The Deep Dive

Behind The Scenes: Selecting Summer Scares Horror Winners

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Kelly Jensen

Editor

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

Since 2018, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, have teamed up to develop an annual list of excellent horror novels as part of a project to encourage libraries and their users to dive into. Too often, horror is flattened to one thing; since horror is not a genre but a mood, it can be tough to even know where to begin if your perception of horror is similar to what you might perceive of genre fiction, like fantasy or mystery. Summer Scares aims to demystify horror and encourage its use and celebration in libraries across the country. The titles picked for Summer Scares are ones that have been published at least a year prior, are widely available, and have authors who are eager to take part in talking about their books and horror more broadly with libraries and their users. 

I have served as the captain of the YA category of Summer Scares since its inception, and every year at this time, I find myself immersed in horror. It’s a nice opportunity to catch up on titles I have missed, as it forces me to dig into the back list. But what does working on a committee like this look like? How do we decide which titles earn the designation of Summer Scares winner? How much throwing down happens in the committee? Let’s take a peek behind the scenes!

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