Tony Hillerman Wins Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on April 25, 2005

The Los Angeles Times honored bestselling author Tony Hillerman with the annual Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement on Friday night. Hillerman was given the award for his appeal to an "international readership that has remained attentive and appreciative over the last 35 years. Tony Hillerman is a master storyteller who has reinvented the mystery novel as a venue for the exploration and celebration of Native American history, culture and identity."

The late Robert Kirsch served as The Times' book critic for more than 25 years before his death in 1980. He was a novelist, editor and teacher as well as one the nation's foremost book critics. Colm Toibin's The Master (Scribner) won Best Fiction book and Kem Nunn was presented the best Mystery/Thriller prize by T. Jefferson Parker, for Nunn's novel, Tijuana Straits (Scribner).