The 41st annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded on April 16th. The best books of 2020 were recognized in 12 categories, along with the winners of the Robert Kirsch and Innovator’s awards.

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2020 Winners

Robert Kirsch Award
Leslie Marmon Silko

Innovator's Award
The Book Industry Charitable Organization (BINC)

The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose
MAYFLIES by Andrew O'Hagan

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES by Deesha Philyaw

Biography
MAD AT THE WORLD: A Life of John Steinbeck, by William Souder

Current Interest
CASTE: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson

Fiction
AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK by David Diop, translated Anna Moschovakis

Graphic Novel/Comics
APSARA ENGINE by Bishakh Som

History
VANGUARD: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, by Martha S. Jones

Mystery/Thriller
BLACKTOP WASTELAND by S.A. Cosby

Poetry
OBIT by Victoria Chang

Science & Technology
THE SMALLEST LIGHTS IN THE UNIVERSE: A Memoir, by Sara Seager

The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction
THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones

Young Adult Literature
PUNCHING THE AIR by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam

2020 Finalists

Robert Kirsch Award

• Leslie Marmon Silko

Innovator's Award

• The Book Industry Charitable Organization (BINC)

The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose

• MAYFLIES by Andrew O'Hagan

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

• THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY by Maisy Card
• LITTLE GODS by Meng Jin
• THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES by Deesha Philyaw
• SHUGGIE BAIN by Douglas Stuart
• A HOUSE IS A BODY: Stories, by Shruti Swamy

Biography

• RED COMET: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark
• WARHOL by Blake Gopnik
• ELEANOR by David Michaelis
• THE DEAD ARE ARISING by Les Payne & Tamara Payne
• MAD AT THE WORLD: A Life of John Steinbeck, by William Souder

Current Interest

• A KNOCK AT MIDNIGHT: A story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom, by Brittany K. Barnett
• WAITING FOR AN ECHO: The Madness of Incarceration, by Christine Montross, M.D.
• SEPARATED: Inside an American Tragedy, by Jacob Soboroff
• THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
• CASTE: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson

Fiction

• WHAT HAPPENS AT NIGHT by Peter Cameron
• AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK by David Diop, translated Anna Moschovakis
• THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI by Akwaeke Emezi
• THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS: A Novella and Stories, by Danielle Evans
• LIKES by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

Graphic Novel/Comics

• UMMA'S TABLE by Yeon-sik Hong, translated by Janet Hong
• BLUE FLAG (Vol. 1-4) by KAITO
• SPORTS IS HELL by Ben Passmore
• APSARA ENGINE by Bishakh Som
• COME HOME, INDIO: A Memoir, by Jim Terry

History

• SOUTH TO FREEDOM: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War, by Alice Baumgartner
• THE DEPORTATION MACHINE: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants, by Adam Goodman
• THE BROKEN HEART OF AMERICA: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States, by Walter Johnson
• VANGUARD: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, by Martha S. Jones
• THE UNITED STATES OF WAR: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State, by David Vine

Mystery/Thriller

• A BEAUTIFUL CRIME by Christopher Bollen
• BLACKTOP WASTELAND by S.A. Cosby
• AND NOW SHE'S GONE by Rachel Howzell Hall
• LITTLE SECRETS by Jennifer Hillier
• THESE WOMEN by Ivy Pochoda

Poetry

• OBIT by Victoria Chang
• BORDERLAND APOCRYPHA by Anthony Cody
• POSTCOLONIAL LOVE POEM by Natalie Diaz
• THE AGE OF PHILLIS by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
• LOVE CHILD'S HOTBED OF OCCASIONAL POETRY: Poems and Artifacts, by Nikky Finney

Science & Technology

• THE ALIGNMENT PROBLEM: Machine Learning and Human Values, by Brian Christian
• WHY FISH DON'T EXIST: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, by Lulu Miller
• THE ALCHEMY OF US: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another, by Ainissa Ramirez
• THE SMALLEST LIGHTS IN THE UNIVERSE: A Memoir, by Sara Seager
• THE BOOK OF EELS: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World, by Patrik Svensson

The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction

• PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke
• LAKEWOOD by Megan Giddings
• THE CITY WE BECAME by N. K. Jemisin
• THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones
• WHERE THE WILD LADIES ARE by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton

Young Adult Literature

• THE BLACK FLAMINGO by Dean Atta
• LEGENDBORN by Tracy Deonn
• GO WITH THE FLOW by Karen Schneemann and Lily Williams
• THE SNOW FELL THREE GRAVES DEEP: Voices from the Donner Party, by Allan Wolf
• PUNCHING THE AIR by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam