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Audio version

4 • COGNOTES MAY 2015 PREVIEW

Winners to be Announced at Andrew Carnegie Medals Celebration on Saturday

The two winners — one for fiction, one for nonfiction — will be announced at the celebratory 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence award ceremony on Saturday, June 27, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. at the Hotel Nikko during the Annual Conference in San Francisco. Each winning author will take home a check for $5,000 with their medal.

A conference highlight now in its fourth year, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence event includes an engaging program hosted by current selection committee chair Brad Hooper, a featured speaker to be announced, and a lively dessert and drinks reception where attendees mingle with authors, colleagues, editors, and ALA leaders. Both 2014 winners, Donna Tartt and Doris Kearns Goodwin, attended the event to receive their medals, offer remarks, and spend time with attendees.

Tickets for the 2015 announcements are available at the ALA Annual Conference website when you register for the conference or may be added later. For the first time in 2015, attendees can purchase a table for 10 to enjoy the exciting evening with chosen friends and colleagues. Get details about table reservations.

The 2015 shortlisted titles for nonfiction are: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson (Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House); The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt); and Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David, by Lawrence Wright (Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC). The 2015 shortlisted titles for fiction are All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.); Nora Webster, by ColmTóibín (Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.); and On Such a Full Sea, by Changrae Lee (Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group [USA]).

The Andrew Carnegie Medals were established in 2012 by the American Library Association and Carnegie Corporation of New York to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are the first single-book awards for adult titles given by ALA and are co-sponsored and administered by Booklist and RUSA. For more information and to see past long lists, shortlists, and winners, visit Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.

The Michael L. Printz Program and Reception, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction announcements and presentations, and the Newbery-Caldecott-Wilder Banquet are being held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening respectively, allowing attendees to enjoy all three without conflicts.


Joshua Davis, David Thomson, Rick Jacobs featured Auditorium Speakers at United for Libraries President's Program

Joshua Davis, author of Spare Parts, will be joined in this Auditorium Speaker/United for Libraries President's Program session — “From Cover to Screen — Books to Movies” — by producer Rick Jacobs and esteemed film critic David Thomson to talk about writing the book, creating the movie, and how movies are judged and reviewed. Attendees at this session, which takes place Monday, June 29, 8:30 — 9:30 a.m., will also view a trailer for the film version of Spare Parts, starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and MarissaTomei. Spare Parts is about four undocumented Mexican teenagers overcoming all odds to win a high-tech underwater robot competition against teams from elite universities, and has been called a “triumphant read” by the Toronto Star and “a great American story” by The Washington Post.

Joshua Davis is a contributing editor at Wired, cofounder of Epic magazine, and the author of The Underdog, a memoir about his experiences as an arm wrestler, backward runner, and matador. A 2014 nominee for a National Magazine Award for feature writing, he has written for The New Yorker and other periodicals, and his writing is widely anthologized. David Thomson, author of the forthcoming How to Watch a Movie (Random House, November 2015), is the definitive source on all things film. He was film critic for The New Republic and has also written for The Guardian and The Independent (in London), The New York Times, Salon, Movieline, Film Comment, and Sight & Sound. Rick Jacobs is a producer and manager specializing in “genre” development and the convergence of media between feature films, television, video games and print publication, with a focus on adapting projects from source material including comic books and graphic novels, video games, Asian remakes, and magazine articles. The three speakers will be interviewed on stage by Library Journal’s Barbara Hoffert.

The Auditorium Speakers Series/United for Libraries President Christine Lind Hage's program is sponsored by Macmillan and Random House. A book signing will follow the presentation (books subject to availability).

Joshua Davis
David Thomson
Rick Jacobs


Focus on the Future in San Francisco

There are many opportunities to dig into trends, process the implications with your colleagues, and engage in futuring and innovation techniques at the following ALA Conference sessions (with more to come):

Library of the Future sessions featuring Google, Steelcase, the Long Now Foundation, and more (ALA Center for the Future of Libraries)

Updates from the Policy Revolution! initiative, with programs related to proactive policy priorities for the future and strategies for engaging decision-makers and influencers (ALA Office for Information Technology Policy--OITP)

Future-focused products, technologies, and services presented by expert vendors throughout the Exhibit Hall

Preconferences to spur innovation and foresight, including: Looking to the Future: Strategic Foresight and Scenario Planning (ALSC); Innovation Workshop for Library Entrepreneurs and Makers (Entrepreneurship and Maker Spaces Member Interest Group); Innovation 101 (CLA/Affiliate); Big Ideas (a) ALA Annual with a focus on creativity, leadership, and strategy (PLA).

Panels featuring the Knight News Chal-e: Libraries (Knight Foundation)


Sonia Manzano, “Maria” from Sesame Street, Auditorium Speaker

Sonia Manzano — the Emmy Award-winning actor who defined the role of Maria on Sesame Street — appears as an Auditorium Speaker on Monday, June 29, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Manzano has won 15 Emmy Awards for her television writing and was twice nominated for an Emmy Award as best performer in a children's series. She is the author of the Pura Belpré Honor Book The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2012 and hailed in a starred review in Booklist as a “wry ... moving” novel. People en Español magazine named her one of America's most influential Hispanics, and she has also been recognized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Manzano's latest book, Becoming Maria, is her remarkable coming-of-age memoir, the true story of a girl plunged into a world she never expected. It's the story of dreams — some of them nightmares, others visions of romance and escape. Set in the 1950s in the Bronx, it's the tale of a family that is loving and troubled, and of the child who grew up to become a television star. Sonia's creative drive keeps her afloat despite the turbulence of her life and times — including the cramped, colorful world of her Latino neighborhood and an abusive and alcoholic father. Spiced with Nuyorican culture, heartache, and humor, Manzano's memoir paints a revealing portrait of a girl's resilience as she grows up to become an inspiration to millions.

Manzano's appearance at ALA Annual Conference is sponsored by Scholastic, who you will find at booth #3224/3225 in the Exhibit Hall.

Sonia Manzano


COGNOTES

ISSN: 0738-4319 • Volume 2015 • May Preview

Senior Reporter
Brad Martin
LAC Group
New York, NY

Students
Barbara Flohr
Robert Manzo
Rachael Wettenstein

Photography
Curtis Compton
Nick de la Torre
Michael Buxbaum

Reporters
Kacee Anderson
Harmony Science Academy Fort Worth, TX

Kacee Anderson
Harmony Science Academy Fort Worth, TX

Publisher/Managing Editor
Deb Nerud Vernon

Production
Tim Mercer
CustomNews, Inc.

Media Manager
Fiona Soltes

Sara Zettervall
Hennepin County Library (Minn.)

ALA Liaison
Paul Graller

Video Editors
Olaf Anderson
Guido Ronge