Selznick, known for the children’s books The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, spoke with the American Library Association’s How I Library podcast about finding revelatory love, building on cultural history, and why books scare those in power. Where did Run Away with Me’s setting and story come from? My husband won a fellowship that … Continue reading Newsmaker: Brian Selznick
10 Number of Zora Neale Hurston plays—most of which were never published—held by the Library of Congress (LC) in Washington, D.C. The prolific 20th-century writer and anthropologist wrote the plays between 1925 and 1944, but they were not widely known until found in an LC collection in 1997. 15 million Number of historical documents in … Continue reading By the Numbers: Black History
The shortlisted titles for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are: Fiction A Guardian and a Thief (Knopf) By Megha Majumdar Desperation permeates Majumdar’s wrenching novel, set in a near-future Kolkata besieged by worsening climate crises. Privileged Ma, widowed Dadu, and 2-year-old Mishti are spending one last week in their native … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2026 Carnegie Medals Shortlist
His new cookbook, Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America (November, Clarkson Potter), written with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly, takes a region-by-region approach to Native ingredients, history, and cooking. Sherman spoke with American Libraries about this extensive collection, his early influences, and his love for libraries. Sample a recipe … Continue reading Newsmaker: Sean Sherman
Reprinted with permission from Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America (November, Clarkson Potter), by Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly. Squash and Pepita Tartlets Makes 10 to 12 tartlets Filling 2-pound piece Lakota winter squash, red kuri squash, or kabocha squash, seeded 1 cup boiling water 1 … Continue reading Recipe: Squash and Pepita Tartlets
Currently a PhD candidate in East Asian languages and literatures at Yale, Kuang returns to both fantasy and higher education in Katabasis (August, HarperCollins), a tale of two students in Cambridge’s Department of Analytical Magick who journey to hell in search of their famed, feared, and abruptly deceased advisor, Professor Grimes. American Libraries spoke with … Continue reading Newsmaker: R. F. Kuang
A total of 14,292 people registered for the event, whose programs included many dedicated to anticensorship efforts, programming challenges, funding cuts, and other existential threats. In these dark times, when the very mission of libraries is being scrutinized and politicized, attendees took comfort in collective engagement and critical discussions about intellectual freedom, diversity, and other … Continue reading 2025 Annual Conference Wrap-Up
With The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page (Philomel Books, April), Davis offers a funny and self-referential take on embracing differences. She talked to American Libraries at the American Library Association’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia about her new book, striving for equitable representation in media, and the roles for which … Continue reading Newsmaker: Geena Davis
“I was very shy and self-conscious as a kid, and I never wanted to try anything,” Davis told the crowd at the Closing Session of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia on June 30. “My fondest wish was to take up less space.” Her debut picture book (released by … Continue reading Taking Up Space
District Attorney of Sacramento County, California, Thien Ho, the lead prosecutor in the case—which encompassed 13 known murders, 50+ rapes, and approximately 120 burglaries in the 1970s and 1980s—picks up where McNamara’s account left off, with his firsthand perspective from inside the courtroom. He spoke about his book, The People vs. the Golden State Killer … Continue reading Revisiting the Golden State Killer
Wood wrote about these experiences in The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir (Crown, October) and discussed them with ALA President-Elect Sam Helmick at a June 29 session of the 2025 American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. “Having your first kid unlocks something emotionally,” he said. “I started … Continue reading Figurative Fathers
Takei discussed his life as a closeted actor and how he came out at age 68, with Meg Lemke, graphic novels editor at Publishers Weekly, at the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia on June 28. His coming out is also the subject of his new memoir, It Rhymes with … Continue reading A Rhyme of Himself
