Anthony Doerr and Bryan Stevenson Awarded the 2015 Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

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The eagerly anticipated announcements  of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction took place on June 27, 2015 at the American Library Association’s annual conference in San Francisco. Anthony Doerr, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All The Light We Cannot See was awarded the Carnegie medal for fiction, and Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, was awarded the Carnegie medal for nonfiction.

The Carnegie Medals are ALA’s only single-book award for adult trade fiction and nonfiction, cosponsored by Booklist and RUSA. For more information about the awards and selection committee, visit http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/carnegie.

Literary Tastes: Celebrating the Best Reading of the Year 

Listen to some of the year’s best authors discuss their work and the craft of writing, while enjoying the company of other book lovers. All Annual Conference registrants are invited to participate in this conference program. Sponsored by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA. A refreshing and light breakfast will be served. All Annual Conference registrants are welcome to attend.

Date: Sunday, June 28, Time: 8:00 – 10:00 AM, Location: Moscone Convention Center, West Exhibit Hall, 1st Floor

Speakers:

  • Katherine Addison for Goblin Emperor (Tor Books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Reading List’s Fantasy category.
  • Amy Belding Brown for Flight of the Sparrow (New American Library, 2014)shortlist selection for the 2015 Reading List’s Historical Fiction category.
  • Stuart Rojstaczer for The Mathematician’s Shiva (Penguin, 2014), Honorable Mention for the 2015 Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish Literature.
  • Ashley Weaver for Murder at the Brightwell (Minotaur Books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Reading List’s Mystery category.
  • Jo Walton for My Real Children (Tor Books, 2014), winner of the 2015 Reading List’s Women’s Fiction category.

 

2015 ALA Annual Conference – Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction – Keynote speaker; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction – Keynote speaker; best-selling author, actor, and NBA MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!
Drum roll please . . . The two books chosen from the shortlist of six as winners of the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at this event, an Annual Conference favorite since it was introduced in 2012. The announcement and presentation will be followed by a dessert and drinks reception where attendees can mingle with colleagues, authors, editors, and ALA leaders.

This is the fourth year for these awards, ALA’s only single-book awards for adult trade fiction and nonfiction. Previous speakers from prior years have included award-winning crime writer Karin Slaughter, and the selection committee chair Nancy Pearl, and ALA leadership. Co-sponsored by Booklist and RUSA.  Add to my schedule. Purchase individual tickets. Purchase a table.

Date: Saturday, June 27, 2015, Time: 8:00 – 10:00 PM, Location: Hotel Nikko, Nikko Ballroom

Individual Pricing:

Category Early Bird Advance Onsite
Member  $30  $30  $30
Non Member  $30  $30  $30

 

If you are a member of RUSA use special code RUSA2015 to receive the price of $25

Table reservations will open late February and will remain open until mid-May. Stay Tuned!

Each table can accommodate up to 10 individuals and ensures that attendees will enjoy this exciting evening with their friends, colleagues and fellow book lovers. The table reservation form can be found here.

Maroon Sponsor ($750 per table)

  • 10 tickets to the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence award ceremony and dessert reception
  • Sponsorship recognition in award ceremony PowerPoint

Gold Sponsor ($1,000 per table)

  • 10 tickets to the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence award ceremony and dessert reception
  • Sponsorship recognition in award ceremony PowerPoint
  • Sponsorship recognition in award ceremony program
  • Pre-event acknowledgement in Booklist’s June REaD ALERT newsletter and the June issue of RUSA’s newsletter RUSA Update

 

BREAKING – ALA unveils shortlist for 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

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The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the six books shortlisted for the esteemed Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awarded for the previous year’s best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the U.S. As part of an announcement and medal presentation event at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco in June, each winning author will receive $5,000, and the four finalists will each receive $1,500.

Selected 2015 shortlisted titles are:

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Shortlist

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson. Published by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House.

Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Institute in Montgomery, Alabama, delivers a passionate account of the ways our nation thwarts justice and inhumanely punishes the poor and disadvantaged.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert. Published by Henry Holt.

Kolbert combines travel adventures, lucid science, and informed and awestruck descriptions of natural wonders, from rainforests to the Great Barrier Reef, to forthrightly address the deleterious impact our use of fossil fuels is having on the very fabric of life.

Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David, by Lawrence Wright. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC.

Pulitzer-winning journalist Wright presents a riveting blow-by-blow analysis of the historic 1978 meeting between Egypt and Israel brokered by then-president Jimmy Carter. A moving testament to the art of diplomacy that almost invites optimism, even as prospects for peace in today’s Middle East dim.

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Shortlist

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. Published by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Through the intertwined stories of a sightless French girl and a German soldier, Doerr masterfully and imaginatively re-creates the harsh conditions in WWII-torn France and the strictly controlled lives of the military occupiers.

Nora Webster, by Colm Tóibín. Published by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

In Tóibín’s remarkably subtle, witty, and affirming story, the Ireland of four decades ago and the conundrums women faced are beautifully evoked through events in the three-year widowhood of fortysomething Nora Webster.

On Such a Full Sea, by Chang-rae Lee. Published by Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA).

As young Fan searches for her missing boyfriend in an America devastated by climate change and a pandemic, Lee brilliantly imagines extreme survival tactics, psychological trauma, and the resurrection of art and its solace.

The awards, established in 2012, recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year and serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the American Library Association and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. Brad Hooper, Adult Books Editor at Booklist and winner of the 2015 Louis Shores Award for excellence in reviewing, serves as chair of the 2015 awards selection committee.

The awards are made possible, in part, by a grant from 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 (RUSA).

Annotations and more information on the finalists and the awards can be found at http://www.ala.org/carnegieadult.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.