Audio version

6 • COGNOTES 2015 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS ISSUE

All the Light We Cannot See and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Win 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence

The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce this year's recipients of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, funded, in part, by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr won the medal for fiction and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson received the medal for nonfiction. The selections were unveiled during the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Ceremony and Reception. The event took place June 27 and is a highlight of the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition.

The medals, established in 2012, recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. during 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 ALA and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. Brad Hooper, adult books editor, Booklist, and winner of the 2015 Louis Shores Award for excellence in reviewing, serves as chair of the 2015 awards selection committee.

“Three years ago, at the first Carnegie Medals announcement ceremony, Nancy Pearl, former selection committee chair, greeted the audience members by saying, ‘We are going to make publishing history tonight,'” explained Hooper. “And as the current chair of the selection committee, I say that we are still making publishing history. The esteem in which the Carnegie medals are held by librarians, publishers, authors, and the reading public continues to grow.

“The selection committee members derive great pleasure from reading lots of wonderful books and arriving at a short list of three fiction titles and three nonfiction titles and then from that list choosing the two medal winners. It's an unforgettable experience.”

Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, published by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., tells 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.

Stevenson's JustMercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, published by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, is a passionate account of ways our nation thwarts justice and inhumanely punishes the poor and dis-advantaged.

Before a crowd of more than 300, including ALA leadership and event featured speaker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Doerr and Stevenson shared remarks and accepted their medals and $5,000 prizes.

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction finalists each received $1,500. Fiction finalists included Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín, published by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.; and On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee, published by Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group, USA.

Nonfiction finalists included The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert, published by Henry Holt; and 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.

Members of the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction selection committee included: Chair Brad Hooper, Booklist, Chicago; Betsy Burton, owner, The King's English, Salt Lake City; Keir Graff, Booklist, Chicago; Kathleen De La Peña McCook, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida; Elizabeth Olesh, Baldwin (New York) Public Library; Katharine J. Phenix, Rangeview Library District (Anythink Libraries), Thornton, Colorado; and Donna Seaman, Booklist, Chicago.

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 regarding 2015 winners, finalists and the awards are available at http://www.ala.org/carnegieadult. Book cover artwork and event photos are available for download at http://tinyurl.com/cm15artwork.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie 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. 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. Booklist Online includes a growing archive of 160,000+ reviews available to subscribers as well as a wealth of free content offering the latest news and views on books and media.

The medals, established in 2012, recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. during 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 ALA.

The Reference and User Services Association is responsible for stimulating and supporting excellence in the delivery of general library services and materials, and the provision of reference and information services, collection development, readers’ advisory, and resource sharing for adults, in every type of library.

Anthony Doerr and Bryan Stevenson discuss the Carnegie Medals.

2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

Bryan Stevenson and Anthony Doerr with their medals. Each medal is accompanied by a $5,000 check.

COGNOTES

ISSN: 0738-4319 • Volume 2015 • Issue X

Senior Reporter
Brad Martin
LAC Group
New York, NY

Reporters
Kacee Anderson
Harmony Science
Academy
Fort Worth, TX

Talea Anderson
Washington State
University
Pullman, WA

Michelle Kowalsky
Rowan University
Glassboro, NJ

Sara Zettervall
Hennepin County
Library
Minneapolis – St. Paul,
MN

Students
Barbara Flohr
Robert Manzo
Rachael Wettenstein

Publisher/Managing Editor
Deb Nerud Vernon

ALA Liaison
Paul Graller

Photography
Curtis Compton
Nick de la Torre
Michael Buxbaum

Production
Tim Mercer
CustomNews, Inc.

Media Manager
Fiona Soltes

Video Editors
Olaf Anderson
Phil Bowen
Guido Ronge