The finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prizes 2022 were announced on Wednesday, February 22, 2022. Here are the writers of African descent on the list.
The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were founded in 1980 by Art Seidenbaum, a Los Angeles Times book editor from 1978 to 1985. They are awarded annually in Best Biography, Best Current Interest winner, Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, Best Graphic Novel/Comics, Best History, Best mystery/thriller, Best Poetry, Best Science & Technology, and the Ray Bradbury Prize. Namwali Serpell and Marlon James won in their categories in 2020. In the following year, Deesha Philyaw, Isabel Wilkerson, David Diop, as well as Ibi Zoboi, and Dr. Yusef Salaam won in their categories. Veronique Tadjo won in her category last year.
The 56 finalists for 2023 were selected from 11 categories and presented to the public on Wednesday; here are the writers of African descent who made the cut;
Biography
- Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality.
- Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice.
Fiction
- James Hannaham, Didn’t Nobody Give a S— What Happened to Carlotta
Graphic novels/comics
- Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith, Wash Day Diaries
History
- Margaret A. Burnham, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners
- Kerri K. Greenidge, The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family
Mystery/Thriller
- Rachel Howzell Hall, We Lie Here
Poetry
- Dionne Brand, Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems
- Cynthia Parker-Ohene, Daughters of Harriet: Poems
The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
- Oscar Hokeah, Calling for a Blanket Dance
The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction
- Alex Jennings, The Ballad of Perilous Graves
Current interest
- Dorothy Roberts, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families — and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World,
The winners will be announced in a ceremony on Friday, April 21, in Los Angeles, USA in the evening before the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, taking place the weekend of April 22-23.
