriller

• THE LONG AND FARAWAY GONE by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
• THE SYMPATHIZER by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)
• BULL MOUNTAIN by Brian Panowich (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• THE WHITES by Richard Price (Picador)
• THE CARTEL by Don Winslow (Alfred A. Knopf)

Poetry

• CHORD by Rick Barot (Sarabande Books)
• FROM THE NEW WORLD: Poems 1976-2014 by Jorie Graham (Ecco/HarperCollins)
• VOYAGE OF THE SABLE VENUS by Robin Coste Lewis (Alfred A. Knopf)
• THE RUINED ELEGANCE by Fiona Sze-Lorrain (Princeton University Press)
• SHIRT IN HEAVEN by Jean Valentine (Copper Canyon Press)

Science & Technology

• MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots, by John Markoff (Ecco / HarperCollins)
• THE EVIL HOURS: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, by David Morris (Eamon Dolan / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• HOW TO CLONE A MAMMOTH: The Science of De-Extinction, by Beth Shapiro (Princeton University Press)
• RUST: The Longest War, by Jonathan Waldman (Simon & Schuster)
• THE INVENTION OF NATURE: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, by Andrea Wulf (Alfred A. Knopf)

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

• BINARY STAR by Sarah Gerard (Two Dollar Radio)
• AGAINST THE COUNTRY by Ben Metcalf (Random House)
• GIRL AT WAR by Sara Novic (Random House)
• THE FISHERMEN by Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown and Company)
• THE MIRACLE GIRL by Andrew Roe (Algonquin Books)

Young Adult Literature

• DROWNED CITY: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, by Don Brown (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
• MY SENACA VILLAGE by Marilyn Nelson (namelos)
• THE BOY IN THE BLACK SUIT by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
• THE HIRED GIRL by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
• MOST DANGEROUS: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War, by Steve Sheinkin (Roaring Brook Press)