Andrew Garfield, Percival Everett and Attica Locke among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists
The finalists for the 45th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced Wednesday morning, recognizing a group of celebrated writers. Actor Andrew Garfield, novelist Percival Everett and author, screenwriter and TV producer Attica Locke are among the 61 nominees across more than a dozen categories honoring literary achievement.
Garfield is one of the finalists, alongside actor Matt Bomer, in the audiobook production category, which is being given in collaboration with Audible and spotlights performance, production and innovation in storytelling. The category was first introduced last year. Garfield is recognized alongside several actors, including Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott and Tom Hardy, for lending their talents to Audible's original adaptation 'George Orwell's 1984.' Bomer is up for his work narrating James Baldwin's 'Giovanni's Room.'
Among the dozens of finalists are the writers behind some of the most talked-about books of 2024, including author and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates. Journalist and author Jesse Katz's 'The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA' is also up in the current interest category. Filmmaker and writer Miranda July, who wrote and directed 'Kajillionaire,' is among the fiction finalists for 'All Fours.'
'Pemi Aguda, Cynthia Carr, Taiyo Matsumoto, Andrea Freeman, Cindy Juyoung Ok, Lev Grossman, Zoë Schlanger and K.A. Cobell are also finalists.
The awards ceremony, which will take place April 25 at USC's Bovard Auditorium ahead of the 30th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, also includes a number of honorees in special categories. Poet Amanda Gorman will be honored with the Innovator's Award recognizing her work to 'bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future.' The former Los Angeles youth poet laureate rose to fame when she read her stirring poem 'The Hill We Climb' at President Biden's inauguration and has since used her voice to highlight important issues including climate change, social justice and literacy.
'Amanda Gorman is an eloquent voice for the next generation. Her skillful use of poetry to motivate, inspire and enact social change is incredibly powerful,' Times Executive Editor Terry Tang said in a news release Wednesday. 'We are thrilled to be honoring Gorman with this year's Innovator's Award and to shine a light on the work she has done — and continues to do — in promoting literacy to empower the youth to get involved.'
Pico Iyer, the renowned author of 'The Art of Stillness,' will receive the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, which celebrates a writer with a substantial connection to the American West. Iyer's latest work, 'Aflame: Learning From Silence,' is a reflection on the power of meditation, even through stressful life events, including his California home burning down decades ago.
'Pico Iyer is a treasure,' said Ann Binney, Times associate director of events and book prizes administrator. 'While he travels the world, he always finds his way back to California. I have known Pico for many years, and it is such an honor to recognize him with the Robert Kirsch Award. His beautiful words sharing his own experience of loss and recovery offer us welcome comfort, especially during this time as we recover from our recent devastating wildfires.'
The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose will go to Emily Witt for 'Health and Safety: A Breakdown,' a bestselling memoir about Witt's exploration with psychedelic substances and the New York City dance-club scene. It offers a sharp and timely examination of life in America during Donald Trump's first presidential term. Witt is also an investigative journalist and has previously written 'Future Sex,' a deep dive into modern dating and sexuality.
'Emily Witt exposes a country in the throes of ongoing trauma in a coming-of-age memoir — keenly observed, unapologetically told — that feels scarily emblematic of our life and times,' the judges of the Isherwood Prize said in a statement. The award, which is sponsored by the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, honors exceptional work and encompasses fiction, travel writing, memoir and diary.
The Book Prizes recognize titles in the following categories: audiobooks, autobiographical prose (the Christopher Isherwood Prize), biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award), graphic novel/comics, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science fiction, science and technology and young adult literature. Finalists and winners are selected by panels of writers who specialize in each genre.
For more information about the Book Prizes, including the complete list of 2024 finalists, visit latimes.com/BookPrizes.
Pico Iyer, 'Aflame: Learning From Silence'
Emily Witt, 'Health and Safety: A Breakdown'
Amanda Gorman
Jiaming Tang, 'Cinema Love: A Novel'
'Pemi Aguda, 'Ghostroots: Stories'
Joseph Earl Thomas, 'God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer: A Novel'
Jessica Elisheva Emerson, 'Olive Days: A Novel'
Julian Zabalbeascoa, 'What We Tried to Bury Grows Here'
Matt Bomer (narrator), Kelly Gildea (director, co-producer), Lauren Klein (producer); 'Giovanni's Room: A Novel'
Narrators: Clare Brown, Ayanna Dookie, Korey Jackson, Andrea Jones-Sojola, Brittany Pressley, Emana Rachelle, Malika Samuel, Heather Alicia Simms, Diana Bustelo, Tyla Collier, Alejandra Reynoso, David Sadzin, André Santana, Shaun Taylor-Corbett; Producer: Allison Light; 'New Nigeria County'
Narrators: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, Tom Hardy, Chukwudi Iwuji, Romesh Ranganathan, Natasia Demetriou, Francesca Mills, Alex Lawther, Katie Leung; Producers: Chris Jones, Mariele Runacre-Temple, Robin Morgan-Bentley, Nathan Freeman; 'George Orwell's 1984: An Audible Original adaptation'
Dominic Hoffman (narrator), Linda Korn (producer); 'James: A Novel'
Michele Norris With a Full Cast (narrator), Mike Noble (producer); 'Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity'
Laura Beers, 'Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century'
Cynthia Carr, 'Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar'
Alexis Pauline Gumbs, 'Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde'
Pamela D. Toler, 'The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of An American Reporter in Nazi Germany'
Jessica Goudeau, 'We Were Illegal: Uncovering a Texas Family's Mythmaking and Migration'
Jonathan Blitzer, 'Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis'
Ta-Nehisi Coates, 'The Message'
Jesse Katz, 'The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA'
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 'The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World'
Wright Thompson, 'The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi'
Rita Bullwinkel, 'Headshot: A Novel'
Jennine Capó Crucet, 'Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Novel'
Percival Everett, 'James: A Novel'
Yuri Herrera translated by Lisa Dillman, 'Season of the Swamp: A Novel'
Miranda July, 'All Fours: A Novel'
Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes, 'Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol. 2: The Cursed Hermit'
Taiyo Matsumoto, 'Tokyo These Days, Vol. 1'
Bhanu Pratap, 'Cutting Season'
Miroslav Sekulic-Struja translated by Jenna Allen, 'Petar & Liza'
Ram V and Filipe Andrade, 'Rare Flavours'
Andrea Freeman, 'Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, From the Trail of Tears to School Lunch'
Andrew W. Kahrl, 'The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America'
Aaron Robertson, 'The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America'
Joseph M. Thompson, 'Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism'
Michael Waters, 'The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports'
Christopher Bollen, 'Havoc: A Novel'
Michael Connelly, 'The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel'
Attica Locke, 'Guide Me Home: A Highway 59 Novel'
Liz Moore, 'The God of the Woods: A Novel'
Danielle Trussoni, 'The Puzzle Box: A Novel'
Remica Bingham-Risher, 'Room Swept Home'
Andrea Cohen, 'The Sorrow Apartments'
Cindy Juyoung Ok, 'Ward Toward'
Pam Rehm, 'Inner Verses'
Alison C. Rollins, 'Black Bell'
Jedediah Berry, 'The Naming Song'
Lev Grossman, 'The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur'
Kelly Link, 'The Book of Love'
Jeff VanderMeer, 'Absolution: A Southern Reach Novel'
Nghi Vo, 'The City in Glass'
Rebecca Boyle, 'Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are'
Ferris Jabr, 'Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life'
Daniel Lewis, 'Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future'
Kyne Santos, 'Math in Drag'
Zoë Schlanger, 'The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth'
Traci Chee, 'Kindling'
K.A. Cobell, 'Looking for Smoke'
Safia Elhillo, 'Bright Red Fruit'
Carolina Ixta, 'Shut Up, This Is Serious'
Kim Johnson, 'The Color of a Lie'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
6 hours ago
- New York Times
Karol G's Love Letter to Latinas, Plus 4 More New Songs
Produced by Kate LoPresti Edited by Frannie Carr Toth Engineered by Rowan Niemisto Original music by Dan Powell Hosted by Jon Pareles Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic at The New York Times, shares a multigenerational playlist full of old-school rock and some more futuristic sounds. Bruce Springsteen, 'Repo Man' Karol G, 'Latina Foreva' Moses Sumney and Hayley Williams, 'I Like It I Like It' M(h)aol, '1-800-Call-Me-Back' Little Feat, 'Dance a Little" Jon Pareles is the chief pop music critic at The Times. The Playlist The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven't already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
‘Just Sing' Doc Shows The Heartfelt Real-Life World Of ‘Pitch Perfect'
When the filmmakers behind Just Sing first picked up their cameras, they weren't sure what story they were going to be telling. That's the risk — and to some, the thrill — of vérité documentary filmmaking. The only certain thing about the production was the subject: the SoCal VoCals, an elite college a cappella group from the University of Southern California, which is known for its powerhouse vocals, precision, showmanship, and an alumni roster that's packed with talented singers. But since the film's narrative is built around a competition, one which the filmmakers couldn't control, the outcome was impossible to script. 'It was part of the stress,' admits co-director Angelique Molina during a recent interview. 'If they had lost in the first round, we had to ask ourselves, 'where does the story go?'' That uncertainty hung over the production from the very beginning, and had to be a part of pitch meetings. Would the group advance through regionals? Would their stories resonate with everyone? Would there even be a satisfying emotional arc if none of these hardworking young singers got their moment in the spotlight? Thankfully, Just Sing does feature such an arc — one that isn't rooted solely in the outcome of the national championship, but rather in personal stories of the members of the SoCal VoCals. The audience is pulled in, and ultimately entertained, not just by the impeccable performances, but via an inside look at average, everyday people. That speaks to the openness of the singers, and the talent of the filmmakers. The documentary, which premieres at the Tribeca Festival on Friday (June 6), is ultimately joyful, as the camera follows the group of college students attempting to balance rehearsals, schoolwork, personal challenges, and the relentless drive to become not just good performers, but a winning team. Throughout that journey, the filmmakers capture quiet moments of vulnerability and celebration, including late-night practices, difficult conversations with parents who have given so much to see their children be able to sing, and the elation that comes with a life built around the arts – even if so many of them have no idea what's coming next and don't have a backup plan. Shot over the course of more than 100 days, Just Sing follows the SoCal VoCals from auditions and rehearsals through regionals, semifinals, and the finals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella — the same contest that inspired Pitch Perfect, though the tone here is far more grounded. This is real. In between stellar a cappella renditions of tracks by superstars both modern and from the past, the viewer really gets to know the students. Some are coming to terms with their own identities, while others recognize the hardships their families went through to give them this opportunity. 'A cappella brought them together,' says co-director Abraham Troen, 'but they each had their own lives, dreams, and challenges. That's what made the story feel bigger than the competition.' For Troen and Molina, the real breakthrough came not from any single performance, but in those subdued moments — during one-on-one interviews, especially long conversations over coffee, where the filmmakers chose which students they wanted to focus on, in addition to telling the story of the group as a whole. 'We didn't try to steer or manufacture emotion,' says Molina. 'They felt that, and they responded with honesty.' Connecting with the students came naturally, but filming was never easy. The directors embedded themselves into the troupe's daily routine, following the students from early morning classes through evening rehearsals that stretched well past midnight. 'That physical exhaustion of constantly being present — that was a challenge,' Molina says. 'But it was joyful, too. Worth it.' The filmmakers had other hurdles to clear as well, including the incredibly complicated and fraught world of music licensing. The SoCal Vocal's set list throughout the competitions featured everything from Lady Gaga to Beyoncé to Bob Dylan, and anyone who knows anything about placing songs into visual media knows such choices don't come cheap. 'We're really proud of the music we licensed,' says producer Sarah Thomson. 'We had an amazing music supervisor, and thankfully, nearly everyone said yes.' The team's careful planning and early outreach helped avoid problems in the future, like having to replace important music in post-production – something that simply wasn't an option here. The filmmakers needed to show the performances, and the students got to pick their own tunes. If just one act had declined, that may have been the end of this movie. The final cut of this documentary feels perfectly polished, but according to those who made the film, the process was a little messy. 'You can't script life,' Troen says. 'We were directing and filming at the same time, passing the camera between us, deciding who goes home with whom, who gets miked up out of 16 people. It was like a dance.' Even the edit evolved slowly. 'We had to ask, where does the story go? It wasn't about who was 'better,' it was about which stories could move the narrative forward.' 'In a cappella, sure, there are leads,' says Molina, 'but to sound like one voice, you have to be on the same page. That's what we tried to do as filmmakers, too.' This documentary, which is, at its heart, about something fairly simple that thousands of students take part in every year, feels both triumphant and normal – as can so many things in a life. Whether the SoCal VoCals win or not becomes almost secondary, though of course there's plenty of tension. 'We think the film will feel both bittersweet and triumphant, no matter what,' says Troen. 'Because at the end, they graduate. That's the real emotional payoff.'
Los Angeles Times
11 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
At Our Lady of the Angels, free organ recitals unleash the majesty of Los Angeles
Even in a building as massive as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown, the organ stands out. How could it not? Standing 85 feet tall behind the right side of the altar, weighing 42 tons, featuring over 6,000 pipes and bearing the epic name Opus 75, it looks half smokestacks, half battleship and all awesome. It's regularly used during Mass and has hosted organists from around the world since its 2003 debut. But what's coolest about Opus 75 — and what not enough people know — is that the Cathedral holds free lunchtime recitals featuring its star instrument on the first Wednesday of each month. As an organ fanatic, I have long wanted to attend one. I finally had the chance this week. Accompanied by my Times colleague (and fellow classical music head) Ruben Vives, I arrived at the cathedral during the daily 12:10 service, just before the Eucharist. Resident organist Sook Hyun Kim worked the King of Instruments like the seasoned pro she is, including a moving version of 'Make Me a Channel of Your Peace' — an apropos hymn for the era of Pope Leo XIV. About 40 people representing the breadth of L.A. — white, Latino, Asian, Black and all age groups — spread out across the pews after Mass ended to listen to guest organist Emma Yim. The 22-year-old graduated from UCLA (Go Bruins!) two years ago with degrees in biology and organ performance. She is pursuing a master's from our alma mater in the latter discipline, does research for a UCLA Department of Medicine women's health lab and also plays the cello. Man, and I thought I covered a lot of ground! Her choice for the cathedral recital: three of the five movements from French composer Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5. It would be Yim's first time playing Opus 75. The first movement was mostly variations on a cascading theme. Kim stood to Yim's side to flip the pages of the score while the latter's hands leaped around the rows of the organ's keys. Yim played at first like she didn't want to tempt the power of the behemoth before her — the notes were soft and cautious. But during Widor's playful second movement, the young adults in attendance who had been on their smartphones began to pay attention. Heads began to sway with every swirl of Baroque-like chords that Yim unleashed. 'I could hear elements of 'Lord of the Rings' in there,' Ruben whispered to me as we looked on from our center pews. She skipped two movements to perform the Fifth's fifth, better known as Widor's Toccata. Its soaring passages have made it a popular song for weddings. More people began to poke their head in from the hallways that ring the cathedral's worship space to see what was going on. Yim became more animated as she worked the keys and foot pedals faster and faster. High-pitched arpeggios accentuated resonant bass notes. Kim stopped flipping the score, stepped back and looked on in awe like the rest of us as Yim roused Opus 75 to its full might. The majesty of L.A. suddenly crossed my mind. Even in tough times like these, it's unsurpassed in beauty, in its people and especially in its capacity to surprise and delight in places expected and not. It's people like Yim and performances like hers that stir us all forward to a better place. The recital ended. 'Beautiful, just beautiful,' Ruben said, and I agreed. The applause the crowd gave Yim was swallowed up by the cathedral's size and our sparse numbers, but she was visibly moved. 'Thank you all for coming,' the youngster quietly said, and we all went off to our day. Kim told Ruben and me that the cathedral's organ series will take a summer break before it relaunches in September. See you then! Polly says, 'My dad used to love the saying, 'if you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space!' He would say it as reminder for himself and to my sister and I to not overthink things and to just let loose, stop worrying, or try something new.' Peter says, 'I was around 8 or 9 years old and prattling on about something I knew nothing about, when my father sternly admonished me. He said 'Peter, you only learn when you listen, never when you talk.' His words resonated and got me to my core.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Today's great photo is from Times photographer Juliana Yamada at the Manhattan Beach home of Paul and Cailin Goncalves, who turned their formerly compartmentalized home and ADU into a bright, flexible family home. Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
