STREET LITERATURE BOOK AWARD MEDALS (SLBAM) ANNOUNCED FOR 2015 PUBLICATIONS

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**  

STREET LITERATURE BOOK AWARD MEDALS (SLBAM) ANNOUNCED FOR 2015 PUBLICATIONS

Honolulu -- The 2016 Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee is excited to announce the award winners for 2015 publications. The following winners and honorees were nominated based on popular demand of books as read and circulated by the reading public in school, academic, and public library settings throughout the nation. SLBAM honors what street lit readers are reading and deeming as their best authors and titles for the 2015 publication year.

ADULT NON-FICTION WINNER:             
Between The World And Me / Ta-Nehisi Coates

ADULT NON-FICTION HONOREE:         
The short and tragic life of Robert Peace: a brilliant young man who left Newark for the Ivy League / Jeff Hobbs

ADULT FICTION WINNER:                       
King Divas / De’nesha Diamond

ADULT FICTION HONOREE:                   
Animal III: Revelations / K'wan

GRAPHIC NOVEL WINNER:                   
March: Book Two / John Lewis (author), Andrew Aydin (author), and Nate Powell (illustrator)

GRAPHIC NOVEL HONOREE:               
Legend of the Mantamaji Book 3 / Eric Dean Seaton  (author), Brandon Palas (illustrator), and David Ellis Dickerson (editor)

EBOOK NON-FICTION WINNER:            
Slug: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration / Tony Lewis Jr.

EBOOK FICTION WINNER:                      
King Divas (Diva Series Book Series) / De'nesha Diamond

YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE WINNER:
Brown Girl Dreaming / Jacqueline Woodson

EMERGING CLASSIC WINNER:              
The Crossover / Kwame Alexander

AUTHOR OF THE YEAR:                          
Kwame Alexander

Note: Honoree awards were conferred upon titles/authors who were within a 1-2 vote margin of the winner. 

The Street Lit Book Award Medals (SLBAM) are conferred annually and have proven to be a useful collection development resource for librarians, teachers, community leaders, and researchers. For a historical listing of the SLBAMs (1999 - present), visit the StreetLiterature.com website or email: SLBAM.Awards@gmail.com.

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Methodology: The Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee conducted three nomination rounds where they reported on field research of patron readership and reader response to contemporary street literature in libraries across the United States. In response to evolving readership of the genre, two new categories were added this year: eBooks and Graphic Novels. Other special categories include the "Emerging Classic" category, which 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, 2015 - December 31, 2015.

2015-2016 SLBAM Committee Members:
K.C. Boyd, M.Ed., M.L.S., Chicago, IL
Marvin DeBose, Sr., M.L.S., Philadelphia, PA
D.L. Grant, Jr., M.L.S., San Antonio, TX
Patrice Grimball-Smith, Charleston, SC
Takiyah Jemison, M.L.S., Colorado Springs, CO

Vanessa Irvin, M.L.S., Ed.D., is the convener of the Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee. As convener, Dr. Irvin is a non-voting member of the committee, and focuses on facilitating the committee’s research and nomination round process. Vanessa is the author of the StreetLiterature.com blog, and the award-winning publication, The Readers Advisory Guide to Street Literature (2012). A librarian with over 30 years' experience, Dr. Irvin teaches library and information science at the University of Hawai’i, in Honolulu, HI.

Note: This announcement was corrected on March 21, 2016, to add Mr. Nate Powell as the illustrator of March: Book Two, the Graphic Novel Winner for this year. /vi, 03.21.2016.

SLBAM Needs West Coast Members!

The Street Literature Book Award Medal Committee (SLBAM), a regionally-balanced committee, is looking to add two (2) West Coast librarians to the committee for selection of the best of urban literature for libraries in 2015. The committee seat is an open-term assignment.

If you'd like to serve, please send your nomination in the form of a CV/resume to irvinv@hawaii.edu by October 15, 2015.

Thank you for your interest and support!

[ANNOUNCEMENT] SLBAM Reconvenes for 2013 Nominations

The Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee has reconvened to confer 2013 awards for the best in library readers' choices for urban literature. 

The categories are:

• ADULT NON FICTION
• ADULT FICTION
• YOUNG ADULT FICTION
• EMERGING CLASSIC
• AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

Educators: Feel free to email Vanessa Irvin Morris any titles and/or authors that have been well received by your library readers or students, and your titles will be sent to the Committee. Awards will be announced March 2014. Visit the awards page for more past winners and honorees.

In the Margins Book Awards 2014, Announced

For Immediate Release

Wed 2/5/2014

SAN FRANCISCO — In the Margins Book Award and Selection Committee, (ITM) a committee under the umbrella of Library Services for Youth in Custody (LYSC) selected their first list of 25 titles and a top 10. 

The 2014 top ten are:

Asante, M.K. Buck: a Memoir. Spiegel & Grau. August 2013. 272p. HC $25.00. ISBN 9780812993417.

Jones, Marilyn Denise. From Crack to College and Vice Versa. May 2013. 105p. PB $14.95. ISBN 9780989427401.

Langan, Paul.  Survivor. Townsend Press. January 2013. 138p. PB $5.95. ISBN 9781591943044.

McKay, Sharon E. War Brothers: The Graphic Novel. Illustrated by Lafance, Daniel.  Annick Press. February 2013. PB $18.95. ISBN 9781554514885.

McVoy, Terra Elan. Criminal.  Simon Pulse. May, 2013. 288p. HC $16.99. ISBN 9781442421622.

Medina, Meg. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Candlewick. March 2013. 260p. HC $16.99. ISBN 9780763658595.

Nussbaum, Susan. Good Kings, Bad Kings. Algonquin Books. November 2013. 304p. PB $14.95.  ISBN 9781616203252.

Rivera, Jeff. No Matter What. CreateSpace. October 2013. 112p. PB $5.38. ISBN 9781493544141.

Ryan, Darlene. Pieces of Me. Orca Book Publishers. September 2012. 240p. PB $12.95. ISBN 9781459800809. 

Young, Pamela Samuels. Anybody’s Daughter. Goldman House Publishing.  October 2013. 374p. PB $16.99. ISBN 9780989293501.

"We are pleased with the founding of this list and our efforts of the first year. We have a great list, bringing to national attention books that are new finds and not widely publicized in the library world along with standout books of the year” said Amy Cheney, chair of In the Margins Book Award and Selection committee. “The committee members and I are excited to share these books with you for teens living and interested in the margins of society."

Annotations, the full list of 25 titles  and more information on the committee and selections can be found at: 

http://www.youthlibraries.org/margins-committee

Please be on the lookout for Amy Cheney’s column YA Underground in School Library Journal  2/19/14 for more details and an inside view. 

ITM identifies quality, age appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in lockdown, homeless shelters and other non-traditional venues for teens living in the margins.

Founding Members of the 2014 In the Margins Book Award and Selection Committee:

Chair: Amy Cheney, Juvenile Justice Center, Alameda County, CA Administrative Assistant: Amy Wander Lafayette Public Library, LA Katie MacBride, Mill Valley Public Library & Marin County Juvenile Hall, CA Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan, Institute for Learning, University of Pittsburgh, PA Selenia Paz, Helen Hall Library, Galveston County, TX Viola Dyas, Retired, Teen Services Librarian, Berkeley Public Library, CA Dr. Julie Ann Winkelstein, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Tennessee, TN.

New Read | Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape (coming November 2013)

Be on the look out to pre-order this critical anthology about Street Lit:

Norris, K. (ed). (2013). Street Lit: Representing the urban landscape. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. | Hardcover |  ISBN-13: 978-0810892620  | $38.00 USD

Here is the book description:

"Over the last few decades, the genre of urban fiction—or street lit—has become increasingly popular, as more novels secure a place on bestseller lists that were once the domain of mainstream authors. In the 1970s, pioneers such as Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim, and Claude Brown paved the way for novelists, poets, and short story writers who have embraced the subject matter of street fiction today, including Sister Souljah, Kenji Jasper, and Colson Whitehead.

In Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape, Keenan Norris has assembled a varied collection of articles, essays, interviews, and poems that capture the spirit of urban fiction and nonfiction produced from the 1950s through the present day. Providing both critical analyses and personal insights, these works explore the street lit phenomenon and help readers understand how and why this once underground genre has become such a vital force in contemporary literature. Interviews with literary icons David Bradley, Gerald Early, and Lynel Gardner are balanced with critical explorations of works by Goines, Jasper, Whitehead, and others.

With a foreword by bestselling novelist Omar Tyree (Flyy Girl) and an introduction by Norris that explores the roots of street lit, this book defines the genre for today’s readers and provides valuable insights into a cultural force that is fast becoming as important to the American literary scene as hip-hop has meant to music. Comprised of work by scholars, established authors, and new voices, Street Lit will connect with any reader wanting to grasp the significance of this sometimes controversial but unquestionably popular art form." - retrieved from Amazon.com.

This is an anthology of critical essays, edited by Keenan Norris, Ph.D.

Street Smart: Urban Fiction in Public Libraries

Today I presented a webinar with the Public Library Association entitled, "Street Smart: Urban Fiction in Public Libraries". In this presentation I traced the history of street lit, characteristics of current-day street lit, and a plethora of resources for the genre. I've embedded the presentation below:

                    

                Street Smart: Urban Fiction in Public Libraries from Vanessa Irvin Morris

An Important Resource for School Libraries

Please check out this excellent presentation by Chicago high school librarian, K.C. Boyd, on collection development for street lit in school libraries. Definitely worth the time.

Street Lit. Collection Development 2013 from K.C. Boyd

Save the Date! Street Lit Webinar May 15th

REGISTER: http://www.ala.org/pla/onlinelearning/webinars/streetsmart

REGISTER: http://www.ala.org/pla/onlinelearning/webinars/streetsmart