Late last year, Ana Cackley joined the ALSC staff as Awards Coordinator. Here is your chance to learn a bit more about Ana through a series of questions.
What do you do, and how long have you been doing it? I’m the ALSC Awards Coordinator and have been here for the last five months! I do a lot of the behind-the-scenes admin work related to the awards and Award Committees, including the Newbery, Caldecott, Geisel, Batchelder, and Sibert awards, among others. I also help plan and execute the Youth Media Awards in January and the NCL Banquet in June. I try to make things as smooth as possible for the committees so that they can focus on the books.
Ana Cackley – Photo credit: Charlie Braun, 2022
If you hadn’t chosen to work in a library-related field, what would be your profession? I like to think that if I weren’t in a library-adjacent field, I would be the person whose job is to feed the sharks at the Shedd Aquarium. I think that would be cool.
Who is the last person you said “Thank You” to? Probably the Dunkin’ Donuts barista who handed me my breakfast.
What do you wish more people knew about you? That I have an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University! I graduated in January 2022, having done most of the already-remote program even more remotely due to the pandemic. I got to work with some of my absolute favorite authors in kidlit, including Anne Ursu, Elana K. Arnold, Sherri L. Smith, and Laurel Snyder. I’m so lucky to be part of such an amazing community of writers and children’s book lovers, and I bring that love and connection into my job at ALSC.
What is the best thing about working with ALSC? Meeting all the incredible librarians, authors, and publishing folks who love children’s books so much and work so hard to support them.
What was your favorite book when you were a child? I picked up Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness series when I was ten and never looked back. Her story of a young, fierce girl who wants to become a knight inspired me to start studying fencing, which I did for over a decade, and I eventually competed on the collegiate level in undergrad.
What do you think libraries will be like 25 years from now? This is a tough one to answer, especially in our current environment of book bans, de-funding, and threats of church-owned alternatives to libraries. It’s terrifyingly easy to see how libraries could crumble. But my hope is that in 25 years, the library system will be as strong as ever, these radical safe havens where we can go to exist without having to spend money and shelter from the inevitable effects of climate change. Also, I would like a little book robot who does the reshelving, please.
How do you advocate for children and libraries? I advocate for children and libraries by supporting the awards committees, which in turn support librarians, teachers, parents, and children by highlighting some of the best books in the industry. I know firsthand how important it is for kids to have access to well-written stories that show a broad range of lived experiences and spark imagination, curiosity, and joy. In my personal life, I advocate for children and libraries by pre-ordering as many books as my budget will allow, donating things I won’t re-read to Little Free Libraries, and recommending lots of titles to my friends with children.
What is the best compliment you’ve ever received? Someone once told me I reminded them of a wood nymph, and I’ve been riding that high ever since.
How did you feel knowing what won the major Children’s Media Awards before almost anyone else in the world? Very smug! Many of my friends and family are kidlit people and they were all wildly jealous that I knew before them. It did also make me feel a bit like I had to sneak around the conference, as though I were wearing a great huge sign saying “KNOWS THE CALDECOTT WINNER” and people were going to tackle me in the lobby.
Do you prefer to read books in a paperback/hardback format, as e-books, or do you prefer to listen to books? All three! I try to have one of each type running at a time. Audiobooks are great for multi-tasking (dishes, walks, brushing teeth), e-books are great for planes and trains, and paper books are just great all around.
Thanks so much, Ana Cackley! It’s been great to learn a bit more about you!