By Dorany Pineda
FROM: L.A. Times

This year, the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony will be free and open to all, because it will be virtual.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in hundreds of canceled and rescheduled entertainment events, ceremonies, galas and festivals, including the Times’ Festival of Books, which was slated for next weekend on the University of Southern California campus before being postponed until October. But historic crises and unforeseen changes have a way of forcing creative alternatives.

For the first time since launching in 1980, the L.A. Times will host its annual Book Prizes ceremony — of sorts — virtually. The awards presentation, which usually kicks off the Festival of Books, will begin at 8 a.m. Pacific on April 17, when the L.A. Times Books Twitter page will announce the 14 winners, followed by brief video acceptance speeches from award recipients.

The awards recognize outstanding literary works published last year in science and technology, history, poetry, biography, fiction, young-adult literature and more. Debuting this year is the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. Video speeches also will be shared by three previously announced winners — Walter Mosley for the Robert Kirsch Award, Keren Taylor for the Innovator’s Award and Emily Bernard for the Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose. Read Rest of Article Here