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2014 Annual Conference Highlights Cognotes • Page 5
2014 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Awarded in Las Vegas
ALA is pleased to announce this year's recipients of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, funded through a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt received the medal for fiction, and The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin received the medal for nonfiction. The selections were announced on June 28 at the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Awards presentation during the ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas.
The awards, established in 2012, recognize the best fiction and non-fiction 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. Nancy Pearl, librarian, literature expert, NPR commentator, and best-selling author of Book Lust, served as chair of the awards’ selection committee.
“Choosing the two winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, which involves reading many wonderful books, arriving - after much passionate discussion - at a shortlist of three works of fiction and three of nonfiction, and then selecting the eventual winners is no easy task,” stated Pearl. “I know I speak for the whole award committee when I say that we take the responsibility of selecting the winners very seriously indeed. The reward for all our hard work is that readers can be assured that the three finalists in each category, and of course the winners themselves, are terrific reads, wonderfully written, thoroughly absorbing, and illuminating.”
The Goldfinch, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc., tells the tale of 13-year-old Manhattanite Theo. In the wake of his father's abandonment, Theo grows extremely close to his vivacious mother - until an act of terrorism catapults him into a dizzying world bereft of gravity, certainty, or love. Tartt writes from Theo's point of view with fierce exactitude and magnetic emotion.
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, published by Simon & Schuster, examines the complex relationship between two presidents, Roosevelt and Taft, who played major roles in the Progressive movement of the early 20th century. Acclaimed historian Goodwin offers a superb re-creation of a period when many politicians, journalists, and citizens of differing political affiliations viewed government as a force for public good.
Tartt and Goodwin accepted their medals and $5,000 prizes in person at the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Awards presentation.
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction finalists included Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.; and Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat, published by Alfred A. Knopf,
» see page 11
The Goldfinch received the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The Bully Pulpit was honored with the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
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