91´«Ã½

CHICAGO—Sue Halpern, who has written about butterflies and therapy dogs, as well as solitude and neuroscience, in both her warm and witty creative nonfiction and her incisive novels, is confirmed as the featured speaker for the , which will take place on June 23, 2018, at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in New Orleans.

Halpern, a Guggenheim Fellow, Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford, and a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont, contributes timely and topical articles to Slate, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, The Nation, and the New York Review of Books. Her highly praised new novel is Summer Hours at the Robbers Library (HarperCollins).

As an active and eloquent advocate for public libraries and their core values, Halpern cofounded the first library in a small town in the Adirondacks. In a recent interview with Donna Seaman, Booklist Adult Books Editor, Halpern observed, "Libraries are great levelers. They are places where people find common ground with each other, and where conversations between strangers occur and then those folks are no longer strangers." Halpern goes on to say that "I think libraries are key to our democracy. Alexis De Tocqueville, in Democracy in America, says that what distinguishes our democracy and makes it work is that we have what he called “cross-cutting affiliations” that connect us, even in our differences.”

A conference highlight now in its seventh year, the Carnegie event includes an engaging program, which this year will be hosted by selection committee chair Victoria Caplinger, and a dessert and drinks reception where attendees will mingle with Halpern and Jennifer Egan, winner of the 2018 fiction medal for Manhattan Beach, as well as colleagues, editors, and 91´«Ã½ leaders. Over the years, featured speakers and medal winners at the Carnegie event have earned a reputation for inspirational presentations. Sara Paretsky, featured speaker at the 2017 event, delivered a powerful call for librarians and writers to stand up for truth and reason. In 2015, , author of , was referred to by Publishers Weekly as giving "." Readers won't want to miss the excitement at this year’s event!

Tickets are available for purchase on the and may be added to your conference registration later.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 and recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the 91´«Ã½ and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. 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 co-sponsored by 91´«Ã½’s Booklist and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of 91´«Ã½.

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 91´«Ã½, 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 170,000+ reviews available to subscribers as well as a wealth of free content offering the latest news and views on books and media.

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) is a member community engaged in advancing the practices of connecting people to resources, information services, and collections, building relationships among members from all types of libraries, encouraging openness, innovation, and idea sharing, and promoting excellence in library services and resources.

Established in 1876, the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization created to provide leadership in the transformation and the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services as well as the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.