Dec. 8, 2022
New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin is the winner of the Tulsa Library Trust’s 2023 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature. He will accept the award at a public presentation on Friday, May 5 at 6 p.m. in Connor’s Cove at Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St. He also will present awards to winners of the 2023 Young People’s Creative Writing Contest at the ceremony.
A New York City native, Sheinkin grew up loving books about history, action and outdoor adventure. During and after college, he wrote screenplays and directed films with friends, published a graphic novel, and then edited and wrote textbooks before transitioning to writing about the people, places and things that interested him most. Through his fiction and nonfiction books, Sheinkin makes complicated subjects clear and enticing to help children and teens get excited about both history and reading.
Sheinkin’s nonfiction young-adult books include “Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team”; "Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World's Most Dangerous Weapon," a Newbery Honor Book and National Book Award finalist; "The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism and Treachery," winner of the YALSA Award for Excellence, the Beacon Freedom Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown"; "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War"; "The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights"; and "Lincoln's Grave Robbers."
Children's nonfiction books by Sheinkin include "Born To Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America,” "King George: What Was His Problem?" and "Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War." Children's fiction includes "Neil Armstrong and Nat Love, Space Cowboys,” "Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid: A Graphic Novel of Dueling Jewish Folktales in the Wild West,” "The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey,” "Abraham Lincoln, Pro Wrestler" and "Abigail Adams, Pirate of the Caribbean." Copies of his books are available through the library’s catalog at www.tulsalibrary.org.
The Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature gives formal recognition, on behalf of the Tulsa County community, to a nationally acclaimed author who has made a significant contribution to the field of literature for young adults. The award, presented by the Tulsa Library Trust, consists of a $10,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book.
Past winners include: Nikki Grimes (2022), Jason Reynolds (2021), Katherine Applegate (2020), Rita Williams-Garcia (2019), Pam Muñoz Ryan (2018), Laurie Halse Anderson (2017), Gordon Korman (2016), Sharon Draper (2015), Jack Gantos (2014), Jim Murphy (2013), Jacqueline Woodson (2012), Kathryn Lasky (2011), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (2010), Christopher Paul Curtis (2009), Louis Sachar (2008), Kate DiCamillo (2007), Sharon Creech (2006), Avi (2005), Susan Cooper (2004), Russell Freedman (2003), Richard Peck (2002), E.L. Konigsburg (2001), Jerry Spinelli (2000), Jane Yolen (1999), Cynthia Voigt (1998), Gary Paulsen (1997), Walter Dean Myers (1996), Lois Lowry (1994), Katherine Paterson (1993), Madeleine L’Engle (1992) and S.E. Hinton (1991).
For more information on the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature or library programming, call the AskUs Hotline at 918-549-7323 or visit the library’s website, www.tulsalibrary.org.
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