Mazzucchelli wins new LA Times Graphic Novel prize

David Mazzucchelli's graphic novel Asterios Polyp has just won the graphic novel category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the first time it has been awarded.

And I'm delighted. Not about Asterios Polyp's win - I haven't yet read the novel - but that such a mainstream prize should establish the graphic novel as a category. For those who are not yet drawn to the genre, such a prize serves a useful function of highlighting excellence and generating interest.

There are plenty of reviews to read on Mazzucchelli's book, including Douglas Wolk's piece for the New York Times; most of them will quickly lead you to his 1990s collaboration with Paul Auster and Paul Karasic in creating a comic-book version of Auster's City of Glass.

Which might mean that this prize leads you to discover not just one new novel but two.