Susan Maguire, Senior Editor, Collection Management and Library Outreach, worked for a decade in public libraries before joining Booklist, with experience in reference, readers' services, collection management, and circulation. She loves reading and talking about reading and talking to librarians about talking about reading. Susan is a sucker for a love story and any book in which the dog does not die in the end. Under the very clever pseudonym Sarah Title, she has published almost a dozen romance novels. She has a BA in English, an MLS, and an elderly poodle named Starr.
Annie Bostrom, Associate Editor, Adult Books, began her Booklist
career as an intern in 2008. She then worked in both editorial and marketing
before earning her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2015, and
rejoining the Adult Books team in 2016, where she gets to work with books, and
the freelancers who read them, every day. Like many of her esteemed Booklist
colleagues, she is a cat person. Follow her on Twitter at @Booklist_Annie.
Eugenia Williamson
, Associate Editor, Digital Products, recently joined Booklist to manage e-newsletters, help edit and write for the Booklist Reader, and interact with readers across social media. She has two English degrees, two cats, and nearly two decades of experience working in libraries, bookstores, journalism, and publishing. She is a contributing editor at The Baffler and a freelance journalist and critic. Follow her on Twitter at @Booklist_Genie.
Dan Kraus, Editor, Books for Youth, 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, and the author of several YA novels, including Rotters and Scowler, both of which won the Odyssey Award. His next novel, Trollhunters, is co-authored with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielDKraus.
Sarah Hunter, Senior Editor, Books for Youth, came to Booklist following her work with Open Books, a literacy nonprofit in Chicago, and she's pleased to finally make good use of her MA in English from the University of Chicago by editing the Graphic Novels section ofBooklist and reviewing a surprising number of youth books every issue. When she's not reading (which is rare), she's baking something tasty to share or planning trips to the Pacific Northwest. Follow her on Twitter at @SarahBearHunter.
Maggie Reagan, Associate Editor, Books for Youth, Booklist and Book Links, has two loves in life—books and horses. She holds a BA in English Writing from Denison University and attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute, perfect preparation for Booklist, where she spends her days trying to resist taking home yet another book. Away from work, you can usually find her reading a book or riding a horse, but not (usually) at the same time. Follow her on Twitter @MagdalenaRayGun.
Julia Smith, Associate Editor, Books for Youth, is a graduate of the MLIS program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She worked for six years as a bookseller, and was most recently a CyberNavigator with Chicago Public Library. She is also trained in aerial acrobatics. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliaKate32.
Ilene Cooper, Contributing Editor, Books for Youth, spends most of her day looking at, assigning, and reviewing (some) of the 7,000 children's books that are published each year. She oversees the religion coverage for the Adult Books section of Booklist, too. On her own time, she's ("unfortunately") adding to mountain of children's books by writing her own, even though her (imaginary) bumper sticker reads "I'd Rather be Knitting." Follow her on Twitter at@Booklist_Ilene.
Carolyn Phelan, Contract Reviewer, Books for Youth, 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.
Joyce Saricks, Audio Editor, headed the Readers' Advisory department at the Downers Grove (IL) Public Library for many years. In addition to overseeing our audiobook coverage, she writes the column "At Leisure with Joyce Saricks." But she's addicted to audiobooks; when she's not reading a book, she's listening to one, while she enjoys her hobbies—cooking, walking, and traveling. Follow her on Twitter at @Booklist_Joyce.
Candy
Smith, Contract Reviewer, Adult Books, 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.
Michael Ruzicka, Office Manager, was raised in suburban Los Angeles, received
a BA in Creative Writing/Poetry at UC Santa Cruz, then moved to Birmingham, AL, where he spent five years owning an independent
bookstore and earned an MLIS. He has brought his
librarian skills to Vanderbilt’s Television News Archive, Battle Ground
Academy, The Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, and the Chicago School of
Professional Psychology. Michael is very excited to
be a part of Booklist and call Chicago his home.
Chris Anderson, Editorial Assistant, Adult Books, is a Booklist veteran who logs in and mails out new titles for three different editors, and tracks, processes, and formats the reviews of many freelance reviewers. In his spare time, he enjoys entertaining his son, Dean (born in 2012), and doing yard work with his wife, Kristin. A former member of the Rolling Clones, and currently playing with cover band Cloud of Shame, Chris has been known to jump onstage with any blues, rock, or country band and sing or wail away on harmonica. He proudly owns a harp in every key.
Biz Hyzy, Editorial Assistant, Adult Books, is a former Booklistintern who now processes reviews for adult books and media. She graduated from Lake Forest College with a BA in English and worked in a bookstore for a year. When not reading or writing, she usually has tea and crumpets while watching BBC dramas.
Briana Shemroske, Editorial Assistant, Books for Youth, recently graduated with a BA from Lake Forest College, where she studied English Writing and Art History. A former Booklist intern, Briana is thrilled to find herself once again surrounded by crowded carts of children’s books. In her free time she can be found eating (and daydreaming about) cheeseburgers, frolicking with her schnoodle, Moritz, and feebly attempting to play board games. She hopes one day to write a poem that can be considered, at the very least, not embarrassing.
Sue-Ellen Beauregard, Video Editor, coordinates coverage for our Video Review newsletter. During baseball season, Sue-Ellen can be spotted at Milwaukee Brewers games, cheering on her favorite team and placing bets on the seventh-inning sausage race (and if you don't know what that is, you've probably never visited the land of cheese).
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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.
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.
Chris Simon, Production Editor/Graphic Designer, helps lay out the magazine and designs art and graphics for
both print and online products. Inquiries regarding brooms, swords, tea, bugs,
and moons of our solar system may also be directed to him for passably
satisfactory answers.
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Melissa Wood
, Marketing Director, oversees marketing activities for all 12 Booklist products, including magazine subscriptions, publisher relations, webinar promotion, and conference presence. She previously worked at Sourcebooks and Baker and Taylor; with her new position at Booklist, she has hit the publishing trifecta. She is proud to call herself an ARMY brat (although South Carolina is home). She likes cooking, biking, back porches and creating the perfect mixtape. Live music is her most expensive habit.
Sarah Grant, Marketing Associate, spends her days preparing content to be published on
Booklist Online, updating
Booklist's
Facebook page, and assisting with various administrative tasks. She holds a master's degree in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, where she studied modernist literature and theater. She also works in Chicago's theater scene. Follow her on Twitter at
@Booklist_Grant.
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 her fifteen-year-old son, DeMario, who will be taking driver’s education soon, to her delight and woe!
Dan Kaplan, Periodicals Manager, has worked in the newspaper, book, and magazine publishing business for more than 25 years, and has experience in online publishing, digital product development, ecommerce, circulation, and consumer marketing. He's a coffee fiend, a news junky, an avid reader, and a public transportation commuter—but not necessarily in that order. Thanks to Booklist, he keeps his wife and two kids supplied with a steady stream of ARCs and review copies to meet their every need (known or unknown).
Mary Burkey is an independent library consultant in Columbus (OH). An enthusiastic audiophile, she has served on all four of ALA's audiobook award committees, as well as an Audies Award judge. In addition to writing the "Voices in My Head" column forBooklist, she is the author of Audiobooks for Youth: A Practical Guide to Sound Literature (ALA, 2013). Follow her on Twitter at@mburkey.
Michael Cart, author of "Carte Blanche" and a Booklist reviewer, is a former president of both YALSA and ALAN. Recipient of the 2000 Grolier Foundation Award and first winner of the YALSA/Greenwood Publishing Group Service to Young Adults Achievement Award, he is the author or editor of twenty-two books, most recently Cart's Top 200 Adult Books for Young Adults. Until his recent relocation to the Midwest he taught young adult literature at UCLA.
Neil Hollands is an adult services librarian at Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia, where he specializes in readers' advisory and collection development. He reviews books for Booklist and Library Journal, writes articles for publications such as RUSQ, and presents at state and national library conferences. He is the author of Read On…Fantasy Fiction (2007) and Fellowship in a Ring (2009). When he isn't in the library, Neil is working on stage or behind the scenes at a theater or traveling with his wife.
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Advisory Board
Erin Downey Howerton, Chair, is an experienced public librarian and youth advocate who is passionate about exploring the intersections between libraries, education, and technology. Erin has served on the Margaret A. Edwards and Printz Award committees, and has written several book chapters on collections for youth, intellectual freedom, and technology in the library. Currently, she is the Children's Manager at the Wichita Public Library (KS.). In her free time, she keeps up with trends online and enjoys learning new silversmithing techniques. Follow her on Twitter at @hybridlib.
K. C. Boyd is the Lead Librarian for the East St. Louis School District #189 in East St. Louis, IL. She is also a doctoral student and adjunct professor of Library Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. An advocate of street literature for teens, she has served as a reviewer for the
Street Lit. Book Award Medal. Follow her on Twitter at
@Boss_Librarian.
Polli Kenn is the Readers’ Services Coordinator for the Lawrence Public Library, in Lawrence, Kansas, where she works with a team of librarians known as The Book Squad. In her past life, she saved the world working for several nonprofits, but now she does her saving through stories. Her favorite reads are feminist manifestos; historical romances; sociological insights; books about how or why; and anything with a twisty plot. She’s also made three whole humans from scratch!
April Mazza is an Advisor for Youth and School Library Services with the Massachusetts Library System. In that role, she provides training, resources and advisory services across the state. She has taught Children's Literature and Media at Simmons College, GSLIS, and has reviewed youth materials for a variety of publications. A highlight of her time as a children's librarian was serving on the 2012 Sibert Committee. She lives near Boston with her husband (whom she met at the library) and their cat, Taco (who has her own Facebook page).
Kaite Stover is the Director of Readers' Services for The Kansas City Public Library. Stover is the co-editor of The Readers' Advisory Handbook (2010) with Jessica E. Moyer. She has contributed chapters to Research-Based Readers' Advisory (2008) and Integrated Advisory Service (2010). Stover serves on the Penguin Random House Library Advisory Board and is a Steering Committee member for LibraryReads. She is the recipient of the 2012 Allie Beth Martin Award. She speaks regularly at international, national, regional, and state conferences on readers, reading, trends in publishing and reading, and training for library staff with an emphasis on readers' advisory and customer service.
Magan Szwarek is Director of Reference Services at Schaumburg Township District Library (IL). A lover of audiobooks and a dedicated readers' advisor, Magan serves on the Steering Committee of the Adult Reading Round Table and is enthusiastic about re-imaging what public libraries can offer the communities they serve.
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