2018 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Selection Committee announced

The 2018 committee is starting work on selecting titles for the longlist for the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, now in their seventh year. The 2018 committee includes the following experts who work closely with adult readers.

Victoria Caplinger (2018 committee chair), Director, Book Discovery at NoveList, a part of EBSCO Information Services, leads the team of librarians in NoveList’s Book Discovery department, which creates readers’ advisory content in many forms, from metadata to reading lists to recommendations.

Annie Bostrom, Booklist Associate Editor, Adult Books, earned her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2015.

Neil Hollands is a Booklist columnist and an adult services librarian at Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia, where he specializes in readers' advisory and collection development. He is the author of Read On…Fantasy Fiction (2007) and Fellowship in a Ring (2009).

Sarah Jaffa, Adult Services Librarian, Collection and Technical Services at Kitsap Regional Library in Bremerton, WA, selects adult fiction in print and digital formats. Her professional focus is on community engagement, readers’ services, collection development and author event planning.

Elizabeth Joseph, Coordinator, Information & Adult Services at Ferguson Library, in Stamford, CT, has held the role of Coordinator of Information and Adult services for three years. A 2015 Library Journal “Mover and Shaker,” she is responsible for collection development, community outreach, and programming for adults.

Donna Seaman, Booklist Editor, Adult Books, has received the James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism, the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, and Literacy Chicago's Literacy Hero Award. Her most recent book is Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists.

Mark LaFramboise has been selected by the American Booksellers Association to represent independent booksellers on the committee, reflecting the impact and influence of the awards on general readers beyond the library. LaFramboise, the head buyer (adult titles) for Politics & Prose in Washington, DC, for 10 years, has been a bookseller for 25 years, and holds a Master’s Degree in American Literature. “I’ve been on book award juries before and have always enjoyed the back and forth with fellow jurists,” he said. “I’m looking forward to venturing out of my comfort zone (literary fiction) and exploring the wider book scene.”

The 2018 longlist will be announced in September 2017, followed in October by the six-title shortlist—three each for the fiction and nonfiction medals. The two winning titles will be revealed at the RUSA Book and Media Awards event at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver on Sunday, February 11, 2018. The celebratory event including presentations by the winners and a featured speaker will take place at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in June 2018 in New Orleans.

The 2017 celebratory event, sponsored by NoveList, will include presentations by the two winners, Matthew Desmond and Colson Whitehead, and a featured speaker. The winners will receive their medals, offer remarks, and mingle with attendees, publishers, and ALA leaders on Saturday, June 24, 2017, 8:00-10:00pm. Individual tickets and tables are available to purchase.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals were established in 2012 by the American Library Association and Carnegie Corporation of New York to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are the first single-book awards for adult titles given by ALA and are cosponsored and administered by Booklist and RUSA.

For more information and to see past longlists, shortlists, and winners, visit Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.