Santa Monica Public Library's 2019 Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Winners
October 17, 2019 8:03 PM
Santa Monica, California – The Santa Monica Public Library announced the winning adult and youth titles for the thirteenth annual Green Prize for Sustainable Literature on October 2, 2019. This year’s event celebrated the winning titles along with a film screening of Blue, an eye-opening film on the ever-present pressures humanity places on the world’s oceans. An all-female panel followed the film and included the film’s director Karina Holden, as well as Belinda Waymouth from UCLA, Nancy Shrodes from Heal the Bay, and Ren Ostry founder of Trashfish. The film, like the Green Prize books, offer-up the most compelling and inescapable subjects of our time. “Books bring us up so close to the subject matter that we come away with a better understanding of where we stand and how we can contribute – and we have a really nice array of titles for all ages. The program gets stronger every year and is a source of pride for all of us,” said Patty Wong, Director of Library Services.
The Green Prize for Sustainable Literature celebrates the authors, illustrators, photographers and publishers influencing our conversation on sustainability and honors select books each year. The best youth and adult titles on sustainability published in 2018 take us from learning about the defining legal battles of past decades to the jungles of Southeast Asia and the cold Animas River flowing from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We learn about the role pioneering women leaders did to shape the history of the environmental movement and much more.
The 2019 Green Prize adult titles are:
Client Earth
By James Thornton and Martin Goodman
Published by Scribe US
Formerly Known as Food: How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture
By Kristin Lawless
Published by St. Martin’s Press
Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking
By Rachel Love Nuwer
Published by Da Capo Press
River of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Disaster
By Jonathan P. Thompson
Published by Torrey House Press
Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World
By Bethany McLean
Published by Columbia Global Reports
Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World
By Andrea Barnet
Published by Ecco
The 2019 Green Prize youth titles are:
Desert Ecosystems
By Mirella S. Miller
Published by 12 Story Library
The Environmental Movement: Then and Now
By Rebecca Stefoff
Published by Capstone Press
Galápagos Girl/Galápagueña
By Marsha Diane Arnold
Illustrated by Angela Dominguez
Translated by Adriana Dominguez
Published by Children’s Book Press
Red Alert! Endangered Animals Around the World
By Catherine Barr
Illustrated by Anne Wilson
Published by Charlesbridge
Spring After Spring: How Rachel Carson Inspired the Environmental Movement
By Stephanie Roth Sisson
Published by Roaring Brook Press
Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter to Our Planet
By April Pulley Sayre
Published by Greenwillow Books
What Is Climate Change?
By Gail Herman
Illustrated by John Hinderliter
Published by Penguin Workshop
The Pioneer Award is given to authors who have made major lasting contributions to the field. This year's Pioneer goes to the late Mary Oliver, an American poet. Mary Oliver crafted a body of work largely filled with thought-provoking imagery of the natural world, poetry focused on the quiet occurrences in nature. Oliver’s poetry won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award for lifetime achievement.
Background: For twenty-five years, Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Plan has guided public policy to enhance our resources, prevent harm to the natural environment and human health, as well as benefit the social, cultural and economic wellbeing of the community. The Green Prize was created in 2007 and is co-presented by the City of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment and Sustainable Works.
For more information on the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature click here.
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Media Contact
Jennifer Ullrich
Librarian II
Jennifer.Ullrich@SMGOV.NET