2009 L.A. Times Book Prizes

Last week, the Los Angeles Times announced the 2009 Book Prize winners. This is an annual event that takes place during their Festival of Books and honors authors in ten categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award), graphic novel, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology, and young adult literature. Graphic Novel is a new category to the 30-year ceremony.

Listed below are the finalists of the 2009 Book Prize Winners. For a list of all finalists and runners up, visit here.

• Biography: Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon
• Current Interest: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
• Fiction: A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias
• First Fiction (Art Seidenbaum Award): American Rust by Philipp Meyer
• Graphic Novel: Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
• History: Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance 1950-1963 by Kevin Starr
• Mystery/Thriller: The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
• Poetry: Practical Water by Brenda Hillman
• Science & Technology: The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo
• Young Adult Literature: Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge

Apart from the ten categories of new works, Dave Eggers received the Innovators Award and Evan S. Connell received the Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Acheivement. The Innovators Award is new to the program and it recognizes "cutting-edge work, specifically endeavors that bring storytelling into the future via new business models, technology or applications of narrative art."