The Best of
Black Books
Kathleen Bethel looks at this year's selection process of the BCALA Literary Awards.

I'm as giddy as a child in a toy store. After serving four years as a juror for the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) Literary Award, I can now read what I like. Eleanor Bland, Pearl Cleage, John Grisham, Oprah's Book Club titles, Harry Potter, loads of children's books, travel books, magazines and biographies have my attention these days. Haunting bookstores again, I can barely pass a book in any window.

The BCALA Literary Awards were founded in 1993 by Dr. Alex Boyd, Newark Public Library, and Cecil Hixon, New York Public Library, to recognize outstanding works of Fiction and Nonfiction by African American authors for adult audiences. Two special award citations are also presented by the Awards Jury - the First Novelist Award and the Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Award. Winners of the BCALA Literary Award for Fiction and Nonfiction receive the BCALA Medallion and an honorarium of $500. Winners are announced each year during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting and the awards are presented at the ALA Annual Conference.

Book titles honored are outstanding depictions of the cultural, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora experience and are selected by a panel of seven librarians. A call for submissions is sent to publishers in the spring. While books come all year, bulk shipments of books try to meet the December 31st deadline. This means quick reading for jurors if Midwinter is early. I call on family and friends to do a preliminary read of late arrivals. The committee receives some six dozen books on average per year.

The BCALA Literary Awards jury meets Thursday to Saturday nights during Midwinter. Judging is quite a political and delicate process. There are negotiations and compromises. Jurors don't want to tip their hand prematurely by revealing their favorites too early. The discussions can get down and dirty. While diplomacy is required, it often loses face. We can be quite blunt, sometimes brutal and frequently comical. You might hear, "What was the publisher thinking?" "Honey, hush!" "Couldn't put this down" or "Hated it." We often leave Friday's meeting having to read enough of one or two books to comment the next day. Saturday holds the harshest work for us. Not only must we decide the winners, but we must also prepare a press release. We burn the midnight oil, once the 2:30 a.m. oil, in the ALA offices to write a concise and interesting article.

The Literary Awards are announced at the Sunday evening Midwinter BCALA Membership Meeting. Committee members dash about distributing the press release. It is so pleasing when the audience reacts positively to our selections and our work. Many book awards given by ALA and its affiliates are publicly announced Monday morning.

There is an air of pride and gratitude at the ALA Annual BCALA Literary Awards presentation program Monday night. For the authors, it is an opportunity to bask in the adulation of supportive librarians. There have been so many moving acceptance speeches by authors grateful for the acknowledgement of their community. Most authors are true library lovers. Many have grown up adoring libraries and librarians. Others utilize library resources during the writing process. For publishers, the Awards Program is an opportunity to shine, as well as to sell some books.

There is a small reception where the Committee takes its celebrating seriously. The audience has an opportunity to meet the authors and obtain autographed books. This year's program will be a bittersweet event for me. I will leave one of the most enjoyable experiences of my professional life. It has been hard work and a wonderful feeling to contribute to a new tradition.