If you were author Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket (his pen name that originates from A Series of Unfortunate Events where it appears as both a character and narrator), you could surely afford establishing an annual prize worth of $3,000 (£1,800) for whoever you think should be getting the award. To Handler, it is librarians who are in a serious need of being rewarded and recognised for what they do. According to him “Librarians have suffered enough" and therefore a new annual US prize will be "honouring a librarian who has faced adversity with integrity and dignity intact". "This seems like a better way to channel money to librarians than my previous strategy, which was incurring exorbitant late fees", he adds. The winner of the first Lemony Snicket Prize has recently been named!
Known in the neighbourhood as the Book Lady, she founded the Lower Ninth Ward Street Library in New Orleans, with only $350 a week hitting her account. With her bicycle turned into a mobile book carrier she made daily house visits to families who could not leave their homes. Her main focus though were children who lived in the area which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The numbers say that she brought over 3,500 books to children from difficult backgrounds. Her initiative seems even more impressive after one realizes that the woman was going through her own struggles in the meantime. Some of these included making ends meet, facing burglary, and coping with damage done to her house by the weather. Regardless of her personal circumstances, she put her mission before her own well-being and kept on bringing joy (and books!) to the young ones. This extraordinary librarian has risen to the challenge and for all her effort and sacrifice, she will be getting not only a monetary prize, but also a certificate and “an odd, symbolic object from Handler’s private collection” . What might that be?
The prize giving ceremony will take place on June 29 during the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas. We will be sure to inform you right away when the mystery of “an odd” item is resolved!
Do you think award was deserved? Let us know in the comments below!