World Literary Awards

← Back to Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Los Angeles Times Book Prize ろさんぜるす・たいむず ぶっくしょう

Edition 26 (2005)

BiographyCurrent interestFictionArt Seidenbaum Award for First FictionHistoryMystery/ThrillerPoetryScience and TechnologyYoung Adult NovelGraphic Novel/ComicsRay Bradbury Prize (SF/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction)Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical ProseInnovator's AwardRobert Kirsch AwardAchievement in Audiobook Production (established 2023, presented by Audible)

Winners

12 people

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction went to Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation, a novel about a child soldier.

A child-soldier novel that confronts violence, loss, and survival.

160 pages
warchild soldiersviolencedebut novel

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography went to Hilary Spurling's Matisse the Master, a major biography of Henri Matisse.

A major biography of Henri Matisse focused on his mature years.

544 pages
biographyart historyFrench artmodern painting

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest went to Anthony Shadid's Night Draws Near, a book about Iraq during America's war.

A reported account of ordinary lives under the shadow of war in Iraq.

424 pages
Iraqjournalismcontemporary historywar

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction went to Gabriel García Márquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores, a novella of late-life longing.

An aging narrator confronts love late in life.

128 pages
Latin American literatureloveold agememory

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Translation recognized Edith Grossman's English translation of Gabriel García Márquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores.

A late-life novella of memory, desire, and loneliness.

128 pages
translationLatin American literatureloveold age

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History went to Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains, a history of the British abolition movement.

A narrative history of the long campaign to abolish slavery in the British Empire.

496 pages
historyabolitionBritish historypolitical movement

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller went to Robert Littell's Legends: A Novel of Dissimulation.

A spy novel about deception, memory, and layered identities.

386 pages
spy fictionmemorydeceptionidentity
Jack Gilbert Winner

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry went to Jack Gilbert's Refusing Heaven, a collection of poems.

A late collection marked by quiet intensity and emotional clarity.

112 pages
poetrylovelosslate career
Diana Preston Winner

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology went to Diana Preston's Before the Fallout, a history of science from Marie Curie to Hiroshima.

A sweeping history of science leading from discovery to Hiroshima.

400 pages
history of scienceradioactivityHiroshimathe twentieth century
Per Nilsson Winner

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction went to You & You & You, the English translation of Per Nilsson's novel by Tara Chace.

Three young lives intersect in a quietly shifting story.

301 pages
young adulttranslationcoming of agechoice
Per Nilsson Winner

The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction went to Per Nilsson's You & You & You, translated by Tara Chace.

Three young lives intersect in a novel about choice and turning points.

301 pages
young adulttranslationadolescencechoice
Joan Didion Winner