B O O K L I S T E R S

Bill Ott, Editor & Publisher, has been at Booklist for 25 years. In addition to his various management duties, he continues to edit the crime fiction section of the magazine and delights in discovering new hard-boiled writers, particularly those who set their stories in Europe and Asia (where noir is more than mere window dressing). To get away from books, he attempts to play golf.

COLUMNISTS

Michael Cart. Author of “Carte Blanche” and a Booklist reviewer, Michael teaches young adult literature at UCLA. The former president of YALSA, he’s also the founding editor of the YA literary journal Rush Hour and the author or editor of nearly a dozen books.

Will Manley, author of “The Manley Arts,” wrote The Truth about Reference Librarians (McFarland, 1996).

Molly McQuade writes two columns for Booklist: “Works in Progress” and “Outgoing Mail.” Her own books include An Unsentimental Education(University of Chicago Press, 1995), Stealing Glimpses (Sarabande, 1999), By Herself (Graywolf, 2000), and Barbarism (Four Way, 2000), among others. Her essays, criticism, reportage, fiction, and poetry have also appeared in The American Scholar, The Village Voice, The Washington Post, TriQuarterly, Paris Review, Yale Review, Poetry, and many others.

Joyce Saricks , now retired from the Readers’ Advisory department at the Downers Grove (IL) Public Library, writes “At Leisure with Joyce Saricks”. She’s also addicted to audio books; when she’s not reading a book, she’s listening to one, as she rediscovers her hobbies—cooking, walking, and traveling.

Kaite Mediatore Stover writes the “She Reads...” column with David Wright and refuses to give up her day job as Head of Readers’ Services for Kansas City Public Library. When she’s not reading tarot cards, gardening, tap dancing or despairing of ever redecorating her bathrooms, she’s a roadie and merch girl for her husband’s numerous bands.

David Wright (“He Reads...”) is Readers’ Services Librarian, Seattle (WA) Public Library.

EDITORIAL STAFF

Joanne Wilkinson, Editor-at-Large, is responsible for editing features across the magazine as well as adult reviews; she also regularly reviews new fiction. Her previous experience as a proofreader and a copy editor has made her a bit prickly about punctuation—Booklisters who don’t have an hour to spare know better than to engage her on the current sorry state of the apostrophe.

Keir Graff , Booklist Online Senior Editor, writes, assigns, and edits Web-only material for BOL. He works closely with the editors of Booklist, helping decide which reviews and articles to feature on the free Web site, ensuring a lively rapport between Booklist and Booklist Online. Besides his contributions as a book reviewer, he writes Likely Stories, the Booklist blog, musing on publishing news and the art of the review. He recently published his third novel, One Nation, Under God (Severn House).

Adult Books

Brad Hooper , Editor, oversees the Adult reviewing program and participates in conferences, panels, and workshops throughout the country. The author of both The Fiction of Ellen Gilchrist (Praeger, 2005) and Read On...Historical Fiction (Libraries Unlimited, 2005), he is Booklist’s in-house expert on history, geography, royalty, and the art of the short story.

Ray Olson, Associate Editor, came to Booklist from the St. Paul Public Library in 1984. He has reviewed movies, plays, records, and concerts as well as books—and gotten paid for it—since 1967. Once known around the office as the man who put the avant in avant-garde, of late Ray has joined the derriere-garde. Free-form Bulgarian jazz bands aren’t what they used to be, but oh, those 1920s hot slack-key guitar players!

 
When Donna Seaman, Associate Editor, isn’t reading, she is often speaking with writers on her radio program, “Open Books”; visit her Web site, which  offers downloadable editions of the show. A selection of Donna’s interviews are gathered in Writers on the Air: Conversations about Books (Paul Dry, 2005), and Donna contributed to Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape (Trinity Univ., 2006), edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney, and Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes, edited by Alison Swan (Michigan State Univ., 2006). Donna received a Literacy Hero Award from Literacy Chicago, in recognition of all that she does to encourage reading, and she is currently working with the Chicago Public Library on its Summer Reads program, “Read Green, Live Green.”

Gilbert Taylor, Contract Reviewer, has contributed reviews to Booklist since 1989, predominantly in history and science, with the occasional art, thriller, or golf book thrown in. A native of St. Louis, he is a graduate of Carleton College with a BA in political science. You can find him flailing away on Chicago’s Waveland Golf Course.

Chris Anderson, Editorial Assistant, is a 15-year veteran who tracks, processes, and formats reviews from nearly 100 freelance reviewers for 4 different editors. In his spare time he enjoys occasional yard work with his wife, Kristin, at their new home in Evergreen Park, IL. A former member of the Rolling Clones, Chris has also been known to jump onstage with “fairly decent” blues bands and wail away on harmonica. He now proudly owns a harp in every key.

Jerry Eberle, Editorial Assistant, helps the editors ride herd on over 100 freelance reviewers, formatting, inputting—and often chasing down—reviews. He enjoys reviewing fiction for Adult Books (or reading just to “shirk important responsibilities”), hearing live music, riding his bike around Chicago, and yes, Piña Coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Books for Youth

In addition to her role as editor of Book Links magazine, Laura Tillotson is the Books for Youth editorial director at Booklist. She began her children’s publishing career in the Books for Youth department of Farrar, Straus and Giroux and was an editor at Cricket and Spider magazines before joining Booklist. Her hobbies used to include piano-playing, gardening, traveling, cooking, golf, and swimming. Now she enjoys making her kids laugh, which is pretty fun too.

Ilene Cooper, Children’s Books Editor, spends most of her day looking at, assigning, and reviewing (some) of the 7,000 children’s books that are published each year. When the reviews come back in, she edits them, as well. On her own time, she’s (“unfortunately”) adding to mountain of children’s books by writing her own, even though her bumper sticker says “I’d Rather be Knitting.”

Gillian Engberg, Young Adult Books Editor, was an assistant editor at Book Links, Booklist’s sister publication, before joining Booklist. Before that, she lived in the Czech Republic, where she taught English to high-school students. She also works with the Resource Center, a Chicago non-profit focused on sustainable living, which grows famously good tomatoes in its urban farms.

Ian Chipman, Associate Editor, got his start right here, as the Books for Youth Editorial Assistant. This homegrown talent is far too busy with new job duties to update his Booklist Online bio, but just as soon as he does, we’ll be able to report, “You heard it here first!” Meanwhile, we’re still pretty sure that he gets his kicks “writing things that make little to no sense”—in his personal writing, we’re quick to add. His professional writing makes exceedingly good sense and is an uncommon value.

Daniel Kraus, Associate Editor, spent a decade in the trenches of men’s and women’s magazines before initially joining ALA as an editor at American Libraries. He is the producer and director of numerous feature films, most notably the documentary Work Series. His first novel, The Monster Variations, will be published in the summer of 2009 by Random House/Delacorte.

Hazel Rochman, Contributing Editor, is the author of Against Borders: Promoting Books for a Multicultural World (1993), which has become a multicultural-literature bible for librarians. She retired as Young Adult Books Editor in 2003, but still enjoys reading, writing, talking, and arguing about books—if only part-time. Semi-retirement also allows her to travel back “home” to South Africa twice a year.

Carolyn Phelan, Contract Reviewer, spends her time reading, reviewing, and discussing books for young people, from babies through teenagers. But once or twice a week, she’s transformed—into a mild-mannered librarian for a great suburban library, helping those same young people find those same books. “It’s circular, but satisfying,” she reports.

Courtney Jones, Editorial Assistant, spends her days tracking and formatting reviews, and her nights reading. Since completing her B.A. in Fiction Writing at Columbia College, she has battled a serious addiction to DIY books. Her success in this fight can be measured by the assurance with which she holds forth on topics ranging from soap- and candle-making to Web site design.

Media

Sue-Ellen Beauregard, Editor, does everything from unpacking boxes to assigning and editing audiobook, music, and video reviews. During baseball season, Sue-Ellen can be spotted crossing the Cheddar Curtain into Wisconsin to watch her beloved Milwaukee Brewers play ball.

Candace Smith, Contract Reviewer, reviews audiobooks and videos for Booklist. She also leads a mystery book discussion group and heads the Readers’ Advisory Department at the Villa Park Public Library. In her several minutes of free time, Candy squeezes in as many mysteries as possible and cheers on Chicago’s “premier” baseball team—the Chicago White Sox.

Annie McCormick, Editorial Assistant, wears two hats while sitting in one chair—no mean feat—dividing her time between Reference and Media. A graduate of Ohio University, she received her B.A. in English Creative Writing. In her spare time, she enjoys jogging along the lakeshore, exploring the city, and spending time with her two literary cats, Scout Finch and Boo Radley.

Reference

Mary Ellen Quinn, Editor, also is Managing Editor of Booklist Online. The in-house nineteenth-century English literature pundit (the reputation of Anthony Trollope knows no greater friend), she has a subspecialty in “Miss” and “Lady” fiction (e.g. the Miss Julia series).

Annie McCormick, Editorial Assistant, wears two hats while sitting in one chair—no mean feat—dividing her time between Reference and Media. A graduate of Ohio University, she received her B.A. in English Creative Writing. In her spare time, she enjoys jogging along the lakeshore, exploring the city, and spending time with her two literary cats, Scout Finch and Boo Radley.

PRODUCTION

Ben Segedin, Production Director, oversees the layout and design of Booklist. When he is not making PDFs, he enjoys spending time with Dora, his adorable daughter, and Carolyn, his lovely wife. If there’s any time left over after that, he might try to catch a flick, read a book, or take a nap.

Jennifer Palmer, Production Editor, lays out Booklist and creates art for both Booklist and Booklist Online. A runner since she was was eight years old, she has finished three marathons in under four hours. She is also a painter.

Carlos Orellana, Production Editor, lays out the Youth and Media sections of the magazine and performs a plethora of extremely exciting database-related activities. A rabid music fan and LP collector, he serves as a vital staff resource, watching bad TV so we don’t have to. He is a Pisces.

BUSINESS & MARKETING

ADVERTISING

Cynthia Harden, Ad Traffic Coordinator, works with production editors on ad placement and handles ad billing and tracking, working on up to four issues at one time. Like a juggler, she keeps plates spinning, hoops twirling, and countless balls in the air. She loves reading and playing video games with her adorable five-year-old monster, DeMario.

ADVISORY BOARD