Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalists Announced

Michael Schaub prepares Los Angeles Times readers for the city's annual Festival of Books by sharing the names (and a few stories) of the nominees for prizes in categories including Poetry. "The finalists for the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced Wednesday, with Michelle Obama, Susan Orlean, Michael Ondaatje and Terrance Hayes among the nominees for the annual literary awards," Schaub explains. "Winners will be announced at a ceremony at USC's Bovard Auditorium on April 12, the day before the start of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books." From there: 

Nominated books this year include former First Lady Obama's memoir "Becoming" in the current interest category, where it will compete with Orlean's "The Library Book" and Michael Lewis' "The Fifth Risk," among others. The fiction finalists include Ondaatje's "Warlight," along with Rebecca Makkai's "The Great Believers" and Tayari Jones' "An American Marriage."

Other notable books to be nominated this year are Tara Westover's "Educated" in the biography category; Tommy Orange's "There There" in first fiction; Miriam Pawel's "The Browns of California" in history; Megan Abbott's "Give Me Your Hand" in mystery/thriller; and Elizabeth Acevedo's "The Poet X" in young adult literature.

The winners of three special awards were also announced. The Robert Kirsch Award, a lifetime achievement prize given to a writer with a substantial connection to the American West, will go to Terry Tempest Williams, a nature writer and environmental activist whose most recent book, "The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks," was published in 2016.

“Following a year of record-setting wildfires here in California, we felt the time was right to honor Terry Tempest Williams,” said Julia Turner, The Times’ deputy managing Editor for arts and entertainment. “With issues of the environment and climate change becoming increasingly urgent, what better moment to recognize someone who has focused her creative life on writing about the land and fighting for environmental issues in the most elegant and articulate way?”

Skipping ahead to the Poetry category, the nominees (and the titles of their respective volumes) are:

POETRY

Jos Charles, "Feeld"

Terrance Hayes, "American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin"

Diana Khoi Nguyen, "Ghost Of"

Carl Phillips, "Wild Is the Wind"

Diane Seuss, "Still Life With Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl"

Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times.