Los Angeles Times Announces Finalists for 2010 Book Prizes

By Maryann Yin 

The Los Angeles Times announced the 2010 Book Prize finalists today. Ten award categories recognize the work of fifty different writers–the nonfiction and fiction shortlists follow below.

The winners will be revealed at the April 29th ceremony. The press release revealed two awards: “Beverly Cleary is the recipient of the annual Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement and the first children’s author to win the award in its 31-year history … Iconic Powell’s Books, the world’s largest independent bookstore, will be presented with the 2010 Innovator’s Award, which spotlights cutting-edge business models, technology or applications of narrative art.”

David L. Ulin will lead the ceremony. Award presenters include Jim Newton, Robin Abcarian, and Jonathan Kirsch. This event will kick off the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books that lasts from April 29th and May 1st. Follow the jump to see the nominees for current interest and fiction.

CURRENT INTEREST FINALISTS

Jonathan Alter, The Promise: President Obama, Year One (Simon & Schuster)
Sebastian Junger, War (TWELVE/Hachette Book Group)
Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (W. W. Norton & Company)
Joe Nocera & Bethany McLean, All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis (Portfolio/Penguin Group)
Patti Smith, Just Kids (Ecco/HarperCollins)

FICTION FINALISTS

Rick Bass, Nashville Chrome (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Richard Bausch, Something is Out There: Stories (Knopf)
Jennifer Egan, A Visit From the Goon Squad (Knopf)
Jonathan Franzen, Freedom (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Frederick Reiken, Day for Night (Reagan Arthur Books/Hachette Book Group)