YvonneCILIP is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers.
It annually awards the Carnegie Medal, to the writer of an outstanding book for children.
The author receives a golden medal, along with £500 worth of books, which they must donate to a library of their choice.
The award was established in 1936, in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919).
Carnegie was a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA. His experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that
“if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries.”
Carnegie set up more than 2800 libraries across the English speaking world and, by the time of his death, over half the library authorities in Great Britain had Carnegie libraries.
The 2010 Carnegie Medal, has been awarded to author Neil Gaiman, for his 2008 “The Graveyard Book”
Synopsis
When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard?
Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead.
But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him – after all, he is the last remaining member of the family.
A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod’s life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?
About the author
Neil Gaiman was born and raised in England, but now lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He has long been recognised as one of the top writers in modern comics, as well as writing books for readers of all ages.
Neil has been listed in Dictionary of Literary Biography: v. 188 (Dicionary of literary biography) as one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama, including an episode in the sixth series of Dr. Who, due to be screened in 2011.
