Selection Committee appointed for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals

For Immediate Release
Tue, 04/17/2018

Contact:

Melissa Carr

Marketing Director

Booklist Publications

American Library Association

mcarr@ala.org

CHICAGO — The 2019 selection committee is starting work on picking the longlist for the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, now in their eighth year. The 2019 committee includes the following experts who work closely with adult readers.

Annie Bostrom, 2019 chair, is Booklist’s Associate Editor for Adult Books. Along with reviewing both fiction and nonfiction, she is involved in the magazine’s extensive readers’ advisory programming efforts, including webinars and live events.

Craig Clark, Columbus Ohio, has worked as a branch manager and adult services librarian for several Ohio public libraries. He is the author of Read On...Sports: Reading Lists for Every Taste, has served as the chair of RUSA’s Notable Books Council, and writes for Booklist and NoveList.

Sherri Gallentine has been the head book buyer at Vroman’s Bookstore and Book Soup in Pasadena, California, for the last eight years and has worked in the book business for 25 years.

Marlene Harris, solo librarian, TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry) since 2016, has been a book reviewer and blogger at Reading Reality since 2011. She reviews for Library Journal and is a contributor to NoveList.

Susan Maguire is Booklist’s senior editor for collection management and library outreach. Among her duties, she is the host of the magazine’s RA Conversations series of live events. Before coming to Booklist, she was Readers’ Services Coordinator at the Chapel Hill (North Carolina) Public Library.   

Kathy Sexton has worked both as an independent bookseller and a readers’-advisory librarian. Currently, she is a Booklist reviewer and the Readers Services Supervisor at the Skokie (Illinois) Public Library, where she coordinates book discussions, author events, reading programs, and generally helps people find their next great read. 

Sarah Barbara Watstein, dean, Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons at Seattle University, also serves as co-editor of Reference Services Review. She has served on numerous ALA and RUSA book, print and media award committees during her more than 30-year career in libraries.

The 2019 longlist will be announced in September 2018, followed in October by the six-title shortlist—three each in fiction and nonfiction. The two winning titles will be revealed at the RUSA Book and Media Awards event at ALA ‘s Midwinter Meeting in Seattle on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. The celebratory event including presentations by the winners and a featured speaker will take place at the 2019 ALA Annual Conference in June 2019 in Washington, D.C.

The 2018 celebratory event, sponsored by NoveList, will include presentations by fiction winner Jennifer Egan (for "Manhattan Beach") and featured speaker Sue Halpern.  Egan will receive her medal, offer remarks, and mingle with attendees, publishers and ALA leaders from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 23, 2018, at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel. 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.