2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is the recipient of the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens for his novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. An accomplished storyteller, Card weaves the everyday experiences of adolescence into broader narratives, addressing universal questions about humanity and society. The award was announced January 14 at the 2008 Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association (ALA) in Philadelphia.



Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow both published by Tor Books, present a future where a global government trains gifted young children from around the world in the art of interstellar warfare, hoping to find a leader whose skills can prevent a second attack upon humanity by the insect-like aliens descriptively nicknamed "buggers." Young Andrew "Ender" Wiggin may be the savior they seek. He is not alone, as seen in the companion tale, Ender's Shadow, where orphaned Bean relates his own Battle School experiences. Just as the stories of Ender and Bean are paralleled in the novels, their experiences echo those of teens, beginning as children navigating in an adult world and growing into a state of greater awareness of themselves, their communities and the larger universe.



" Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow continually capture the imagination and interest of teens," said Edwards Committee Chair Brenna Shanks. "The conflicts of self and society, on a personal level and on a universal stage, never lose relevance."



Card, the author of numerous books, short stories and plays, lives in Greensboro, N.C.



The Margaret A. Edwards Award is sponsored by School Library Journal and administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the ALA. Card will be honored at the YALSA Edwards Awards Luncheon and presented with a citation and cash prize of $2,000 during the 2008 ALA Annual Conference to be held in Anaheim, Calif., June 26-July 2.



Members of the 2008 Edwards Committee are: Committee Chair Brenna Shanks, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Patty J. Campbell, Horn Book Magazine, Fallbrook, Calif.; Ruth Ellen Cox Clark, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.; Erin Downey Howerton, Johnson County Library, Overland, Kan.; Kimberly L. Paone, Elizabeth Public Library, N.J.