CHICAGO – The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) has announced its selection for the 2022 Sophie Brody Medal, an annual honor bestowed by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA during the Book & Media Awards Virtual Ceremony.
This year’s winner is Jane Yolen for Kaddish Before the Holocaust and After: Poems, published by Holy Cow Press. Yolen takes the reader on a heartbreaking and breathtaking journey, breaking new ground in the rich, diverse genre known as Holocaust poetry. Using a variety of poetic forms to distill the reality of the Holocaust into words, Yolen’s poems dazzle in their simplicity, power, beauty, and accessibility.
Honorable mentions include Dara Horn. People Love Dead Jews, published by W.W. Norton; Rutu Modan, Tunnels, published by Drawn & Quarterly; Mark Oppenheimer. Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood published by Knopf; and Gabrielle Glaser. American Baby: A Mother, A Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption, published by Viking.
The Sophie Brody Medal is given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. Works for adults published in the United States in the preceding year are eligible for the award.
This year’s winner and honor books were selected by the Sophie Brody Medal committee; Barbara Bibel, Oakland Public Library, CA (retired), Chair; Donald Altschiller, Boston University; Emily Bergman, Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa College (retired); Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El Highland Park, IL; Mary Parker, retired; Adlea Peskorz, Metropolitan State University, St, Paul, MN, emerita; David Suarez, Cascades Library, Potomac Falls, VA; Sarah Watstein, Seattle University.
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more at www.rusaupdate.org.