Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 27 January 2020

Librarians honor books by

Luiselli and Higginbotham

By HILLEL ITALIE find the two Carnegie win- growing up and remem-
AP National Writer ners to be powerful and bers attending an Ameri-
NEW YORK (AP) — Valeria fruitful titles to recommend can elementary school in
Luiselli's novel "Lost Chil- and discuss," prize commit- South Korea, where she
dren Archive" and Adam tee chair Donna Seaman would sneak into the high
Higginbotham's nonfiction said in a statement. The school library to read horror
"Midnight in Chernobyl" awards were announced stories.
have been awarded the during the library associa- Now a resident of New York
Andrew Carnegie Medal, tion's annual mid-winter City, the 36-year-old Luiselli
a $5,000 prize presented by meeting, held this year in says she has "spent more
the American Library Asso- Philadelphia. time in libraries — between
ciation. Previous Carnegie medal the stacks, in silent reading This combination of photos shows cover images for "Lost Chil-
The awards for fiction winners include Colson rooms, in the rare books & dren Archive" by Valeria Luiselli, left, and "Midnight in Cher-
and nonfiction were an- Whitehead's "The Under- manuscript sections, and nobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster"
by Adam Higginbotham, both winners of the Andrew Carnegie
nounced Sunday and hon- ground Railroad" and Bryan hovering behind the lenses Medal, a $5,000 prize presented by the American Library As-
or two of last year's most Stevenson's "Just Mercy," of microfilm readers — than sociation.
acclaimed books. "Lost adapted into a feature film is probably healthy. Associated Press
Children Archive," a finalist that is now in theaters. "But I have a good pair of
for the National Book Critics Both Luiselli and Higginbo- reading glasses and anti- ing scholar at the system's careers and extend his liter-
Circle prize, blends fiction tham are lifelong fans of histamines in my bag," she main branch in midtown ary knowledge into unex-
and documentation as it libraries. In a recent email adds. Manhattan, blessed with "a pected worlds. As a teen-
probes the fates of refugee to The Associated Press, Lu- Higginbotham, 51, also quiet and beautiful place ager, he found a copy of
children. "Midnight in Cher- iselli called herself a "radi- knows well the interiors of to work, and access to the Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughter-
nobyl" recounts the 1986 cal nerd" and praised the the New York Public Library amazing research collec- house-Five" in the library of
nuclear power disaster and Carnegie prize as "the ulti- system. While working on tions of libraries in the New the Wells Cathedral School,
the Soviet Union govern- mate radical nerd award." "Midnight in Chernobyl: York City system and be- "at the time perhaps the
ment's desperate efforts to A native of Mexico City, : The Untold Story of the yond." only example of modern
conceal it. she lived everywhere from World's Greatest Nuclear Libraries helped inspire the American literature in the
"We hope that librarians will Wisconsin to Costa Rica Disaster," he was a visit- British author's choice of entire building."q