ALA Conference 2009: Anderson: Libraries Connect Authors to Readers
By Brian Kenney -- School Library Journal, 7/11/2009 10:46:00 PM
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Laurie Halse Anderson (center) surrounded by members of the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee. |
Clad in a bright orange Margaret A. Edwards T-shirt with matching Converse sneakers, Anderson joked that the award sounded too much like a lifetime achievement award, when in fact “I have no intention of stopping. I’m just getting started.”
Anderson went on to recount her personal history—“my people, my stories”—describing a family that was at first secure and joyful but that turned, by adolescence, into something sad and broken. “My nuclear family went into a nuclear meltdown,” she says.
What she learned from her youth is that “we have very little control over the bad things that happen to us.” But at the same time, “we have total control over how we respond.” This idea, Anderson says, lies at the heart of all her fiction, “and if you are looking to write a master’s thesis about my work, there it is.”
Anderson talked at length about the role librarians play in teen’s lives, describing them as “the spine connecting authors to readers.” She exhorted young adult librarians to fight for resources so that teenagers can discover the books they need. “You need to fight for the right to access…for your share of the budget…for your share of the floor space.”
She also urged librarians to fight to retain the Best Books for Young Adults list, referring to a proposal being considered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) to eliminate the popular list after 79 years in existence.
“Authors need to know that our books can get into their hands,” she says. “You are the only place they [teens] can grow up and be strong.”
In closing, Anderson promised the audience that “if they continued to do their part, she would continue to do hers.”
Established in 1988, the Margaret A. Edwards Award honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contributions to young adult literature. In naming Anderson this year’s recipient, the committee recognized three of her works: Catalyst (Viking, 2002), Fever 1793 (S & S, 2000), and Speak (Peter Smith, 2006). The annual award is administered by YALSA and sponsored by School Library Journal.
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