All About Becky [Updated April 2025]

Who am I and why should you care?

This page will attempt to answer that.

I have a book coming out in September 2025 with Saga/S&S entitled Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature featuring 18 of today's best horror writers. See below for my representation links to set up appearances and promotion for this title.

Want to learn more about the book? Here is the cover reveal from Crime Reads with an excerpt by Grady Hendrix

Click here to see the most recent 6 months of my presentations, although I am more than willing to create brand new training sessions that fit your needs.

Click here to see my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service page which is the place where I begin every program.

Click here for my Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers page, done in conjunction with Robin Bradford. 

Click here for my EDI Mission Statement:

RA for All’s programs are crafted and delivered with the understanding that increasing the collection, discovery, and circulation of titles written by marginalized voices in all public libraries is not a trend. It is a requirement. By contracting with RA for All, library organizations must take the position that libraries are not neutral, and understand that the goal is to become an anti-racist library, an organization that does the work to begin actively breaking down the walls of the systemic oppression of marginalized view points, walls which have been built over centuries but cannot be allowed to stand any longer. This work is not easy and will be uncomfortable at times, but getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is part of this process. RA for All is committed to helping you craft an actionable plan to begin this important journey.  

Click here for my Goodreads Profile to see the books I have written and what I am reading.

Click here for my Bluesky to see what I am talking about right now.

Contact links for my representation as an author:

• Representation: Lane Heymont, Tobias Literary Agency [lane@thetobiasagency.com]
• Publicity: Karintha Parker [karintha.parker@simonandschuster.com]
• Marketing Libraries Only: Melissa Croce [melissa.croce@simonandschuster.com]
• Marketing Everything Else: Savannah Breckenridge [savannah.breckenridge@simonandschuster.com]

Contact info for me directly to use to set up library training [embedded in a picture for security w/ alt text]:

  

Current Bio: 

Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She writes reviews for Booklist and a Horror review column for Library Journal. Becky is a 24 year locally elected Library Trustee [still serving], a former Board member for the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, and currently on the Executive Board of the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with Horror readers, Becky is the author of three text books for library workers, most recently, The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021] and the forthcoming Why I Love Horror [Saga Press, September 23, 2025]. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serving as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Library Committee. You can follow Becky on Bluesky @raforall.bsky.social