Behind the Scenes with the BPL Literary Prize Committee

The 2019 Literary Prize Shortlist Announcement: an Opportunity to Check-In with the Committee

On Tuesday, September 24, Brooklyn Public Library announced its shortlist for the 2019 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize for fiction/poetry and nonfiction. The eight selections—including two books of poetry, a short story collection, a novel and four works of nonfiction—were selected by a team of librarians. The shortlist constitutes the final stage in a rigorous, year-round process for determining the winners of the annual Prize.

Last year, Jeanne Theoharis was awarded the 2018 Nonfiction Prize for A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History (Beacon Press) and Carmen Maria Machado as the 2018 Fiction & Poetry Prize recipient for her short collection Her Body and Other Parties (Graywolf Press). This year’s shortlist nominees for fiction and poetry are Fatimah Asghar for If They Come for Us: Poems, Terrance Hayes for American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, N.K. Jemisin for How Long ‘til Black Future Month?: Stories, and Miriam Toews for Women Talking: A Novel. The nominees for non-fiction are Aaron Bobrow-Strain for The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story, Tressie McMillan Cottom for Thick: And Other Essays, Nick Estes for Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance, and Nathaniel Rich for Losing Earth: A Recent History. The winners of this year's prizes will be celebrated at the Brooklyn Classic—the annual fundraising event of the Brooklyn Eagles, on November 8 at the Park Slope Library.

The Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize was established in 2015 by the Brooklyn Eagles. It remains one of only a few major literary awards bestowed by a public library system and, as a relatively new literary accolade, the Prize continues to evolve and grow in presige. After four years of awarding the prize, Off the Shelf was curious to check in with the 13 busy librarians who will determine the eventual winners. We took advantage of the brief pause afforded by the announcement of the Shortlist to invite them to share their experience of serving on this unique committee. We wanted to know what makes an award delivered by a public library system so special and, as this year is the first in which librarians will control the process from beginning to end, we were especially intrigued to learn how they are evolving and shaping the Prize. The committee members were thoughtful and generous in their replies to our prodding attempts to force acknowledgement of their achievement. Yet true to form they remained frustratingly humble; they continuously redirected the focus of discussion onto the books and to library's public service mission. Our exchange follows below. And in keeping with their vexing humility, and in order to maintain their anonymity while clarifying the difference in speakers, we removed their names and assigned their voices a letter.

The establishment of a new literary prize is a rare occurrence, but a prize issued by a public library is almost without precedent. Tell us about your process, both in carving out the initial criteria and on a yearly basis, how you evaluate titles for selection?

(L): The criteria for the prize have evolved over the past five years, and continue to evolve. Initially, the prize committee looked for material that was literally and/or literarily connected to Brooklyn. Since 2017, the prize became about social awareness, inclusion, and education. These three concepts also encompass the spirit and mission of the Library.

(P): I evaluate titles for selection partly on how much I like or think I’ll like a particular book. Somewhat strangely and amazingly, especially since I’m such a high-expectation, stringent reader, the BPL Lit Prize criteria [established two years after its founding in 2017] meets the formidable standard of my own literary tastes, which favor works that break new ground be that in form, theme, style, subject matter or an amalgamation thereof. As I generally champion these kind of risk-taking, innovative works, I'm grateful that Brooklyn Public Library has centered its Literary Prize criteria on the elements that keep literature fresh and far-reaching.

(L): I look for material that deals with current social topics. I am not interested in mainstream perspective. The idea is to seek a strong voice with an alternative point of view, and to recognize local influences that have national significance. If I am nominating material, I look at book reviews, online and off, releases from small publishing houses, and blogs. I also research the writer or poet to see who they are, and to get a look at their creative timeline. 

(N): A public library awarding a prize for literary merit is a tricky thing. Librarians normally operate in the mode of making recommendations in response to the varying tastes and interests of a wide diversity of patrons. Clearly this can't be done with just one or a few literary works so I think of the prize as being an extension of the other part of that work, namely introducing patrons to new voices we think our readers in Brooklyn will love. This year in particular the committee sought to recognize familiar stories and values as told by voices that might not be uniquely Brooklyn voices, but which resonate and prompt discovery. We did this by evaluating the way the titles in the longlist contribute innovations to their literary forms. How do they break boundaries in writing and bring in new audiences to literature? The process involved a lot of discussions, posting, and some jovial internal debate, which was always fun and rewarding.   
 
(L): The award is a serious acknowledgement of and encouragement for the writer. BPL is the fifth largest library system in the country. If the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize actively seeks young writers or poets, it can give a voice to fresh insights and serious social topics. The Library needs to view the prize not as a committee requirement fulfilled by two years’ service, but as a growing body conscious of the library’s mission. I think time will define and add prestige to this award.

(C): I’ve just started on the committee this year, but as I personally interpreted the criteria the main foci includes messing with literary forms, showcasing diverse viewpoints, and presenting new or heterodox ideas. That last criterion was especially important to me. I really think the committee did a great job making sure this year’s picks were full of fresh takes.

How consciously have you augmented your selection process over the years to create an aura around the Prize? Or if this has not factored into your process, can you talk a bit more about how you’ve noticed the prize’s prestige has evolved on its own in the years since its establishment?

(K): While we did hope that the winning titles would carry some 'weight' or prestige, we also had to consider that the most representative of the prize, and of Brooklyn, might be a new, emerging author. [We assigned added value to a work] that innovated a genre, introduced more diversity to a genre, or to one whose themes and issues were important and around which our patrons were already creating conversation. Prestige, sure, but getting books in hands and generating dialogue more so.

The award has been around since 2015 and you’ve anticipated the critical response on a number of your selections since that time. What do you consider to be the BPL Literary Prize’s most prescient picks?

(M): In early 2016 I was searching for nonfiction books that covered issues of potential interest to Brooklynites and discovered Lockdown on Rikers: Shocking Stories of Abuse and Injustice at New York's Notorious Jail (St. Martin's Press). It's an account by a former prison medical service psychologist, Mary E. Buser, about the severe mistreatment of detainees she witnessed at Rikers Island jails in the late 1990s. For me, it was the first in-depth account I'd read about the conditions at Rikers and it greatly affected me. I suggested the title be considered and the Literary Prize judges awarded Buser the Nonfiction Prize that November. Four months later, the Lippman Commission released its plan for closing Rikers. When Mayor de Blasio officially endorsed the plan, it drew much greater public attention to the problems at the jail and the larger issue of prison reform. I was glad that the library had recommended reading on hand to help our patrons see the context behind the Mayor's decision.

(P): I’d say IRL and Her Body and Other Parties—these books were probably the most prescient choices but there were others. I’d put Ways to Disappear on that list too. It might also be too early to tell how prescient certain choices have been. Quality literature often takes the long view.

(M): In 2017 a really perceptive colleague, Kalliopi Mathios, suggested our first poetry title, IRL, by a Brooklyn-based poet named Tommy Pico. It's an unconventional work, a book-length poem structured like an endless text message scrolling on a tiny phone. The suggestion prompted us to rename our award the Fiction & Poetry Prize, and it led the library to purchase additional copies of the book from the tiny local press that had released it. The judges awarded Pico the Fiction & Poetry Prize that year, just as his star was rising: his second book, Nature Poem, came out from a larger publisher to even greater recognition, and Pico has gone on to receive awards from the Poetry Foundation, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Whiting Foundation. So kudos to Kalliopi for spotting a sure thing!

The prize ‘celebrates the relationship between writers and librarians’, but what does this relationship mean to you as selectors? And what role does the prize play in conveying literariness to the community of Brooklyn?

(R): BPL staff have a unique perspective on the communities we serve. From our daily interactions with patrons, we have a sense of the books they check out, the information they require, the types of materials they search for and, through conversations, the issues they encounter on a daily basis. As a result of this relationship we collectively understand our patrons’ interests and are uniquely qualified to suggest materials that will appeal to their interests and challenge their perspectives. More than a relationship between writers and librarians, the LitPrize is an opportunity for BPL to create a relationship between writers whose voices need to be heard and patrons who would both benefit from and be entertained by experiencing them.

(K): What is Literariness anyway? Is it perfectly structured, compact prose? Is it messy, raw navel gazing? Literariness is subjective. And that's the best part of this prize and process! People are going to read what they want, but hopefully they respect our recommendations and will try something new and challenging and maybe discover a love for a different type of book. We also know that many people will see something of themselves in these books and find a voice for their experiences, especially those who feel marginalized in this country.

(L): Our role as librarians is to provide access to information and ideas. We are not to judge or censor. The Literary Prize is a way to provide access to our opinion. And this year we may have had the most nominations so far.

(K): Librarians are not part of the 'Literati'. Most of us don't network with authors or publishers, but are deeply connected to books and our public. We're fine-tuned to spot those books that are going to be disruptors and innovators. Our relationship to writers is that when we like a book we aren't just putting it on a shelf hoping someone will take it—we're talking about it nonstop, doing bookclub on it, creating programs around it, and using it to change our collective, established ways of thinking.

(J): The Literary Prize Committee is an opportunity to focus on new and recent trends in publishing.  Listening to the range of reading experiences, insights and reactions among colleagues enhanced and expanded my reading/perceiving skills and was just great fun—even if the books themselves were not always fun reads.

The prize winners will be announced on November 8 at the Brooklyn Classic. If you hurry, you might still complete the shortlist cycle in time for the announcement. Regardless, all the titles awarded to the 2019 shortlist are destined to remain in the conversation for a long time to come, so get reading, start talking and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Read along with the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize committee! For a complete list of the fiction/poetry and nonfiction shortlist visit this booklist. The Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize presented by the Brooklyn Eagles is generously underwritten by the Peck Stacpoole Foundation, with additional support from City Point.