For the first time, judges for the National Book Awards this year are not just writers and include booksellers, a librarian, literary critics and the v-p of a philanthropic foundation. The booksellers and librarian judges are:
- Rick Simonson, who is senior buyer and co-director of the literary program at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Wash., where he has worked more than 35 years. He is one of the fiction judges.
- Peter Glassman, founder and owner of Books of Wonder, New York City, and a bookseller for 38 years. He's also the author of three picture books and the editor of Books of Wonder Classics. He is one of the young people's literature judges.
- Lisa Von Drasek, curator of the Children's Literature Research Collections of the University of Minnesota, who earlier was director of the Center for Children's Literature and Children's Librarian of the Bank Street College of Education in New York City. She also writes about children's and YA books on EarlyWord.com and is one of the young people's literature judges.
For the full list of judges, click here.