The 2023 Summer Scares Winners Are Here!

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to announce the fifth annual Summer Scares studying listing, which incorporates titles chosen by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to advertise Horror as an ideal studying choice for all ages and through any time of the yr.

This yr Summer Scares welcomes New York Times Best-Selling creator Daniel Kraus as their 2023 spokesperson. “My love of reading began at a public library — but I had to hunt for the horror,” mentioned Kraus. “I would have been giddy to have a slate like our 2023 choices presented to me when I walked in. I am, in fact, giddy about it right now. It’s a tremendously far-reaching group of titles that epitomizes the breadth of creativity going on in the genre.”

The purpose of Summer Scares is to introduce Horror titles to high school and public library employees in an effort to assist them begin conversations with readers that can lengthen past the books from every listing and promote studying for years to come back. In addition to the annual listing of beneficial titles, the Summer Scares committee will launch themed lists of much more “read-alike” titles libraries can recommend to readers. And, in an effort to assist libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will probably be working with each the beneficial listing authors and Horror authors from all around the nation to offer free programming to libraries. 

Every yr, three titles are chosen in every of three classes: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2023 these chosen titles are:

Adult Selections

Young Adult Selections

• In The Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (Amulet Books, 2013)
• Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle (illustrator) (Greenwillow Books, 2021)
• Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (illustrator) (Oni Press, 2019)

Middle Grade Selections

The Summer Scares Programming Guide, created annually by the Springfield-Greene County (Missouri) Library, and free for libraries wherever to entry, is again with the instruments libraries want to attach with their communities. 

“The 2023 guide is packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they’re putting up book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming information. The information will probably be accessible starting March 15, 2023, on the Summer Scares Resource web page at https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html

This yr Summer Scares is happy to announce two new partnerships to affix our current partnerships with EBSCO’s NoveList database and the Horror Studies Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Library Systems. First, Summer Scares welcomes the Books within the Freezer podcast (https://booksinthefreezer.com/), which will probably be that includes Summer Scares committee members and authors starting in March 2023 and persevering with all through 2023. 

Second, Summer Scares is happy to affix iRead, a summer season studying program that has been adopted by 9 states and throughout the globe by the Department of Defense for libraries on army bases. “While there is nothing scary about Summer Reading, there is no better time than summer to scare up some great books. iREAD is thrilled (and chilled!) to partner with Summer Scares to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that perfectly aligns with our mission to bridge the summer gap, while inspiring literacy and life-long learning,” shares incoming iREAD Content and Development Manager, Becca Boland. “We look forward to working with Summer Scares to help people find their voice – even if it is to scream!”

You might help kick off Summer Scares 2023 on the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, going down in particular person on June 16, 2023, in Pittsburgh as a part of StokerCon. Details at: https://www.stokercon2023.com/librarian-s-day. Summer Scares content material may even be accessible without cost on the HWA’s YouTube web page, together with panels with all of this yr’s chosen authors.

The HWA is a non-profit group of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest group devoted to the horror/darkish fiction style. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of studying by in depth programming and partnerships with libraries, colleges, and literacy-based organizations.

The 2023 Summer Scares program committee consists of creator Daniel Kraus, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, in addition to Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, and Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith. 

For extra details about the Summer Scares studying program, together with committee member bios and learn how to receive promotional supplies and schedule occasions with the authors/committee members, please go to The Summer Scares Resource web page: https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html or electronic mail HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at libraries@horror.org.