HWA Announces Summer Scares 2020 Reading List — HWA
LOS ANGELES – Feb. 14, 2020 – PRLog — In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), working in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Library Journal/School Library Journal, is delighted to announce the second annual Summer Scares Reading List. This year’s list includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.
Each year, three titles will be chosen in the Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade categories. Titles for 2020 are as follows:
ADULT
In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson (Skyhorse, 2017)
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (Tor.Com, 2016)
She Said Destroy: Stories by Nadia Bulkin (Word Horde, 2017)
YOUNG ADULT
The Agony House by Cherie Priest, Illustrated by Tara O’Connor (Scholastic 2018)
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova (Sourcebooks Fire, 2017)
Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics (Harlequin Teen, 2015)
MIDDLE GRADE
Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh (HaperCollins, 2017)
Case Files 13: Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage (HarperCollins, 2012)
Hoodoo by Ronald L. Smith (Clarion Books, 2015)
The goal of the Summer Scares program is to introduce horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote interest in reading for years to come. Along with the annual list of recommended titles for readers of all ages, the Summer Scares committee will also release themed lists of even more “read-alike”
The HWA will also host a Library Day special standalone program on May 7, 2020 at the Naperville, IL Public Library. Authors from the Summer Scares reading list, as well as the committee members, will be in attendance. Authors and committee members will also be available throughout the year for on-site and/or remote appearances at libraries and schools to promote the Summer Scares program and discuss the use of horror fiction as a tool to increase readership and nurture a love of reading.
The Summer Scares program committee consists of award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones (Mongrels, The Only Good Indians, Night of the Mannequins), Becky Spratford (library consultant, author of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd Ed.), Carolyn Ciesla (library director, academic dean, book reviewer), Kiera Parrott (reviews director for Library Journal and School Library Journal), Kelly Jensen (editor, Book Riot, author of [Don’t] Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health), and JG Faherty (HWA Library Program director, author of Sins of the Father, The Cure, and Ghosts of Coronado Bay).
The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest organization dedicated to the horror/dark fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.
For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, visit the HWA’s Libraries web page (www.horror.org/
You can also contact JG Faherty, HWA Library Program Director (libraries [at] horror [dot] org) or Becky Spratford, HWA Secretary (bspratford [at] hotmail [dot] com).
