Booklist’s “Back Page” Now in One Entertaining Package
Contact: Jill Davis
ALA Editions
800-545-2433 ext. 5418
editionsmarketing@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
July 28, 2009
CHICAGO –
Booklist editors don’t just review and recommend books; several write them, too. A new ALA Editions release, “
The Back Page”by Booklist Publications’ Publisher Bill Ott, offers a selected compendium of the author’s favorite “Back Page” columns from
Booklist magazine—columns filled with humor and occasional defiance of the conventional, a peek into the publishing world. Ott’s “Back Page” (part readers’ advisory and part commentary on the world of books and literature, good and not so good) delights readers with anecdotes, stories, quizzes—almost impossible to answer without cheating—and a host of insights into what makes books what they are.
”That this little column has lasted more than 20 years continues to amaze me, but realistically, I think it owes much of its longevity to the rise of readers’ advisory services in public libraries,” said Ott. “I started out hoping to make it easier for slackers like me to waste time on the job, and I seem, at least in the eyes of some, to have wound up providing what might charitably be called a marginal service to hard-working librarians.”
Bill Ott, Editor and Publisher of Booklist Publications, worked in libraries in Washington State for nearly 10 years before coming to
Booklist in 1980 as adult books editor. In addition to
Booklist
, his reviews and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including
American Libraries, the
Chicago Tribune
, and the
New York Times Book Review
. He has contributed chapters to
Southwestern Noir (2000) and
Florida Crime Writers (2007). In 2004, he received the James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism from the Midland Authors Society.
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Booklist is the book review magazine of the American Library Association, considered an essential collection development and readers advisory tool by thousands of librarians for more than 100 years.
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