91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — A new committee is set to start work on selecting the prestigious 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awards that reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. For the first time in 2015, an independent bookseller chosen by the American Booksellers Association (ABA) is joining the committee, reflecting the impact and influence of these awards on general readers both inside and beyond the library and adding additional expertise.

Booklist’s Adult Books Editor Brad Hooper takes over as chair of the committee from Nancy Pearl, who served in that position for the first three years of the awards. The other committee members include two Booklist editors—Donna Seaman, senior editor, Adult Books, and Keir Graff, editor, Booklist Online—and three editors of the RUSA CODES Notable Books Council: Kathleen de la Peña McCook, distinguished university professor of librarianship, University of South Florida, School of Information; Elizabeth Olesh, director, Baldwin Public Library, Baldwin, N.Y.; and Katharine J. Phenix, adult services librarian, Rangeview Library District (Anythink Libraries), Thornton Colo. Betsy Burton, owner of The King's English in Salt Lake City and vice president of the ABA Board, joins the committee to represent independent booksellers.

“The American Booksellers Association is glad to see an independent bookseller added to the 91´«Ã½’s Andrew Carnegie Medals selection committee,” said ABA Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger. “The books selected inspire fresh programming opportunities and help booksellers highlight outstanding titles. We know that the longlists, shortlists, and winners offer a wealth of quality reading suggestions.”

The 50 or so books that the committee will read and consider for the 2015 medals will be selected from the Booklist Editors’ Choice list (announced in December 2014) and the RUSA Notable Books List that will be announced on Feb. 1, 2015 during the 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. The longlist will be announced in early February, followed by the six-title shortlist—three each for the fiction and nonfiction medals—in April. The two winning titles will be revealed at a celebratory event at 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in June in San Francisco.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals were established in 2012 by the 91´«Ã½ 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 91´«Ã½ and are cosponsored and administered by and .

For more information and to see past longlists, shortlists, and winners, visit

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