The 2023 Summer Scares Winners Are Here!

In solemnisation of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), successful concern with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to denote the 5th yearly Summer Scares speechmaking list, which includes titles selected by a sheet of authors and librarians and is designed to beforehand Horror arsenic a large speechmaking enactment for each ages and during immoderate clip of the year.

This twelvemonth Summer Scares welcomes New York Times Best-Selling writer Daniel Kraus arsenic their 2023 spokesperson. “My emotion of speechmaking began astatine a nationalist room — but I had to hunt for the horror,” said Kraus. “I would person been giddy to person a slate similar our 2023 choices presented to maine erstwhile I walked in. I am, successful fact, giddy astir it close now. It’s a tremendously far-reaching radical of titles that epitomizes the breadth of creativity going connected successful the genre.”

The extremity of Summer Scares is to present Horror titles to schoolhouse and nationalist room workers successful bid to assistance them commencement conversations with readers that volition widen beyond the books from each database and beforehand speechmaking for years to come. In summation to the yearly database of recommended titles, the Summer Scares committee volition merchandise themed lists of adjacent much “read-alike” titles libraries tin suggest to readers. And, successful bid to assistance libraries forge stronger connections betwixt books and readers, the Summer Scares committee volition beryllium moving with some the recommended database authors and Horror authors from each implicit the state to supply escaped programming to libraries. 

Every year, 3 titles are selected successful each of 3 categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2023 those selected titles are:

Adult Selections

• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom, 2020)
• Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas (Custom House, 2020)
• The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Daniel M. Lavery (Holt Paperbacks, 2018)

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

• Small Spaces by Katharine Arden (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2018)
• Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories by Dan SaSuWeh Jones, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2021)
• A Small Zombie Problem by K.G. Campbell (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2019)

The Summer Scares Programming Guide, created each twelvemonth by the Springfield-Greene County (Missouri) Library, and escaped for libraries anyplace to access, is backmost with the tools libraries request to link with their communities. 

“The 2023 usher is packed with ideas that room workers tin usage to prosecute their communities with these large titles, whether they’re putting up publication displays, hosting writer events, oregon readying an full Summer Scares programme series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. The usher volition beryllium disposable opening March 15, 2023, connected the Summer Scares Resource leafage astatine https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html

This twelvemonth Summer Scares is excited to denote 2 caller partnerships to articulation our existing partnerships with EBSCO’s NoveList database and the Horror Studies Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Library Systems. First, Summer Scares welcomes the Books successful the Freezer podcast (https://booksinthefreezer.com/), which volition beryllium featuring Summer Scares committee members and authors opening successful March 2023 and continuing passim 2023. 

Second, Summer Scares is excited to articulation iRead, a summertime speechmaking programme that has been adopted by 9 states and crossed the globe by the Department of Defense for libraries connected subject bases. “While determination is thing scary astir Summer Reading, determination is nary amended clip than summertime to scare up immoderate large books. iREAD is thrilled (and chilled!) to spouse with Summer Scares to present Horror titles to schoolhouse and nationalist room workers successful bid to assistance them commencement conversations with readers that perfectly aligns with our ngo to span the summertime gap, portion inspiring literacy and life-long learning,” shares incoming iREAD Content and Development Manager, Becca Boland. “We look guardant to moving with Summer Scares to assistance radical find their dependable – adjacent if it is to scream!”

You tin assistance footwear disconnected Summer Scares 2023 astatine the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking spot successful idiosyncratic connected June 16, 2023, successful Pittsburgh arsenic portion of StokerCon. Details at: https://www.stokercon2023.com/librarian-s-day. Summer Scares contented volition besides beryllium disposable for escaped connected the HWA’s YouTube page, including panels with each of this year’s selected authors.

The HWA is simply a non-profit enactment of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest enactment dedicated to the horror/dark fabrication genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of speechmaking done extended programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

The 2023 Summer Scares programme committee consists of writer Daniel Kraus, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, arsenic good arsenic Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specializer Kelly Jensen, and Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specializer Julia Smith. 

For much accusation astir the Summer Scares speechmaking program, including committee subordinate bios and however to get promotional materials and docket events with the authors/committee members, delight sojourn The Summer Scares Resource page: https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html oregon email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump astatine libraries@horror.org.