Love Horror? Summer Scares Is Back in 2023!

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), successful concern with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is arrogant to denote the 5th yearly Summer Scares Reading Program. Summer Scares is simply a speechmaking programme that provides libraries and schools with an yearly database of recommended fearfulness titles for adult, young big (teen), and mediate people readers. It introduces readers and librarians to caller authors and helps commencement conversations extending beyond the books from each database and beforehand speechmaking for years to come.

Summer Scares is arrogant to denote the 2023 spokesperson arsenic writer Daniel Kraus:

“Libraries were the abstraction successful which I nurtured my aboriginal involvement successful horror. I was capable to marque autonomous decisions astir my ain limits and however to propulsion them, and that benefitted my confidence, intellect, courage, and empathy. I couldn’t beryllium much honored to enactment with Summer Scares to assistance different kids person their ain life-changing experiences.”

Kraus is joined by a committee of 5 room workers who, together, volition prime 3 recommended fabrication titles successful each speechmaking level, totaling 9 Summer Scares selections. The extremity of the programme is to promote a nationalist speech astir the fearfulness genre, crossed each property levels, astatine libraries nationwide and yet pull much adults, teens, and children funny successful reading. Official Summer Scares designated authors volition besides marque themselves disposable astatine nationalist and schoolhouse libraries.

The committee’s last selections volition beryllium announced connected February 14, 2023, Library Lover’s Day. Kraus, on with immoderate of the selected authors, volition footwear disconnected Summer Scares astatine the 7th Annual HWA Librarians’ Day, Friday, June 16, during StokerCon 2023 astatine the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel astatine Station Square successful Pittsburgh, PA.

Additional content, including podcast appearances and lists of suggested titles for further reading, volition beryllium made disposable by the committee and its partners betwixt the announcement of the Summer Scares 2023 titles and the kickoff event. 

Of peculiar enactment is the yearly Summer Scares Programming Guide, courtesy of HWA Library Committee Co-Chair Konrad Stump and the Springfield-Greene County Library, which provides originative ideas to prosecute fearfulness readers. Centered astir the authoritative Summer Scares titles, the usher offers tips and examples for readers’ advisory, publication treatment guides, and illustration programs, enabling librarians, adjacent those who don’t work oregon particularly bask the fearfulness genre themselves, to link their communities with Summer Scares. 

To spot past year’s Summer Scares titles, spokespeople, and programming guides, delight sojourn the programme archive: https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares-archive.html. 

And support your eyes peeled for much updates coming soon from Booklist, Book Riot, and United for Libraries, arsenic good arsenic astatine the HWA’s website: www.horror.org and RA for All Horror: https://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html.

Questions? Reach retired to HWA Library Committee Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump via email: libraries@horror.org. 

Summer Scares Committee Members:

Daniel Kraus is the New York Times bestselling writer of much than a twelve novels and graphic novels. He co-authored The Living Dead with legendary filmmaker George a. Romero. With Guillermo del Toro, helium co-authored The Shape of Water, based connected the aforesaid thought the 2 created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored Trollhunters, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. He has won 2 Odyssey Awards (for Rotters and Scowler), and The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch was named 1 of Entertainment Weekly‘s Top 10 Books of the Year. His books person been Library Guild selections, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks, Bram Stoker finalists, and more. His enactment has been translated into implicit 20 languages. Daniel lives with his woman successful Chicago. Visit him astatine danielkraus.com.

Becky Spratford is simply a room advisor and the writer of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, 3rd variation which was released successful September of 2021. She reviews fearfulness for Booklist Magazine, is the fearfulness columnist for Library Journal and runs the Readers’ Advisory Horror blog, RA for All: Horror. Becky is besides a subordinate of United for Libraries and is presently serving arsenic Secretary for the Horror Writers’ Association.

Konrad Stump is simply a Local History Associate for the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, wherever helium co-coordinates Springfield-Greene’s fashionable “Oh, the Horror!” series, which attracts hundreds of patrons during October. He created the Donuts & Death fearfulness publication treatment group, featured successful “Book Club Reboot: 71 Creative Twists” (ALA), and co-created the Summer Scares Programming Guide. Library workers who are funny successful cultivating fearfulness programming tin interaction him astatine konrads@thelibrary.org for escaped assistance.

Carolyn Ciesla is an world room manager successful the Chicago suburbs. She has worked arsenic a teen librarian and notation librarian, and reviews fearfulness titles for Booklist Magazine. She’s presently enjoying providing each the scary books to her teen daughter, and revisiting a fewer on the way.

Kelly Jensen is simply a erstwhile librarian who works arsenic an Editor for Book Riot (bookriot.com), wherever she runs the bi-weekly “What’s Up successful YA?” young big newsletter. Her books see the award-winning (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health and Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World, some from Algonquin Young Readers. She’s besides a well-known and long-time co-blogger astatine Stacked (stackedbooks.org). A life-long person of each things scary, she finds herself anxious to shriek astir fearfulness reads for teens with those who emotion bully thrills and chills.

Julia Smith joined the Books for Youth squad astatine Booklist successful 2015, wherever she is present a elder editor. Her emotion of middle-grade lit and each things unsettling and unusual draws her to creepy children’s stories. You tin travel her astatine @JuliaKate32 connected Twitter.