2017-2018 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winners Selected

The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), an affiliate of the American Library Association, has selected the winners of the 2017-2018 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature (APAAL). The awards promote Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and are awarded to titles published from October 2016 to September 2017 based on their literary and artistic merit.

There are five categories for the awards. The winners of the 2017 awards:

Adult Fiction

Winner: The Leavers by Lisa Ko (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill).

Honor: The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press).

Adult Nonfiction

Winner: Asianfail: Narratives of Disenchantment and the Model Minority by Eleanor Ty (University of Illinois Press).

Honor: The Long Afterlife of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration by Karen M. Inouye (Stanford University Press).

Young Adult Literature

Winner: It’s Not Like It’s A Secret by Misa Sugiura (HarperTeens).

Honor: Saints & Misfits by S.K. Ali (Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers).

Children’s Literature

Winner: Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh by Uma Krishnaswami (Tu Books, imprint of Lee and Low).

Honor: Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte (Roaring Book Press).

Picture Book

Winner: A Different Pond by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui (Captstone Young Readers).

Honor: The Nian Monster by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Alina Chau (Albert Whitman & Company).

Each winner will receive an award plaque at the APALA Award Ceremony on Saturday, June 23, 2018, during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.

Publishers interested in submitting books for the 2018-2019 awards should contact Dora Ho, Jury Cochair, at dorah2005@gmail.com.

Herb is 2018 ALSC Distinguished Service Award Recipient

Dr. Steven L. Herb is the 2018 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). This prestigious award honors an individual who has made significant contributions to library service to children and to ALSC.

Herb is librarian emeritus from the Pennsylvania State University and director emeritus of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, and a longtime advocate of early literacy services in libraries.

“Steven Herb exemplifies deep, sustained, and impactful service to our profession,” said chair Mary Fellows. “During his 35 years of ALSC membership, Steven has always focused on contributing. Whether on process committees or in the spotlight of the ALSC presidency, through his public library work, teaching, or research, Steven has consistently shown us how to be more and do greater things. We have all created a better future for children through libraries thanks to Steven’s example and sheer output.”

Herb is an author and a teacher as well as a leader. He served as a children’s librarian at the Washington County (Md.) Free Library. Following a decade as coordinator of children’s service at the Dauphin County Library System in Harrisburg, Penn., Herb became head of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library at Pennsylvania State University. In 2000, he was also named director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.

Ilana Kurshan Named Winner of 2018 Sophie Brody Medal

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) has announced its selection for the 2018 Sophie Brody Medal, an annual honor bestowed by its Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES).

This year’s winner is Ilana Kurshan, author of If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir published by St. Martin’s Press. This engaging memoir chronicles the author’s experience with Daf Yomi, the practice of studying a page of Talmud daily. Contemporary life and Jewish learning intersect as Kurshan searches for answers to the changes and challenges of her own life.

Honorable mentions include Heretics by Leonardo Padura, translated from the Spanish by Anna Kushner, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Bruce Henderson, author of Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler published by William Morrow.

The Sophie Brody Medal is given to encourage, recognize, and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. Works for adults published in the United States in the preceding year are eligible for the award.