John Green
The image of author John Green is projected on the screen at the start of the 34th Annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes event at USC. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / April 11, 2014)



April 11, 2014, Los Angeles Times


The 34th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded Friday night at USC's Bovard Auditorium. The winners in 10 categories included a first-generation Chinese American, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and one of the bestselling authors of all time (sort of).

 Not all the winners were present to accept their awards -- the mystery/thriller prize went to “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith, a once-secret pseudonym of J.K. Rowling. The mega-bestselling author of the Harry Potter series is notoriously private and did not attend.

 Two previously announced awards were also presented at the ceremony. Young adult author, activist and video blogger John Green was presented with the Innovator’s Award. Susan Straight, a native of Riverside, was awarded the 2013 Robert Kirsch Award for her fiction set in Southern California.

 The complete list of winners 
:
Biography: “Bolivar: American Liberator” by Marie Arana
Current Interest: “Five Days at Memorial” by Sheri Fink
Fiction: “A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki
Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: “We Need New Names” by NoViolet Bulawayo
Graphic Novel/Comics: “Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life” by Ulli Lust
History: “The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914” by Christopher Clark
Mystery/Thriller: “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith
Poetry: “Collected Poems” by Ron Padgett
Science and Technology: “Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?” by Alan Weisman
Young Adult Literature: “Boxers & Saints” by Gene Luen Yang