Cognotes 2018 Midwinter Meeting Denver Highlights - 8

COGNOTES

DENVER

MIDWINTER MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Manhattan Beach, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me Receive
2018 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction
The American Library Association (ALA)
selects Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan,
published by Scribner, as the winner of the
2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence
in Fiction, and You Don't Have to Say You Love
Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie, published
by Little, Brown, as the winner of the 2018
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in
Nonfiction. The selections were announced
February 11 at the Reference and User Services
Association's (RUSA) Book and Media Awards,
sponsored by NoveList.
The awards, established in 2012, 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 and booksellers who work
closely with adult readers.
"My sincere congratulations to this year's
winners of the Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction and to the
award committee for selecting such noteworthy titles," said ALA President Jim Neal. "Today's selections illustrate how the expertise of
librarians and library staff can help lead efforts
to support adult literacy by identifying titles

that resonate with adult readers.
Today's medal selections will
serve as a guide for those who are
looking for the best of the best in
fiction and nonfiction for adult
readers, thus transforming lives
through education and lifelong
learning."
Alexie's You Don't Have to Say
You Love Me: A Memoir, presents
a courageous, enlightening,
anguished, and funny memoir
told in prose and poetry that
pays tribute to his Spokane Indian mother and reveals many
complex traumas and tragedies
of reservation life, as well as his
own struggles.
From New York mobsters to the first
woman diver at the Brooklyn Naval Station
during WWII to the archetypally motley crew
of a merchant-marine ship in U-boat-infested
waters, Egan's Manhattan Beach is an insightful and propulsive saga that portrays complex
and intriguing individuals navigating the
rising tides of war.
"It has been an honor to be part of the

dedicated committee selecting the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal winners," said Andrew
Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction
and Nonfiction selection committee chair
Victoria Caplinger. "We are very excited to
finally get to share this news. It has been hard
keeping it to ourselves! We hope many readers
enjoy these books - both the winners and the
finalists - as much as we have."

Nonfiction finalists for 2018
include The Doomsday Machine:
Confessions of a Nuclear War
Planner by Daniel Ellsberg,
published by Bloomsbury; and
Killers of the Flower Moon: The
Osage Murders and the Birth of
the FBI by David Grann, published by Doubleday.
The 2018 fiction finalists
include Lincoln in the Bardo
by George Saunders, published
by Random House; and Sing,
Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward,
published by Scribner.
The Medals 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 cosponsored by ALA's Booklist
and RUSA.
Annotations and more information on the
awards can be found at http://www.ala.org/
carnegieadult. Book cover artwork is available for download at http://tinyurl.com/
CarnegieMedalsArtwork.

Opening Session Lends Itself to Conversation
By Kacee Anderson/Northbrook Elementary

Patrisse Cullors and Marley Dias took the
stage to open the 2018 Midwinter Meeting
& Exhibits talking about the importance of
activism starting locally. Both women brought
about their own social movements with the
use of hashtags and activist mindsets. In 2013
Cullors cofounded the Black Lives Matter
movement, which has since grown into dozens
of chapters and thousands of members worldwide. Cullors opened her time onstage with
a reading from her new book coauthored by
Asha Bandele, When They Call You a Terrorist:
A Black Lives Matter Memoir. She described an
elementary teacher letting her give short presentations to her class over the books she read.
Dias was 11 years old when she started the
hashtag #1000blackgirlbooks. Dias' movement
to see more black female characters in literature
has resulted in over 10,000 books generated
to date.
Dias interviewed Cullors about what she is
doing as a mother in hopes of raising a feminist
son, and how boys can help girls succeed. Cullors noted that she feels a particular responsibility to shape her son to be a change maker, but
also stressed the importance of having a village
mentality. "The environment all young people
are raised in should foster critical thinking as
well as consent. Children learn so much from
what they see and hear, so modeling is crucial,"
Cullors said.
Dias' new book, Marley Dias Gets It Done
and So Can You!, focuses on motivational strategies that anyone can use to stand up and take
action for a cause. Throughout the interview,
13-year-old Dias seamlessly wove together questions, issues about activism, advice for librarians
and teachers, and influences from musicians and
other facets of her life. At one point, Cullors
stated, "This is the best interview I've ever had."
Both women work to keep their energy focused on the positive, and people who are ready

to make a difference rather than
spending their time and energy
CULLORS SAW POLARIZATION, TOOK ACTION
on negative feedback they might
receive online. In her advice to her
young interviewer, Cullors stated
that she must "take time to take
care of yourself always."
Both Dias and Cullors noted
that reading has always been a
central part of their lives. From
a young age Cullors was curious
about civil rights and animal
rights. Her fourth grade teacher,
Ms. Goldberg, challenged kids
to be curious. Being curious and
engaged laid the foundation for
her activism. "We do this work
so our children don't have to do
this work."
Cullors urged young people to
identify what they feel strongly
about, visit their local libraries,
and form bonds with the librarians
there. Cullors listed The Giver and
author Octavia Butler as some of
her most memorable. "Meeting Octavia Butler reminded me to
cherish the authors."
Throughout the interview Cullors gave advice to teachers and
librarians to utilize the tools that are available today. "Teachers
and librarians can make space for children to have the hard
conversations. It's also important for teachers and librarians to
ask students more questions about themselves and what they
might be going through."
Cullors also emphasized the importance of reading to and
with children. She believes positive affirmations should be a big
part of every young person's life and would tell every child, "You
are brilliant. You are courageous. And you are loved."
ALA President Jim Neal opened the session by calling upon
ALA members to email and call elected officials at key times
and invite them into local libraries. The resource page ALA.
org/fundlibraries provides talking points as well as a place for
librarians to share stories that ALA can collect and take to Washington. "Libraries transform. Libraries lead. Libraries are a great
investment," stated Neal. » see video above, and on page 11 A very animated Marley Dias interviews Patrisse Cullors.

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