HWA ANNOUNCES SUMMER SCARES READING PROGRAM 2026 Spokesperson and Timeline

 

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HWA ANNOUNCES SUMMER SCARES READING PROGRAM 2026 Spokesperson and Timeline 

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is proud to announce the eighth annual Summer Scares, a reading program that provides libraries and schools with an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult (teen), and middle-grade readers.

Summer Scares is proud to announce the 2026 spokesperson, New York Times Bestselling author, Jennifer McMahon:

"When I was a kid, I checked a book out of my local library that had a spell in the back to become a werewolf. I was a freaky, monster-loving girl, not sure how I fit into the world. I thought it would be easier to grow fangs and claws than to deal with all the messy human stuff. I cast the spell, not missing a single step, and was profoundly disappointed when it didn’t work. But there was other magic on those library shelves: doors to other worlds; worlds where ghosts and monsters and terrible things waited for me and taught me not just to face my own fears, but to come out on the other side stronger and maybe with a better understanding of myself. Turns out I don’t need to go full-on werewolf to feel changed—I just need to lose myself is a great spooky story. So I’m thrilled to be here with Summer Scares, inviting you to come on this reading journey with me—transformation into a werewolf not guaranteed!”

McMahon, along with a committee of six library workers, will select three recommended fiction titles in each reading level, totaling nine Summer Scares selections. The program aims to encourage a conversation at libraries worldwide about the horror genre across all age levels and ultimately attract more adults, teens, and children interested in reading. Official Summer Scares designated authors will also make themselves available to public and school libraries.

The committee’s final selections will be announced on February 14, 2026, Library Lover’s Day. McMahon, along with some of the selected authors, will kick off Summer Scares at the 10th Annual HWA Librarians’ Day (Friday, June 5, 2026) during StokerCon® 2026 at the Westin Pittsburgh. Click here for more information.

Additional content, including podcast appearances, free webinars with Booklist, and lists of suggested titles for further reading, will be made available by the committee and its partners beginning early in 2026 and continuing through the Spring and Summer. Of special note is the annual Summer Scares Programming Guide, courtesy of HWA Library Committee Co-Chair Konrad Stump and the Springfield-Greene County Library.

“The 2026 guide, developed by the HWA’s Library Advisory Council, is packed with everything library workers need to engage their communities with these great titles, including an iREAD partner title in each age group” states Stump. “From ideas for author events, partner programs with University of Pittsburgh Library Systems, book discussion groups, and much more, this guide is the library worker’s roadmap to creating exciting and meaningful experiences for their patrons through Summer Scares that they can use as a jumping off point for future horror-themed programming.” 

 The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2026, on the Summer Scares Resource page here. 

To see past year’s Summer Scares titles, spokespeople, and programming guides, please visit the program archive here. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates coming soon from Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD and NoveList®, as well as at the HWA’s website: www.horror.org and RA for All Horror: http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html.

Questions? Reach out to HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump via email: libraries@horror.org.

Summer Scares 2026 Committee Members: 

Jennifer McMahon is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve suspense novels including The Winter People, Promise Not to Tell, and My Darling Girl. She’s written about ghosts, serial killers, shape shifting monsters, an evil fairy king, a kidnapping rabbit, a terrifying swimming pool, and more. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her partner, Drea. When not writing, she spends a lot of time exploring and seeking out haunted places, real and imagined.

Becky Spratford is a library consultant and the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition which was released in September of 2021. She reviews horror for Booklist magazine, is the horror columnist for Library Journal and runs the Readers’ Advisory blog, RA for All: Horror. She is the author of Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature (Saga Press/S&S, September 2025).

Konrad Stump works for the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, where he coordinates the long-running "Oh, the Horror!" series, profiled in The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition. He also created the Donuts & Death horror book discussion group, featured in Book Club Reboot: 71 Creative Twists (ALA), and co-created the Summer Scares Programming Guide. His work has appeared in Library Journal, NoveList, and Booklist.

Carolyn Ciesla is an academic library director in the Chicago suburbs and is serving as the 2025-26 Illinois Library Association President. She has worked as a teen librarian and reference librarian and has reviewed horror titles for Booklist magazine. She’s currently teaching horror to first-year college students. You can find her all over the internet as @papersquared.

Kelly Jensen is senior editor at Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America. She covers all things young adult literature and has written about censorship for nearly ten years. She is the author of three critically acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults on the topics of feminism, mental health, and the body. She was named a person of the year in 2022 by Publishers Weekly and a Chicagoan of the Year in 2022 by the Chicago Tribune for her anti-censorship work. She has twice earned commendation from the American Association of School Librarians for her censorship coverage. Prior to her work at Book Riot, she was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. She is currently enrolled in a clinical mental health counseling master's program to bolster her work with mental health.

Julia Smith is a senior editor at Booklist, where she works in the youth books department and harbors a deep love of middle-grade literature. Prior to her career at Booklist, she worked at an independent children's bookstore and in the Chicago Public Library system.

Yaika Sabat (MLS) comes from a background in public libraries and now works at NoveList as the Manager of Reader Content and Services, where she creates genre and reader focused content and services. As a Horror Writers Association’s Library Advisory Council member, she aims to help librarians understand and embrace the horror genre. Her other passions include writing, film and media, and folklore. .

25 Years of Amazon Best Books Lists is a Great Conversation Starter

The first two days of this week I have focused on 2025 best lists, but in a twist, Amazon is currently pushing the ultimate backlist best list. (That's a mouthful).

They have launched a page celebrating their best books 25th Anniversary here. Their take line for this list is: Amazon's Editors 25 Years of Best Books: Real Editors, Real Favorites

Along with a list of their 25 #1 picks (which they have in reverse chronological order at the top of the page and it is defiantly fun to relive my moments with these boys and the patrons I suggested them to), they have a variety of other conversation starter categories. These categories include:

• Editors' Personal Favorites
• Books That Had Everyone Talking
• Award Winning Books
• Books That Came to Your Screens (big and small)
• Books That Take You Around the World
• Books That Inspire Conversation

And there are more categories if you go here and scroll down. All of these though, they are all great examples of the editors using a conversation starter to discuss a wide range of titles. They have expanded the conversation around "best books" in a way that is easy for actual readers to participate. And it makes sense that they are making participation easy because they want those who visit the portal to buy books from them.

While I would never advocate for you to buy your books from Amazon (instead, visit your local store or use bookshop.org), I do think this portal, dedicated to the work done by the editors at Amazon over the last 25 years, is a great resource for you to use to help your community revisit their own favorite books of the last 25 years.

Since we are nearing the end of 2025, think about using some of these example lists as a way to start a conversation with your community about the books that have resonated with them the most over the last 25 years. Use the Amazon lists to get you started, to fill up the displays, and then use my conversation starter to display post to gather their titles and keep the conversation going with the help of your readers.

25 is a round number. Contemplating the last 25 years is looking back at the entire century. Looking back through books with your community-- together-- is a great exercise. And now you have a place to start this conversation. Let your community run with it. Use my directions for ideas on how to do this. And sit back and watch the titles, and the personal connections to them, come to you. You will learn a lot about your patrons and the titles they enjoy the most by doing this. Oh, and it will be fun too.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Andrew Carnegie Medal Edition [See Also Attack of the Best Lists]

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.  

Also

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2024" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Carnegie Medal Selection Committee because a few years ago year, I was a part of that group.

Late last week, the long list was announced. But first, unfamiliar with this award? From the website:

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, established in 2012, recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year and serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the American Library Association and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. The winning authors (one for fiction, one for nonfiction) receive a $5,000 cash award. For more information on award seals, please visit the ALA store.

A longlist comprised of no more than 50 titles is released in the fall. Six finalists, three fiction and three nonfiction, are announced in November. The winners are announced in January. All honored titles are nominated by the members of the selection committee. The awards do not accept submissions.

Part one of the selection committee's assignment is to select a long list of no more than 50 titles. 

Here is that official long list announcement for the current year:

 

 

Forty-five extraordinary books—21 fiction and 24 nonfiction—have been named to the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence longlist.

The six-title shortlist—three each for the fiction and nonfiction medals—will be chosen from longlist titles and announced on November 18, 2025. The two medal winners will be announced on Tuesday, January 27, 2026. 

Explore the full longlist and share your favorites using #ALA_Carnegie and our downloadable graphics.

Click here to see all of the titles.

Now the hard part begins for the committee as they must whittle down these 20+ titles in fiction and nonfiction to 6 titles-- 3 fiction and 3 nonfiction. That announcement will be on November 18th as noted above.

But all 45 books are excellent to suggest to a wide swath of readers. Why? Because the committee is tasked with choosing excellent examples of books for a general adult reading audience. When I was on the committee, there were some awesome nonfiction titles that we discounted because they were too academic, for example. 

I have read a few books on this list but I wanted to point out one in particular because it is amazing and it is 100% Horror-- The Unworthy by Augustina Bazterrica, Translated by Sarah Moses. I gave this book a star in LJ. 

Finally, like all of my awards lists post, I need to remind you about the backlist. The Carnegie Medal homepage has access to the winners, short list, and long list titles going all the way back to 2012 and up to the present all through a drop down menu at the top of the page. All of these titles make for excellent suggestions and the 6 annual short list titles all have an annotations for you to use to suggest them to readers immediately. 

Make sure you own all 45 books from this year and then combine those that are on the shelf with some backlist gems to make a display for the Andrew Carnegie Medal or save these up for your end of the year best lists displays. 

But most importantly, trust the library workers and book seller on the committee and suggest these titles far and wide.

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Publisher's Weekly Best Books 2025

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Once the Publishers Weekly best books portal goes live it is on! They are going to come fast and furious from here on at. Not only is PW's one of the first best lists of the year, but it  is also the most useful of the bunch. 

Look at those screen shots [above]. From the Best Books of 2025 page. On the PW Best Books portal you can access by all ages and genres as well as single click access going back to 2010! And it includes their Summer Reads picks and overall BEST titles all in one place. 

This inclusion of Summer Reads access is key because often, those books are better general read options but they don't always make the year end lists. This allows the PW Best Book portal to be a one stop shop for a wider range of "best" options fit for even more readers.

Nowhere will you find a resource that puts this many "sure bet" options in front of you so easily. There are literally hundreds of titles here, at your fingertips, both old and new, that you can confidently suggest to readers immediately. Readers who read across all age levels [down to infants] and in just about every genre. 

And, since every title is annotated, you also have a book talk [or annotation] for each title right there. You don't have to have read the book to suggest it. [Reminder: Use the Words of Others.]

I could keep gushing about how much I love this resource but I would rather you played around with it yourself.

Making this year's list even better (in my eyes), my best book of the year overall is on their list. Their overall list-- not genre....overall-- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.  I told you all in March when I had this post:

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones is Out TODAY and I Don't Think You Will Read a Better Book in Any Genre This Year

 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter should not be put in a Horror corner (looking at you B&N). It is a loud and proud BEST BOOK full sop.

But back to the annual PW Best Books Portal in general and not just this year in particular. Sure, we are all excited about 2025, but don't forget to look back at older titles, read the annotations, check genres you love and those you don't normally read-- especially those you don't normally read because you will learn much about the current state of that genre [trends, popular authors] this year and going back a few years. You can get access to some great sure bet suggestions AND brush up on your genre knowledge all in one place.

Spend some time really getting to know this resource. And then use it-- all of it including past years and both summer and year end lists-- to make your own lists for your readers. Make displays [digital displays too], make suggested reading lists by genre, by year, by whatever you want. Just embrace the wealth of information available to you with one click and help readers in ways they would not think to help themselves.

Go check out this database of "sure bet" reads for any season, and keep it bookmarked for use anytime you need a solid suggestion [especially for those hard to satisfy readers]. 

And keep an eye out here on the blog for more "Attack of the Best Lists" posts coming as they are announced. And they will be coming  at a fast clip from today onward until the end of the year.

Beyond Banned Books Displays: How Did Your Library Celebrate Intellectual Freedom Earlier This Month?

I am on the Illinois Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee and I just created a survey for IL Libraries asking them to share any creative ideas for rising above the basic "Banned Books Week" display that they tried out earlier this month.

During the ILA Annual Conference, our committee had a great program on "soft censorship," and at the end, we asked for feedback as to what else the ILA community wanted us to work on int he coming year. This topic-- how to promote Intellectual Freedom beyond just talking about book banning or putting up banned books displays-- came up many times.

We all know that book banning gets people's attention but the issue is so much deeper. In fact, because Intellectual Freedom in general is in jeopardy, it is important for us to pivot and focus on advocacy and information about our rights over just putting up displays of books that have been banned.

This is something Kelly Jensen writes about all of the time for Book Riot here, but before Banned Books Week 2025, she went into more detail about how she was helping her local bookstore focus on advocacy over banning. I shared her thoughts and bookmarks here.

It is this kind of "beyond banned books displays" idea that we are looking to gather for a program here in IL, but I also want to gather even more examples, from all over the country to share with my followers all over the world here on the blog.

So, if you had a successful display, campaign, promotion, etc.... during Banned Books Week that you want to share with a larger audience, please contact me (bspratford at hotmail dot com) with the subject heading, "Beyond Banned Books Displays" (to make sure it doesn't get lost in spam) and I will work to feature some of your Intellectual Freedom advocacy ideas here. I might even pass your library's work on to Kelly Jensen to feature on Book Riot as well.

You did the work to educate your community, but here is your chance to help libraries and their patrons all over the country. Please share. No library is too small. I want to hear about all of it.

Let's work together to share ideas. Our Intellectual Freedom could hang in the balance. Thanks in advance.

Thinking About Genre by Matthew Galloway via RUSQ

In the latest issue of RUSQ, my colleague Matthew Galloway has a great article about genre and how it can be a hinderance to helping readers. 

Click here to access the full article but here is the abstract:

Thinking About Genre  

Matthew Galloway 

Abstract

I work in a non-Dewey library that essentially uses a combination of BISAC and simplified language to organize our shelves to create an easily browsable collection. While my area of selection is adult fiction and probably the least different from Dewey libraries, traditional genres can still be a conundrum.

It’s not that I don’t know genre conventions—I have fifteen years of library experience, have

volunteered for numerous genre award committees, and even write reviews for Library Journal.

The puzzle arises from the conflict between  publisher, public, and library views on genre. We can

probably add vendor ideas as well, not to mention the numerous public figures who have their

thoughts on how genre ought to be divvied up.

He takes a very popular title to illustrate his main point. From the article:

Take a novel like Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I think most libraries would agree this lives most comfortably on a general fiction shelf. It has an octopus that narrates chapters and is certainly human-like in his intelligence and thought patterns, but he isn’t magical, and there isn’t special technology that allows him to communicate with anyone in the book. It’s a delightful conceit. There are numerous reviews from the public that label this a mystery, and, indeed, the publisher includes “FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / Animals” as one of the BISAC subject headings. Though I haven’t seen those same reviews use FICTION / Magical Realism or FICTION / Fantasy / Humorous to describe the book, marketers chose to add those alongside categories I feel are more useful for readers’ advisory: FICTION / Animals, FICTION / Friendship, FICTION / Family Life / General.

Galloway goes on to use a few other very popular books with wide cross genre appeal as examples as well. And then he discusses how genre language is both helpful and not as we work with human readers. It is an article that everyone who works with readers needs to read. Don't worry, it is extremely practical but well researched and just the right length. You will not be overwhelmed here.

The article's focus-- always thinking about the reader in front of us and why that person is seeking that book or why we think they should read it-- is important.

I also really love his point that a book's "genre" can change over time, even though the book never changes. His examples are great but we all have even more from our time working with readers.

I see some room for this article to be turned into a conversation starter to display question. I am not sure what the question would be yet but there is definitely something there. Maybe you will come up with a conversation starter inspired by this article and then you can share it with me.

Click here to access to PDF to read what I am talking about.

New Issue of Booklist's Corner Shelf Newsletter with Backlist Access

 

Booklist Online is full of RA info, and resources above and beyond the reviews. Yes, reviews and the spotlight best lists make up the bulk of the contents in the magazine, but they also have very useful newsletters.

The Corner Shelf, in particula, is exactly perfect for the reader of this blog. From the newsletter landing/archive page:

Where Readers' Advisory meets Collection Development. This free newsletter addresses trends, ideas, and issues in the two areas, helping librarians find the common ground between them. Original writing by respected experts, as well as in-the-trenches looks at new products and what's coming up. If you don't already receive Corner Shelf, subscribe now!

This newsletter comes out 4x a year-- February, May, August, and October.  Click here to read the current newsletter- October 2025.

And don't forget to check out the FREE archive of newsletters going back to 2014. There is a treasure trove of RA resources, suggestion ideas, and interviews with RA professionals lurking just a few clicks ff the Booklist Online homepage here.

But back to the present. Today I am including the Editor's Note from Susan Maguire that leads off this issue. Please click here or at the end of her intro to read the entire issue and check out the useful links.

Hello Shelfers,

Publisher’s Weekly shared some bad news from the leisure-reading world back in August: folks are currently reading for pleasure at the lowest rate in the past 20 years. This seems to be at odds with the BookTok-driven boom in reading, where users are consuming books at wild pace, snapping up special editions and self-published gems alongside picks from past publishing seasons. (Although there is a part of me that wonders if this is reading, or just consumption? Not because of the content—I’m a devoted romance reader, and you won’t catch me judging what anyone chooses to read for fun—but because there’s just so much. Are people just filling their bookshelves with pretty stuff? Does it even matter? Am I being too gatekeep-y?)

And then I look to my own library. I spent last weekend working at my Friends of the Library book sale (shout out to the Edgewater branch of the Chicago Public Library!), two days full of talking to folks about the treasures they found and how excited they were to dig in. I’m not saying this refutes PW’s report or my own cynicism about social media, but it was good for my readers’ advisor’s soul to see people jazzed about books.

What are you seeing at your libraries? Are your leisure-reading patrons still actively using the library? Are your holds queues still growing? Are folks browsing the shelves for things to take home? Are BookTok and Bookstagram suggestions making their way into your RA conversations and patron requests?

Hopefully your reading community is a robust one, but no matter the shape it’s in, Booklist and Corner Shelf are here to help. In this issue, I’m highlighting a Trade Secrets column that ran in the July issue from librarian Kaitlyn Griffith-Miller on the nuances of using BookTok for readers’ advisory. (Because no matter how cynical we are—*ahem* I am—about it, patrons are getting books suggestions from BookTok.) You’ll also find a list of Essentials on “Understanding Propaganda” for young readers; get that media literacy started early. We’ve also got a roundup of recent professional reading reviews, the Top 10 Art Books for 2025, a community-oriented Excerpt from the Experts, and more. Plus, it’s spooky season, so I couldn’t resist including Kelly Ferreira’s “YA Queer Horror Roundtable” and an unsettling backlist suggestion that harkens back to a classic horror master.

Happy reading!

—Susan Maguire
Senior Editor, Collection Development and Library Outreach, Booklist
smaguire@ala.org
@booklistsusan.bsky.social

Click here to access the full issue with links. 

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Barnes & Noble

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Barnes & Noble has released their Best Books 2025 portal making them the first major outlet to release their list and they are covering a lot of bases with many categories including books in Spanish.

And for the second year in a row, this is also marks the beginning of my Attack of the Best Lists coverage for 2025. 

From the portal landing page: 

The Best Books of 2025

The wait is over – meet the best books of 2025. This year delivered stories that inspired us, magical tales that transported us, novels that made us fall in love and thrillers that kept us guessing. There were picture books that left us laughing and fiction that moved us, nonfiction that helped us thrive and gave us something to think about and cookbooks we couldn’t live without. Celebrate the books that kept us turning pages.

There are 19 categories for all ages here.

Of course B&N has more than one best list. The more the merrier in their eyes because ultimately they want to sell as many books as possible. And as the holidays and gift giving opportunities approach, they want it to be as easy as possible to help you find the right books for your people.

While getting the most sales is the reason, it is nice to see the categories themselves and the books found within as more inclusive than previous years. They have categories for Best Audiobooks, Best Spanish Books for adults and kids, and have multiple nonfiction categories. They are thinking about how people read and making sure they see a category that works for them or their friends and family.

Speaking of the ease at which the average reader can access enticing titles, keep a list of those B&N categories to use as display titles and conversation starters anytime of year.

You can make a display anytime of year with these categories as well especially if you use the backlist of best lists. So while at the end of a year you can use these categories as a way to ask patrons to weigh in on their best reads of the last year, you can also use these categories and the backlist "Best" options  to make genre or reading category displays anytime of year. 

Ask you patrons to help by using  this link to see how to turn a conversation starter into a display. 

Access the backlist of Best titles through with my attack of the best lists coverage from year to year to have all the best lists, from any of the past years, all in one. But specifically, here is the B&N Best Books portal from, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020.

Look for MANY more "Attack of the Best Lists" post coming soon. 

Belonging Is NEVER a Given, It Takes Intentional Work: My Illinois Library Association Annual Conference Appearance Recap

I gave 2 programs at the ILA Annual conference while the tone was different in each, the message was the same-- Belonging is not a given in libraries; in fact, quite the opposite is true. Libraries and librarians have always placed barriers to access in libraries. 

We have excluded others actively and passively. This is true with in American society and in libraries. Libraries are one of our most democratic institutions, but because our entire democracy has been plagued (from its inception) by who is included and who is (legally) excluded, we have never risen above our country's flaws.

The theme of the ILA conference this year was "You Belong Here." I know th organizers of this year's conference personally. I know they understood the theme. They understood its complexity. Yes it sounds nice. Yes many attendees came feeling like-- oh I live this. But they knew that most libraries and library workers only give belonging a surface glance. And that is why they accepted programs that challenged this fact-- that we (as a profession) spend too much time patting ourselves on the back for fostering belonging, while our spaces and policies do the opposite-- they exclude.

If we truly believe that everyone is allowed to use the library we need to face the fact that WE are part of why many people do not feel like they belong.

I was energized by the programs that looked this hard truth in the face and challenged those in attendance to do better. I was heartened by those who understood the assignment-- both presenters and attendees. Those who shared these uncomfortable truths and worked to help us all find the path toward rectifying past mistakes and do the work to move us forward.

Of course there were those who shared how my programs trying to address the paradox of belonging made them feel alienated. People have a right to their feelings, but to be fair, especially in the first program I will list below, making established librarians (regardless of if they were "white" or not) feel very uncomfortable was the goal. To get these folks to feel even a little of the extreme discomfort that library worker of color face was the goal. I hope those who felt alienation and needed to leave spend some time with those feelings and come back to the slides-- especially the resources links at the end of the presentation.

To those who could not make it, below are the titles of the programs, links to the resources that were available to the conference attendees, AND a few more thoughts from me.

Tuesday, 1:30-2:30-- The Call is Coming From Inside the House: How White Librarianship Protects Itself and Hinders Belonging. Slide access here

In this program, Julie Jurgens, Alea Perez, and I were confrontational. We shared hard truths, but we also brought everyone around to asking themselves these questions in the end:

• What are the unconscious beliefs that I hold that create and sustain our fear of open conflict?
• What am I doing to uphold white supremacy?
• What can I do to stop being part of the problem?

We did not allow for questions from the group. Instead we asked them those questions. And like we encouraged the in person audience, I want to encourage all of you-- everyone reading this regardless of your identity (because marginalized people internalize white supremacy as well)-- to sit with those questions and really think about your answers, especially in regards to your work with your patrons. Write down your answers and then bring these hard questions (and your thought out answers) to your staff to foster the important (but uncomfortable) conversations that need to be had.

Thursday, 3-4pm-- You Truly Belong At Our Library: How Embedding Belonging in Your Planning and Policies Creates A Better Library Experience for Staff and Patrons. Slide and resources access here

In this program I organized a group of Illinois Library leaders to discuss how we had to consciously write belonging into our policies because over the last 5 years of providing antiracist training with Robin Bradford, the number one question I have gotten when I talk about Action Step 2 (on slide 5 here) and tell people to get your antiracism in writing, I am asked to provide examples. I got sick of telling people to make a go of it for themselves and I used my privilege to do the work for them. You can see those policies in the slides of my program with Robin and in the slides for the program from last week. 

I got true belonging into writing and now my library is living the policy. I gathered a few more folks who have been brave enough to do this work as well. Those people are listed in the slides available with the link above as is their contact info for more.

Please spend some time with all of the slides and resources I have provided here today. But don't think you can just click right now, look them over, and say oh, I now have learned it all. Schedule time to look at it all over time. Sit with your feelings. Look at those three questions above, specifically. They will guide you in this work as you need to do it. Belonging is your goal but getting there is a unique journey.

And as always, click here to contact me if you have questions or would like training to help you and your staff navigate these feelings.

RA for All is at StoryFest: How You Can Join Us and Use This Huge Library Event as an Inspiration For Any Library

Back in 2018, staff at the Westport (CT) Public Library thought, wouldn't it be fun to have an event to celebrate books, reading, and authors. Well Alex Giannini took his idea, gathered a team, and made it happen. And now, their "little" celebration of the story in all its forms is a huge event, and it still is run by the library.

From their webpage for the 2025 event:

StoryFest is a multi-day, genre-spanning literary festival, now in its eighth year. It is a celebration of the story in all its forms, and storytellers from across all media. Those attending will hear award-winning and debut authors talk about their work and books they have coming out this fall.

 Click through to see the authors included this year, including me. 

I am here today and tomorrow. Today, I will be visiting a local high school to talk to kids in the library about writing, reading, and of course....horror.

Then on Saturday I have this panel:

12 pm: Becky Spratford Presents: ‘Why I Love Horror’

Librarian and horror expert and critic Becky Siegel Spratford gathers some of the most celebrated contemporary horror writers to discuss why they love the genre. With Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison, Cassandra Khaw, and Hailey Piper.

But there is so much more. Click here to see the full schedule, including a live recording by Clay McLeod Chapman of his podcast Fearmongers which he does on the regular in partnership with the Westport Library.

Fearmongers LIVE! With Clay McLeod Chapman
6-7 pm: In the Trefz Forum

The best StoryFest tradition returns — Fearmongers is back on the main stage! Join Clay for readings, spooky shenanigans, and even a surprise or two — joined by special guests Rachel Harrison, Cassandra Khaw, and Cadwell Turnbull.

And all of this is FREE both in person or to stream. Just click here to learn more.

Even if you are not planning to be at or wacth StoryFest, as a library worker, I hope this post inspires you to think big about how you celebrate books and reading at your library. Alex had an idea and worked to grow it into a huge event. I know ma ny libraries who do local author festivals, taking advantage of the authors who live near them to have all day events.

You don't have to make it as large as StoryFest to make it a success. Go look at everything they have done over the years. It is all easy to access if you scroll to the bottom of this page where they have posted the links to "StoryFest Through the Years." See how it started.

No one starts the first year as the biggest thing around nor does everyone need to explode like this to make a difference in their community. Seriously, go look at the first event in 2018 and click on successive years to watch how it grew. Don't look at 2025 and think "I could never do this." Rather look at where it started and see what you can learn from that.

(See also Konrad Stump's Oh, The Horror!" at the Springfield-Greene County Library in MO. He has built a similar event over the years, from small to big. You don;t have to be right near NYC to make this happen. You can be smack in the middle of the country and do it too.)

Just offering an all day event with panels from your library workers and local authors would be an awesome and affordable event for your patrons. Also, I love that Clay and Alex have joined forces to make a podcast. Both the library and Clay were interested in having a podcast but neither wanted to go at it alone and so with Clay as the host, and the Library as the tech and distribution, Fearmongers was born and success has followed. 

[Side note: Konrad and I invited Alex and Clay to come to StokerCon 2025 to speak at Librarians' Day about their podcast and how it all works.]

Don't have FOMO that you aren't here, instead think about how you can scale this program down and make it fit your library and community. 

I will be back home by Monday and actually staying there for the entire week so expect my ILA wrap up post and more here on the main blog plus a feature on the people behind the University of Pittsburgh Horror Studies Collection all next week on the horror blog.

LibraryReads: November 2025

  

 It's LibraryReads day and that means four things here on RA for All

1. I post the list and tag it “Library Reads” so that you can easily pull up every single list with one click.
2. I can remind you that even though the newest list is always fun to see, it is the older lists where you can find AWESOME, sure bet suggestions for patrons that will be on your shelf to actually hand to them right now. The best thing about LibraryReads is the compound interest it is earning. We now have hundreds and hundreds of titles worth suggesting right at our fingertips through this archive OR the sortable master list allowing you to mix and match however you want.
3. You have no excuse not to hand sell any LibraryReads titles because there is a book talk right there in the list in the form of the annotation one of your colleagues wrote for you. All you have to say to your patron is, “such and such library worker in blank state thought this was a great read,” and then you read what he or she said.
4. Every upcoming book now has at least 1 readalike that is available to hand out RIGHT NOW. Book talk the upcoming book, place a hold for it, and then hand out that readalike title for while they wait. If they need more titles before their hold comes in, use the readalike title to identify more readalike titles. And then keep repeating. Seriously, it is that easy to have happy, satisfied readers.

So get out there and suggest a good read to someone today. I don’t care what list or resource you use to find the suggestion, just start suggesting books.

Please remember to click here for everything you need to know about how to participate. 

And finally, here is LibraryReads' extremely helpful Resources page.

Now let's get to the November 2025 list.... 

 , Medusa

Ayana Gray

I, Medusa

Ayana Gray

(Random House)

Medusa—legend, myth, monster—was once an innocent girl named Meddy who longed to see the world beyond her island. Meddy is a mortal born of two immortal sea gods in Poseidon's kingdom. When she catches the attention of the goddess Athena and is taken on as an acolyte in her temple, she thinks she has found her purpose, but a misstep angers the Gods and she becomes Medusa. A feminist tale that will capture readers’ attention from the first page.

—Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX

NoveList read-alike: Medusa by Nataly Gruender

Now the rest of the list....

Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore 

Char Adams

(Tiny Reparations Books)

An extremely informative and well-researched book on a worthy topic.This comprehensive work looks at Black history in the United States through the lens of Black-owned bookstores, covering their functions as pillars of community engagement and social justice organizations as well. Readers will appreciate the book recommendations and the bookstores listed in the endnotes.

—Autumn Raw, Hennepin County Library, MN

NoveList read-alike: Prose to the People by Katie Mitchell

Cursed Daughters: Novel

Oyinkan Braithwaite

(Doubleday Books)

Eniiyi has been haunted her entire life by her strong resemblance to her mother's cousin Monife, who drowned shortly before Eniiyi's birth. She has also been told that the women of her family are cursed to never find lasting romantic happiness. Is there any way for her to break free of her family's painful past? A beautifully told and emotional page-turner about confronting family trauma

and finding peace and forgiveness along the way.

—Mara Bandy Fass, Champaign Public Library, IL

NoveList read-alike: My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes

Daddy Issues: A No Daddy Issues: A Novel

Kate Goldbeck

(Dial Press Trade Paperbacks)

The pandemic blew up every plan Sam ever had post-college, and now she's stuck living with her mom, working a deadbeat job. Her sad status quo is disrupted when Nick moves in next door with his young daughter. As Sam confronts her relationship with her father, she starts a relationship with Nick. This romance hits on the ways the pandemic affected everyone's lives.

—Olivia Wojnar, Seymour Public Library, NY

NoveList read-alike: Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

The Ferryman and His Wife

Frode Grytten

(Algonquin Books)

This tale of a widowed Norwegian ferryman’s last day of life is simple, quiet, and effortlessly moving. Nils navigates through his cherished memories, converses with the dead, and reevaluates his connection to all who crossed his path, whether in a single trip across the forge or a decades-long marriage.

—Sharon Layburn, South Huntington Public Library, NY

NoveList read-alike: T he Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Best Off Wins

Marisa Kashino

(Celadon Books)

The housing market can be murder. Find out how far one woman will go when she sets her sights on her dream home. And just when it seems our main character, Margot, can’t surprise any more, she stuns readers once again. Once you settle in with this deliciously dark and twisty thriller, you won’t be able to look away.

—Jennifer Winberry, Hunterdon County Library, NJ

NoveList read-alike: The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore

Emily Krempholtz

(Ace)

Violet's a witch who used her powers for terror and destruction as a sidekick to the ultimate bad guy. Now she's moved into a small village and is trying to start over, running a flower shop. But her landlord doesn't seem to like her, and it's hard to cover up the past. Can she be "good" and make her new life a success? This is a sweet, cozy romantasy.

—Jayna McDaniel-Browning, Delaware County. Dist. Library, OH

NoveList read-alike: A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

An Academic Affair

Jodi McAlister

(Atria)

Sadie and Jonah start off as rivals faking a relationship for job security, and accidentally fall into something real, messy, and deeply felt. With a sharp critique of institutional academia and a great sister-drama subplot, this is set to be one of the smartest, sexiest romances of the year.

—India Cureau, Cary Memorial Library, MA

NoveList read-alike: Taste the Love by Karelia Stetz-Waters

The Bridesmaid

Cate Quinn

(Sourcebooks Landmark)

The Kensingtons invite you to the society wedding of the decade. There's just one hitch. You might not make it out alive. This book is full of intrigue and suspense that will draw readers into the pitfalls of high-society life, where nothing matters more than your social media clicks and lavish parties. Great characters and a shocking ending.

—Karen Troutman, LibraryReads Ambassador, IN

NoveList read-alike: A Killer Wedding by Joan O'Leary

The Forget-Me-Not Library

Heather Webber

(St. Martin's Press)

Tallulah and Juliet are in need of healing and love from friends and family, and the town of Forget-Me-Not offers that in spades! The lovely townsfolk want nothing but the best for their community and those in need of its special magic. Perfect for readers who want a cozy, magical read to soothe away the troubles

of the real world.

—Carmen Hughey, Greenville County Library System, SC

NoveList read-alike: The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

Board Bonus picks:

Lucky Seed

Justinian Huang

(MIRA) 

Notable Nonfiction: 

Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been T one Who Has Been Told They're Too Much

Cynthia Erivo

(Flatiron Books)

See our social media for annotations of the bonus picks

Click here to see the entire Hall of Fame

The LibraryReads Hall of Fame designation honors authors who have had multiple titles appear on the monthly LibraryReads list since 2013. When their third title places on the list via library staff votes, the author moves into the Hall of Fame. Click here to see the Hall of Fame authors organized in alpha order. Please note, the current year's Hall of Fame lists are pulled out at the top of the page.

Baldree, Travis    

Brigands & Breadknives        

Tor Books      

Cousens, Sophie    

And Then There Was You        

Putnam    

Dade, Olivia    

Second Chance Romance: A Harlot's Bay Novel   

Avon      

Macmillan, Gilly    

The Burning Library 

William Morrow        

Roberts, Nora    

The Seven Rings: The Lost Bride Trilogy, Book 3   

St. Martin's Press      

Young, Adrienne    

Fallen City        

Saturday Books