As book lovers gather at Book Expo, the American Library Association invites attendees to visit the Booklist booth (1043) to preview the books on display that are shortlisted for this year’s Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The awards will take place June 28 as part of ALA’s trade show in Las Vegas, Nev.
What makes the awards even more significant this year is that it marks the third and final year for author, former librarian, and media commentator Nancy Pearl to serve as committee chair since the awards’ inception in 2012. The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence were established as the first single-book awards given by the ALA for adult books, and the shortlist and winner are chosen by a panel of seven librarian professionals, three Booklist editors and three former members of the Reference and User Services Association Notable Books Council.
Publishers Weekly’s library contributing editor Brian Kenney serves on the committee and says the experience made him a better librarian. “Looking for some reading advice?” he says. “Bring it on. I just finished reading 200 books.”
Titles on this year’s shortlist for nonfiction are On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand Year History by Nicholas A. Basbanes (Knopf), Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink (Crown), and The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster). The books on the fiction shortlist are Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf), Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat (Knopf), and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown).
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world, and are co-sponsored by ALA’s Booklist publications and the Reference and User Services Association. More information about the books and tickets for the event is available at www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult.
Next month’s ALA might be the setting for the awards extravaganza, but BEA is a big stop in building buzz for the premier medals. Free bookmarks and mini-posters of the shortlist are available at BEA at the Booklist booth and at the shortlisted authors’ publisher booths while supplies last. The winners will be announced at a gala event at Caesar’s Palace next month; each winner receives a $5,000 cash award, with runners-up getting $1,500.
