2013 SLBAM Winners and Honorees

The Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee is proud to announce the award winners for 2012 publications. The following winners and honorees were nominated based on popularity of books as read by the public in school, academic, and public library settings. In other words, the SLBAM honors what street lit readers are reading and deeming as the best authors and titles for the 2012 publication year.

ADULT NON-FICTION WINNER: THE NEW JIM CROW BY MICHELLE ALEXANDER (reprint, 2012)

Honorees: 
1) A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball by Dwayne Wade
2) Empire State of Mind:  How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office by Zack O'Malley Greenburg
3) Purpose: An Immigrant's Story by Wyclef Jean

SLBAM Feedback:
-- “The New Jim Crow has seen an amazing resurgence in its reprint edition, becoming an important read for many.”
-- "People won't stop asking for The New Jim Crow."
-- "My students enjoy A Father First … learning how Wade, a homeboy from Chicago, juggles fatherhood and the NBA."

ADULT FICTION WINNER: ANIMAL BY K'WAN
Honorees:
1) Get It Girls by Treasure Blue
2) Murder Was the Case by Kiki Swinson
3) Coca Kola by Nisa Santiago

SLBAM Feedback:
-- "For a second year in a row, K'wan keeps readers flocking to the library looking for his latest release."
-- "It always boils down to K'wan and Treasure Blue. This year, the battle between K'wan and Treasure Blue can be compared to Holyfield and Tyson."  

YOUNG ADULT FICTION WINNER: ON THE FLIP SIDE: A FAB LIFE NOVEL by NIKKI CARTER
Honorees:
1) How to Get Out of Your Own Way by Tyrese Gibson
2) Shattered by Kia Dupree
3) Back to Me by Earl Sewell

SLBAM Feedback:
-- "Many of my students began their pre-teen years reading Nikki Carter’s So For Real series and now have graduated to her Fab Life series. It's great to see Nikki Carter honored."
-- "My young library patrons love Nikki Carter."
-- "Tyrese Gibson's book is the talk among teens at my school."
-- "DuPree does it again and takes her readers on an emotional rollercoaster ride."
-- "My teens can't get enough of books written by Sewell."

EMERGING CLASSIC: ANIMAL BY K'WAN

SLBAM Committee Feedback:

-- "Readers are voraciously enjoying Animal!"

-- "The character Animal is one of the most ruthless yet misunderstood characters in modern day Street Literature."

-- "Animal is a masterpiece... a continuation of setting the high standard for Street Lit..."

AUTHOR OF THE YEAR: K'WAN

For 2013, the SLBAM Committee honors Essence (magazine) bestselling author K'wan, for his continuous commitment to raising the bar for the literary quality of Street Lit. K'wan approaches his stories with a Dickens-esque quality, paying deep attention to social ills that motivate his characters to live the lives they live in his stories. K'wan is also cited for his prolific writing career with having authored 20 very popular novels, plus two novellas, and has been featured in three anthologies, all within the past decade, offering a solid foundation upon which contemporary Street Lit continues to evolve. Readers love K'wan. Case in point, one SLBAM Committee member shared: "After an intense debate, my book discussion group picked K'wan."

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Methodology: The SLBAM Committee conducted three nomination rounds where they reported on field research of patron readership and reader response to street lit in libraries. The committee discussed all nominated titles. The "Emerging Classic" category recognizes a street lit-plotted or -themed book that was published during or before the year of nomination but continues to be in popular demand by the reading public. Another special category, "Author(s) of the Year", recognizes an author or writing team whose publications were particularly well-received by the reading public during the nomination year. Aside from the "Emerging Classic" category, books eligible for SLBAM nomination were required to be published between January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012.

For more information about the Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) or if you are interested in participating on the committee, contact: vanirvimorris@gmail.com. For a historical listing of SLBAM Awards, visit: http://www.streetliterature.com/p/slbam.html.

2013 SLBAM Committee Members:

K.C. Boyd, M.Ed., M.L.S., is the Library Media Specialist at the acclaimed Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, IL. Boyd is a nationally sought-out lecturer on street lit, and she blogs about young adult street lit/urban fiction at http://theaudaciouslibrarian.blogspot.com/.

Marvin DeBose, Sr., M.L.S., is an Adult/Teen Librarian with the Free Library of Philadelphia (PA). An often sought-out panelist for discussing street lit in libraries, Marvin manages the largest street lit public library collection in Philadelphia, and also runs a teen street lit book club where they discuss their readings at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/277733218945733/.

Connie Farley is Reference Technician for St. Louis (MO) Public Library where she runs an Urban Lit Discussion Group that boasts a diverse membership coming from several African and Caribbean nations.

D.L. Grant, Jr., M.L.S., is an Assistant Branch Manager with the San Antonio Public Library System. Grant is studying for his doctorate's degree in English studies.

Patrice Grimball-Smith is a Librarian Assistant in Young Adult Services for the Charleston County Public Library System in Charleston, South Carolina.  She is also President of the Readers in Motion Bookclub, http://facebook.com/ReadersInMotion.

Takiyah Jemison, M.L.S., is currently Head of the Cataloging Department at Fayetteville State University. She has a B.A in History and she received her Master in Library Science from North Carolina Central University. She is an avid reader of different genres such as psychological thrillers, urban literature, and true crimes.

Vanessa Irvin Morris, M.L.S., Ed.D., is the convener of the Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee. She is the author of the Street Literature blog at http://www.streetliterature.com, and the award-winning publication, The Readers Advisory Guide to Street Literature (2011). Vanessa teaches library and information science at a private research university in Northeast USA.