How to support the L.A. Times Book Club and Book Prizes

Civic engagement is the heart and soul of The Times’ literacy and literary programs. We share books and ideas, and spark a range of community discussions on the issues that Southern Californians care about most.

The Times has expanded this mission since the pandemic by offering many of the newsroom’s live journalism events free and virtual to make it easy for our readers to participate from home.

Now we need your help to keep going. Please join us by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Los Angeles Times Community Fund to support the newspaper’s signature literary and literacy programs.

The Times has partnered with the California Community Foundation to build the Los Angeles Times Book Club and annual Book Prizes and ensure their future. That means your contributions to the fund are both vital and tax deductible. Become a 2023 benefactor today and we’ll shout your name or organization at the next book club night.

(Lew, Jason)

Los Angeles Times Book Club: Our community book club began in 2019 to build on the Festival of Books, the nation’s largest book event, and keep the conversations going year-round. We focus on stories relevant to Southern California and the West that illuminate and explain our unique landscape, culture and identity. Every month we share books and host live events with authors, newsmakers and thought leaders to explore such topics as immigration, entertainment, food, travel, the environment, criminal justice, sports and social issues. Here are some of the memorable moments from our first four years.

Previous book club guests include President Barack Obama; singer Julie Andrews; tennis champion Billie Jean King; Pulitzer Prize winners Viet Thanh Nguyen and Tracy Kidder; journalist Susan Orlean; actor George Takei; journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones; directors Ron Howard and Rodrigo Garcia; filmmaker Ava DuVernay; National Book Award winner Charles Yu; crime writer Michael Connelly; novelist Lisa See; former L.A. poet laureate Luis J. Rodriguez; naturalist Jane Goodall; author Ann Patchett; Homeboy Industries founder Gregory Boyle; historian Ibram X. Kendi, actor Elliot Page and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.

Poet Amanda Gorman joined book club readers at the 2022 Festival of Books at USC.

(Nick Agro / For The Times)

Your contributions will support and expand book club events, both in-person and virtual conversations. We want to make our live events accessible to more Southern California readers of all ages. For more information, send an email to [email protected].

Join: Sign up for the free Los Angeles Times Book Club newsletter for the latest events and author interviews.

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes: For four decades, the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have recognized outstanding literary works published in fiction, history, poetry, biography, young adult literature, science and technology, science fiction and more. The book prizes are a vital and prestigious part of the annual Festival of Books, the nation’s largest book event, which drew 155,000 reader to the USC campus in April.

Javier Zamora, the author of “Solito: A Memoir,” accepts the Christopher Isherwood Prize at the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes in April 2023.

(Varon Panganiban / For the Times)

Through the years the book prizes have honored such literary luminaries as Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, Maxine Hong Kingston, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Beverly Cleary, Christopher Isherwood, TC Boyle, LeVar Burton, James Patterson, Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. LeGuin. The 2022 book prizes were awarded at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on Friday night before the Festival of Books.

Finalists for the 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.

(Los Angeles Times )

With community support, The Times will be able to continue the book prizes and present the top authors in any given year for free to the L.A. community at the book festival. For more information, send an email to [email protected].

1. Go to the donation page for the Los Angeles Times Community Fund on the California Community Foundation website.

2. Select a project. Use the pulldown menu to designate your choice: Book Club or Book Prizes.

3. Make your tax-deductible contribution to help sustain these vital community literacy projects.

4. Thank you! Your name or organization will be featured online and at community events related to the project you support.

(Parisa Hajizadeh-Amini/ Los Angeles Times )

Thank you to the readers who already have contributed to the Book Club and Book Prizes through the Los Angeles Times Community Fund.

• Jacqueline Barab
• Jason Beecher
• Tim Boettcher
• Pegeen Brosnan
• Pauline Cheng
• Dorothty Starke Davis
• Elizabeth du Fresne
• Estaire Press
• Shari Farris
• Barbara Gutierrez
• Marilyn Harris
• Lauren Hsiao
• Chris Heusser
• Louise and Kenneth Izumi
• Sally Jameson
• Jane LaPorte
• Ann Lawrence
• Robin Luby
• Karen Natland
• PJ Mann
• Patricia Margulies
• Cynthia Miller
• Sue Moore
• Mary Oliver
• Sandra Overland
• Darcy Peters
• Joy Phoenix
• Joan Schaffer
• Stephanie Schneider
• Pamela Shade
• George Stransk
• Judith Vaughn
• Lorraine Wiener
• Kristine Williams
• Tanya Williams-Benzinger
• Shari Wohlstattar

Book club readers

(Ana Venegas/For The Times)

Book club community partners include:

• Arizona State University at the California Center
• Autry Museum of the American West
• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• L.A. Times Studios and Short Docs
• Access Books
• USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Actor and author LeVar Burton joins readers during book club night at the ASU California Center.

(Varon Panganiban / For the Times
)

We’re so grateful to our contributors and community partners for their support of the Times’ signature literary and literacy programs connecting readers with authors at live journalism events.

Thank you for helping us build an amazing community forum, a welcoming and safe place to discuss the most pressing and important issues of our times.

Gabrielle Zevin discusses her bestseller, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” with book club readers at the Festival of Books.

(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Times Community Fund, which includes the Los Angeles Times Book Club and the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, is a component fund of the California Community Foundation- Communities Initiative Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation’s board of directors.

In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, please be aware that any contributions to these projects are solely in support of literary and literacy programs that further community discussion; contributions do not include any control or influence over the newspaper’s editorial operations.