Amherst College 10th Annual Lit Fest

Today I am in Western Massachusetts to attend this weekend's Amherst College Lit Fest. While the event is sold out, I have been told that there will be a live stream of all the events here. 

But look at what they will have. From the landing page:

Amherst College will host the 10th annual LitFest, a literary festival celebrating fiction, nonfiction, poetry, spoken-word performance, and the College’s extraordinary literary life. Guest speakers include award-winning author Teju Cole; Pulitzer Prize winner Brandon Som; Paisley Rekdal; Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; and a special panel on the making of American Fiction with writer and director Cord Jefferson, lead actor Jeffrey Wright ’87, and Percival Everett, author of Erasure, the novel upon which the film is based.

Go here for the entire schedule.

I cannot wait to see the conversation with Percival Everett. As readers here know, I love is writing. I hope I get a chance to ask him about his brilliant use of the word "nothing" in Dr No. Click here to read my review where I write about this. And I might because I will be at the reception after his talk with him in a smaller social setting. 

Follow me on bluesky for live updates from the weekend including pictures of me hanging out with recent Bram Stoker nominee Emily Hughes all day Saturday!

I would also suggest scrolling to the bottom of the landing page to watch videos from 2024's event.

Back Monday with the release of the Summer Scares FREE programming guide on all blogs.

LibraryReads Funding Options for Libraries and Library Workers

I am a LibraryReads Ambassador. I say this at the outset so you know that I am affiliated with LibraryReads. I also have had libraries apply for one of their CE Grants so that they could afford to hire me. And, as you will see below, I have worked with LR as a sponsor for the HWA's Librarians' Day for many years.

With that out of the way, here is today's post.

One of the best things LibraryReads has done (outside of their main mission which is to leverage the power of library workers to help with book promotion through the list) is to provide financial support to libraries so that they can present RA training to their staff or at their conference AND provide support to individual library workers so that they can attend conferences.

With ALA Annual registration opening last week, I have had a lot of people tell me that they would love to go but they don't think they will get any financial support to do so.

As I have now shared this with more than a handful of people in the last week, I realized that I should make it a post so that everything is in one place.

So here is the link to the page on the LibraryReads site. It is under the "participate" tab. But I have also reposted all of the text here.

Email info at libraryreads dot org if you have further questions.

CONTINUING EDUCATION SUPPORT PROGRAMS

LIBRARYREADS INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCE SUPPORT (FORMERLY TRAVEL GRANT)

To broaden public library staff participation in continuing education with a readers’ advisory for adults element,LibraryReads has developed a sponsorship program to help defray costs and encourage attendance for those who might not otherwise be able to attend such events. The maximum award amount per individual is $1,000.

Application deadlines

We will take applications for state/local/online conferences at any time during the year but require a 30-day minimum lead time.

Applicant Eligibility
To determine if you are eligible, you must answer “yes” to all of the following questions:

• Are you currently employed, in any job title, at a public library in the United States?
• Do you have an interest in readers’ advisory for adults?
• Have you actively participated in LibraryReads (by voting for titles via Edelweiss or NetGalley) in the 3-month period prior to application?

Selection Criteria
Potential for professional growth
Demonstrated commitment to the profession/interest in LibraryReads
Preference will be given to those whose regular job duties include readers’ advisory and/or collection development for adult collections.

Applicants may apply for more than one grant per calendar year; however, preference will be given to new recipients.

To receive a grant, grantees must be able to:

• Attend the noted conference and participate in any LibraryReads events (if applicable; at national conferences, generally two author panels).
• Submit proof of registration (email receipts accepted).
• Submit a brief follow-up report that may be used for promotional purposes by LibraryReads.

All recipients will be awarded half of the grant funds prior to the event and the remaining half of the funds following the receipt of the requested follow-up report. Remaining grant funds will not be disbursed unless all of the above requirements are met. Please consider this information when making travel arrangements.

Eligible Expenses
Travel grant funds are not restricted and may be used by the recipient for any personal expense incurred attending a library conference: registration, travel, lodging, meals, etc.

How to Apply
Prepare a brief statement of need, including:

• Your name and personal contact information
• Name and address of your library and your job title
• Request Narrative as described below
• Brief budget summary sheet as described below, indicating the amount you are requesting (in increments of $100, to a maximum of $1000)

Request Narrative Instructions
In 500 words or less, please attach a brief statement answering the following questions:

• Name and date of event.
• Why do you want to attend this particular event?
• What do you hope to learn/experience from the event? How would attending the event benefit you in Readers’ Advisory work for adults?

Budget Summary Sheet Instructions
List anticipated costs incurred by recipient to be paid by the grant–not paid for or reimbursed by employer–to the best of your ability for the following (if applicable):

• Registration expenses
• Total travel expenses
• Lodging expenses
• Incidental expenses (including meals, necessary accommodations, etc.)

Email application materials to: rebecca@libraryreads.org

*NEW* LIBRARYREADS INSTITUTIONAL EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT PROGRAM 

To broaden participation in library continuing education events, LibraryReads has developed a financial support program to help defray costs and encourage public libraries in the US to offer readers’ advisory-focused continuing education opportunities.

Applicants may apply for support for multiple events. The maximum award amount per event is $2,000. Members of the LibraryReads Board of Directors will evaluate grants and notify applicants of decisions as soon as possible, typically within thirty days prior to the event date.

Looking for a speaker or consultant? Check our directory.

Institution Eligibility
Any public library in the United States is invited to apply for financial support for the following types of events:
-Staff Training on RA/Collection topics (in-house)
-Group/Multiple-attendee staff training on RA/Collection topics provided by outside vendors (e.g., group presentations, multi-attendee webinars, self-paced training modules)

Eligible Expenses
These funds are not restricted and may be used by the recipient institution for any expense incurred while hosting readers’ advisory-related educational events, including but not limited to:
-Speaker or consultant fees for staff in-service training
-Room rental or catering needs for RA-focused staff educational events
-Paid seats for webinars or online programming related to RA
-Materials related to RA staff training

Please note these funds are not intended for individuals. See above for current availability of our Individual Conference Support program, which is meant for individual staff members to attend RA trainings and conferences.

Selection Criteria
This support covers learning opportunities for library staff that support readers’ advisory service to adults or collection development for adult collections. Programs covering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) topics related to RA and library collections will be given priority consideration.

How to Apply
Prepare a brief statement of need, including:
Contact information including the name and address of your library and your job title.
Request Narrative detailing the planned event and indicating the amount you are requesting as described below. (The maximum award amount per event is $2,000. Please be advised that we may be able to offer partial support only, as funds allow.)

Request Narrative Instructions
In 500 words or less, please attach a statement answering the following questions:
Name and date of event.
Why does the library want to host this event?
If scheduled, who is presenting/training?
What are the expected educational outcomes of this event?
How many staff members will be attending this event?
Anticipated costs (total)
Amount requested (if less than anticipated costs)

Email application materials to: rebecca@libraryreads.org

LibraryReads expects the funds to be used solely for the proposed event. We request a brief written summary (300-500 words) within 30 days of the event, detailing attendance and outcomes. We would appreciate photos or quotes that we may use on our website/social media to help promote the sponsorship program.

For any questions regarding these programs, please email info@libraryreads.org.

RUNNING A CONFERENCE/EVENT?

Please email info@libraryreads.org to see if we might be a good match to present at your readers’ advisory-focused event, set up a LibraryReads informational booth/table, or participate as a sponsor!

Recent sponsorships include:

• ARSL 2021; 2022; 2023; 2024
• Horror Writers of Association StokerCon Librarian Day, 2020; 2021; 2022; 2023, 2024 
• Springfield, MO Flights and Frights Trivia Event (2024)
• National Conference of African-American Librarians 2024
• Montville Public Library (NJ) 2024
• Lakeland Library Cooperative (MI) 2023
• Christian County Library (NE) 2023
• Puyallup Public Library (WA) 2023
• Mahomet Public Library (IL) 2023
• Adult Reading Round Table ARRTCon 2023
• New England Library Association Conference, 2023, 2024
• Washington State Library Association Conference, 2022
• Massachusetts Library Association Conference, 2022
• Tennessee Library Association Conference 2023
• Louisiana Library Association Conference, 2022; 2023
• Arkansas Library Association Conference, 2022
• New Mexico Library Association Conference, 2022; 2023
• Virginia Library Association Conference, 2022; 2023
• Wisconsin Library Association Conference, 2022, 2023
• Illinois Library Association Conference, 2022; 2023
• FIYAHCON Online Conference 2021, 2022
• Flights of Foundry, 2023
• PLA 2020, 2022, 2024

Online Programming for:
Glen Ellyn Public Library (IL) Book Group Buzz; Indiana State Library; MAIN Book Buzz (New Jersey); Bucks County Free Library (PA) staff day; Bibliocommons BiblioCon

Indemnification
Applicants agree to indemnify and to hold LibraryReads harmless against all damages, claims, suits, or other legal proceedings arising from the staff member’s travel to and from and participation in conferences.

The maximum award amount per event is $2,000.

Why Dark Romance is So Popular (with Resource Links)

As I mentioned here yesterday, I am updating my genre program and one of the interesting things about the rise of Romantasy is the parallel trajectory of Dark Romance. 

Dark Romance is not Horroromance. It is its own thing, but like Romantasy, Dark Romance definitely began as a BookTok trend. I have been following its growth since 2023 and this article via Paste entitled, "What is Dark Romance and Why is BookTok Obsessed With It?" From the article:

The name “dark romance” offers its own succinct definition of the genre. It’s a field of romantic stories where the themes and content are far more adult and taboo-busting than is generally seen in mainstream fare. If traditional romance is defined by its happy endings and declarations of love winning over all else, its shadowy sibling is more willing to push the boundaries of what actually counts as love. You tend to know a dark romance when you see one. The covers are typically black or red, with titles like Twisted Love, Forbidden, Hooked, Scarred, Deviant King, and so on. Dark romance books often contain stories about abduction and kidnapping or play around with BDSM and blur the lines of consent. Emotions are high, as is the sexual content. The heroes are anything but, often occupying roles in criminal underworlds such as motorcycle gangs and the mafia. Some are outright killers. Morality is optional, but pleasure is not.

That article was published back in November of 2023, and while the popularity about and conversation around Dark Romance has steadily grown since then, I did notice it burst into the mainstream through this February's Romance coverage across many different platforms. 

So today, I thought I would share some of the links I have been collecting. Some, like the one above lists books and engage in a useful discussion about why people love these books, but others are just lists of books. 

• Why Readers Love Dark Romance via The Saturday Evening Post 
• Goodreads' shelf for Dark Romance
• All the threads discussing and suggesting Dark Romance on reddit
• Via SelfPublshing.com: How to Write Dark Romance: Defining This Alluring Genre
• An article from the author side of the equation. Fascinating. You should always consider a resource like this. 
• The PRH page of their Dark Romances: When the largest publisher makes an entire page (that can be caught through a simple Google search) on a genre, you know that it is popular.

Before I let you go, another huge trend in all fiction for 2025 is that everything is "cozy." Now this may seem like I don't mean everything because by definition something like Dark Romance cannot be cozy. Well, let me present "What is 'Cozy' Dark Romance?" (via Book Riot) as evidence that I do mean everything.

However, let me also add as a caveat, that "cozy" means different things to each person. And in this case, someone who enjoys a Cozy Mystery or even a TJ Klune Cozy Fantasy, may not find cozy Dark Romance as appealing. But that is the way the human brain works as we have conversations to suss out each reader's unique appeal factors for the books they love and why. Thankfully, because the human brain does not make sense on a plotted data graph-- ever-- we will never be out of a job.

2025 Trends to Keep an Eye Out For and How I Update My Demystifying Genre Program Every Year

Next week I will be updating my Demystifying Genre talk as I do this time every year. I incorporate the past year of genre awards, look back at my best of the year coverage, and all of  the year end assessments of trends.

As part of the updating process, I came across two posts predicting 2025 trends that I will be consulting, and because most of you will never see my genre program, I thought they were worth passing on to everyone.

• Book Riot's overall book trends for 2025
• Goodread's post about cross genre trends they are "spotting"
• Book Publishing Trends for 2025 from a professional book editor
• Genre Trends in Publishing 2025 via She Writes
• Reddit thread from end of 2024 discussing trends for 2025

I tend to give this program as part of a 3 month training that I offer to library systems. As a result March is the first time I present it every year. And this is fortuitous because I need the space from my intense year in review work to look back at the big picture before narrowing my focus and digging in to some details. 

As I do this more comprehensive work, overall trends as well as genre specific trends begin to emerge. 

But it is important to note that trends do not appear out of thin air. They are built over time. And in fact, the most important thing about my annual major update of this program is how it builds year over year. Some trends are completely turned upside down from year to year, while others change in subtle ways. And the long view is fascinating. 

Take Psychological Suspense for example. When I began in libraries it was dominated by male authors who were writing novels featuring serial killers. Today it is a genre dominated by unreliable narrators, domestic situations, and female authors.

All of this preamble is a small peek behind the curtain of how Becky's Demystifying Genre program is created. Links to the updated program will be up soon on my recent and upcoming presentations page for the 2 March appearances but if you go over to that page now, you can see the times I have this talk at the end of 2024. This will allow you all to compare how the program changes for yourself.

I keep slide links up for about 6 months on that page. If you are finding this post in the future (originally posted in February of 2025), I am sure there will be multiple version of Demystifying Genre on that page to compare. In Bernal those presentation in the first half of the year are the same (part of the major annual overhaul) and then in the Fall, when I begin new multi-month training contracts with library systems, it gets a lighter update.

I hope access to the Demystifying Genre slides over time and learning a bit about the program building process, will help all of you as you serve readers.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: The Bram Stoker Awards Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

Yesterday, the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot was released. These are for books and stories published in 2024.

It is a strong ballot. I have included every nominee in all 13 categories here on the blog so that the authors and titles are searchable, but in particular, I want to note that Novel, Long Fiction (novella), and First Novel are stacked. I have reviewed I reviewed 12 of the 15 nominees.

Full disclosure, I am an active member of the HWA and will be voting but honestly, I am going to have to really think about my vote. I am not kidding when I say this-- those categories could come down to a single vote. 

As resource, the Bram Stoker Awards® are one of the best, and I don't just say this because I am on the Board for the HWA (The Awards are administered by a separate committee and I have no contact with the voting process). The awards have their own separate website that is there to use to keep track of every award winner, for every year. But you can also search by author and title. 

For example, if you want to see all the times Stephen Graham Jones has been nominated and won, you can put his name in the search box and then go to this page with all of the information in one place.

Also there is a timeline on the left side bar when you click on the menu for "Winners/Nominees." Simply click on a date to see who was nominated and won that year.

So many ways to search to find a treasure trove of critically acclaimed horror titles to showcase in your library or add to your collections. It is one of the top resources for you, the library worker, as you assist patrons looking for their next scary read.

The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (http://www.horror.org/) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/).

Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement.

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing.

If your work appears on this ballot and you would like to offer it to voting members of the HWA in the Internet Mailer to be sent on or around February 26, please see important information following the ballot.

The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

●       Ajram, Sofia — Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror (Ghoulish Books)

●       Costello, Rob — We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures(Running Press)

●       Gyzander, Carol and Taborska, Anna — Discontinue If Death Ensues: Tales from the Tipping Point (Flame Tree Publishing)

●       Murano, Doug and Bailey, Michael — Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners (Bad Hand Books)

●       Ryan, Lindy — Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror (A Women in Horror Anthology) (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

●       Barron, Laird — Not a Speck of Light (Bad Hand Books)

●       Enriquez, Mariana — A Sunny Place for Shady People (Penguin)       

●       Sylvaine, Angela — The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls (Dark Matter Ink)

●       Waggoner, Tim — Old Monsters Never Die (Winding Road Stories)                                   

●       Yardley, Mercedes M. — Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

●       Coles, Donyae — Midnight Rooms (Amistad)

●       Drake-Thomas, Jessica — Hollow Girls (Cemetery Dance Publications)

●       Kiefer, Jenny — This Wretched Valley (Quirk Books)

●       Kim, Monika — The Eyes Are the Best Part (Erewhon Books)

●       Ryan, Lindy — Bless Your Heart (Minotaur Books)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

●       Ha, Robin (writer/artist) — The Fox Maidens (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

●       Hetland, Beth (writer/artist) — Tender (Fantagraphics Books)

●       Horvath, Patrick (writer/artist) — Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees (Penguin Random House)

●       Tanabe, Gou (writer/artist) — H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu (Dark Horse Books)

●       Umber, Maggie (writer/artist) — Chrysanthemum Under the Waves (Maggie Umber LLC)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

●       Ajram, Sofia – Coup de Grâce (Titan Books)

●       Cassidy, Nat – Rest Stop (Shortwave Publishing)

●       Chapman, Clay McLeod – Kill Your Darling (Bad Hand Books)

●       LaRocca, Eric – “All The Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” (This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances) (Titan Books)

●       Royce, Eden – Hollow Tongue (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Long Non-Fiction

●       Bogutskaya, Anna — Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us (Faber & Faber)

●       Dauber, Jeremy —American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)

●       Honeycutt, Heidi — I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (HeadPress)

●       Hughes, Emily C.  — Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch (Quirk Books)

●       Sachar, Cassandra O’Sullivan, ed. — No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes(Vernon Press)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

●       Averling, Mary – The Curse of Eelgrass Bog (Razorbill)

●       Collings, Michaelbrent – The Witch in the Woods (Shadow Mountain Publishing)

●       Cuevas, Adrianna – The No-Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

●       Ottone, Robert P. – There’s Something Sinister in Center Field (Cemetery Gates Media)

●       Royce, Eden – The Creepening of Dogwood House (Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

●       Iglesias, Gabino — House of Bone and Rain (Mulholland Books in US; Titan Books in UK)

●       Jones, Stephen Graham — I Was a Teenage Slasher (S&S/Saga Press in US; Titan Books in UK)

●       Kiste, Gwendolyn —  The Haunting of Velkwood (S&S/Saga Press)

●       Malerman, Josh — Incidents Around the House (Del Rey)

●       Tremblay, Paul — Horror Movie (William Morrow in US; Titan Books in UK)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

●       Hodge, Jamal – The Dark Between the Twilight (Crystal Lake Publishing)                             

●       Iniguez, Pedro – Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future (Space Cowboy Books)                                               

●       Murray, Lee – Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud (The Cuba Press)         

●       Saulson, Sumiko – Melancholia: A Book of Dark Poetry (Bludgeoned Girls Press)

●       Wood, L. Marie – Imitation of Life (Falstaff Books)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

●       Beck, Scott and Woods, Bryan — Heretic (A24, Shiny Penny, Beck/Woods)

●       Eggers, Robert; Galeen, Henrik; and Stoker, Bram — Nosferatu (Focus Features, Maiden Voyage Pictures, Studio 8)

●       Fargeat, Coralie — The Substance (Working Title Film, Good Story, Blacksmith)

●       Perkins, Osgood — Longlegs (C2 Motion Picture Group, Cweature Features, Oddfellow Entertainment)

●       Schoenbrun, Jane — I Saw the TV Glow (A24, Fruit Tree, Smudge Films)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

●       Barron, Laird — “Versus Versus” (Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners) (Bad Hand Books)

●       Bolton, Rachel — “And She Had Been So Reasonable” (Apex Magazine Issue 147) (Apex Book Company)

●       Brown, Sasha — “To the Wolves” (Weird Horror #9) (Undertow Publications)

●       Busby, R. A. — “Ten Thousand Crawling Children” (Nightmare Magazine January 2024) (Adamant Press)

●       Jakubowski, Raven — “She Sheds Her Skin” (Nightmare Magazine November 2024) (Adamant Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

●       Arnzen, Michael — “Screamin’ in the Rain: The Orchestration of Catharsis in William Castle’s The Tingler“(What Sleeps Beneath)

●       Liaguno, Vince — “The Horror of Donna Berzatto and Her Feast of the Seven Fishes” (You’re Not Alone in the Dark) (Cemetery Dance Publications)

●       Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew — “Hidden Histories: The Many Ghosts of Disney’s Haunted Mansion” (Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse) (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.)

●       Wetmore, Kevin J., Jr. — “Jackson and Haunting of the Stage” (Journal of Shirley Jackson Studies Vol. 2 No. 1) (Shirley Jackson Society)

●       Wood, Lisa — “Blacks in Film and Cultivated Bias” (No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes) (Vernon Press)

Superior Achievement in a YA Novel

●       Cesare, Adam — Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

●       Fraistat, Ann — A Place for Vanishing (Delacorte Press)

●       Parker, Natalie C. — Come Out, Come Out (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

●       Senf, Lora — The Losting Fountain (Union Square & Co.)

●       Wellington, Joelle — The Blonde Dies First (Simon & Schuster)

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Unwin Award for Nonfiction Edition With Some Real Talk About Nonfiction Displays (a Becky Rant Post)

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

Brand new award alert! And it is not only for nonfiction, but also for a body of work rather than a specific title. All of this means it is an awesome new resource.

Okay, let me back up a bit. The Publisher's Association in the UK has been working on launching the Unwin Prize. Who is the Publisher's Association? From their about page (which makes be adore them right off the bat):

We are the member organisation for UK publishing, representing companies of all sizes and specialisms.  

Our members produce digital and print books, research journals and educational resources across genres and subjects.   

We exist to champion publishing to the wider world and to provide our members with everything they need to thrive.

Our members are at the heart of our mission. We bring them together; provide them with the information they need; seek solutions to problems; and campaign to achieve them.  

We have helped change laws, improved business conditions and inspired people to become publishers. 

We are passionate about the capacity for books and reading to make life better for people.

So back in September of 2024 they had this announcement abut the inaugural Unwin Prize: 

The Unwin Award is a new, annual literary award administered by The Publishers Association, recognising non-fiction authors in the earlier stages of their careers as authors whose work is considered to have made a significant contribution to the world.  

The Unwin Award is intended to champion and showcase the value of the UK publishing industry to the world. The Unwin Award has been made possible following a donation from the Unwin Charitable Trust. 

Worth £10,000, The Unwin Award will be awarded to the author for their overall body of work, rather than being associated with a specific title. 

That page has the links to the rules, eligibility, and how to submit. One of the most interesting things about eligibility as listed on that page is this: 

"Nominated authors must have published no more than three non-fiction books."

So this award is for people early in their career and it is a judged award (judges names here). It is for authors to keep an eye on and so the shortlist is even more helpful. These are nonfiction authors who have made a track record for themselves. There will be books we can order and suggest with confidence because the author (not just a single books) was vetted by a panel of expert judges-- including a bookseller  (which is key as this is not just a snooty critics prize). And with a shortlist of six authors, we have access to more than just six books.

We always need more resources for nonfiction suggestions and I for one am totally here for this. And yes, we have no backlist, but if this prize continues....we will!

[Side note, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction and its longlist --and backlist-- is a good comparable prize here]

Here is the page with the shortlist announcement with some of the text below:

The Unwin Award has announced the six writers shortlisted for the inaugural year of this new, literary award recognising non-fiction writers in the earlier stages of their careers as authors, whose work is considered to have made a significant contribution to the world. Worth £10,000, the Unwin Award recognises authors for their overall body of work, with the winner set to be revealed at a ceremony held at The Royal Institution on 1 April 2025. The six writers in contention are:

• Catherine Belton is the author of Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West anda former Moscow Correspondent for the Financial Times – campaigning against the type of SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws she had been a victim of following the publication of her debut book. The Unwin Award Judging Panel 2025 praised Belton’s deeply scholarly and investigative approach, and her continued bravery to champion free speech in the face of Russian intimidation.

• Caroline Criado-Perez is a writer, broadcaster and award-winning feminist campaigner, whose book Invisible Women won the FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Choice Award and the Royal Society Science Book Prize. The Unwin Award Judging Panel 2025 praised the scope of research, use of statistics, and the persuasive, resonant power of Criado-Perez’s writing, as well as the countless impacts of her work in influencing policy, research, news commentary and conversation.

• Helen Czerski is a physicist, oceanographer, broadcaster and author of three books, including Blue Machine, based at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. The Unwin Award Judging Panel 2025 praised the way in which Czerski uses compelling data in her books to highlight ocean science literacy and the vital role the seas play in sustaining life, alongside the variety of ways in which readers have engaged with her work: from architects, parliamentarians, students, novelists and academics.

• Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, journalist, presenter, columnist and author of books including Brit(ish) – exploring Britishness, identity and belonging – for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. The Unwin Award Judging Panel 2025 praised the ways in which Hirsch’s writing interrogates our national identity post-Brexit, sharing her personal story in a way that has transformed how we talk about history, race and belonging.

• Guy Shrubsole is the author of three award-winning titles including The Lost Rainforests of Britain, and an environmental campaigner on climate and nature crises, working for a wide range of organisations from Friends of the Earth and the Right to Roam campaign to the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Unwin Award Judging Panel 2025 praised Shrubsole’s lyrical, inspiring and educational prose, and the ways in which his work has shaped public understanding of land ownership, conservation, and our relationship with the natural world.

• Chris Van Tulleken is an infectious diseases doctor at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, has a PhD in molecular virology from University College London where he is an Associate Professor, and is one of the BBC’s leading broadcasters and author of the acclaimed Ultra-Processed People. The Unwin Award Judging Panel 2025 praised Van Tulleken’s passion and knowledge of his subject, and the undeniable impact he has achieved in placing UPF into the news agenda and increasing public awareness and general conversation around what we eat. 

What a range of types of books they all write. Click through for more information about the prize.

Now check your catalogs to see if you can add books by these authors.

But remember the title of this series of posts-- they are about USING awards lists to help you help readers. To that end, I am here to tell you to use this post and the ACM site (mentioned above) to make a nonfiction display for all readers. Don't center it around a topic. Rather, call it "Great Nonfiction Reads." 

We get obsessed with our subject and titles for our displays and want to make everything fit into a tight category. But here's the thing, this is detrimental to reaching the largest number of readers. Readers don't care about your category. They want a good book they wouldn't find on their own. We put all these unnecessary barriers on our work because why? We like cute or punny titles. We think we have to make everything fit into an easy to define box.

It is dumb and infuriating to me how we continue to put our desire to organize things into categories above helping readers.

Look, we need to ALWAYS think more like a reader and less like a library worker. Readers will be more drawn to a display that has the largest reach. Why? Because if you have, for example, a nonfiction display of memoirs of politicians, you will get some interest from people who identify as readers of this topic. But if instead you have a display of "Great Nonfiction Reads for Every Reader." anyone who is looking for a nonfiction read will be drawn to look. And you can pull so many great books from all over the dewey landscape, including memories by politicians.

Your job is easier because the universe of books you can pull from is larger(again ACM website has hundreds of options) and you will reach more readers.

That's a win-win.