News Briefs
Medina Named Ambassador For Young People’s Literature
The Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader in January announced the appointment of Meg Medina as the eighth national ambassador for young people’s literature for 2023-2024.

Medina, a Cuban-American, is the first Latina to serve as national ambassador in the program’s history. She succeeds Jason Reynolds, who served as ambassador from 2020 through 2022.

Medina’s books examine how culture and identity intersect through the eyes of young people. Her middle-grade novel “Merci Suárez Changes Gears” received the 2019 Newbery Medal. Her most recent picture book is “Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away.”

For her two-year term as ambassador, Medina will engage readers across the country through her new platform, ¡Cuéntame!: Let’s Talk Books. Inspired by the Spanish phrase that friends and families use when catching up with one another, ¡Cuéntame! encourages connection among families, classrooms, libraries and communities by talking about books.

MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-23-004

Williams Appointed New General Counsel
Margaret Williams was named the Library’s new general counsel, effective Jan. 1. Williams has served at the Library for 35 years, most recently as deputy general counsel. She succeeds Elizabeth Pugh, who retired Dec. 31.

Williams attended the University of Virginia, earned a master’s in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then joined the Library’s FEDLINK program. After receiving a Juris Doctor from George Mason University, she joined the Office of the General Counsel at the Library in 1998 and, in 2015, became the institution’s first deputy general counsel.

Highlights of her legal career include contracting, grants and fiscal law work on contracting processes, revolving funds and the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. She also worked on the Teaching with Primary Sources program, fundraising and the Library’s ethics program.

MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-22-121

Seven Composers Receive New Music Commissions
The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library awarded commissions for new works to seven composers. The commissions are granted jointly by the foundation and the performing organizations that will present the world premiere of each work.

Winning composers for 2022 and the groups co-sponsoring their commissions are Marcos Balter and the New York New Music Ensemble; Oscar Bettison and loadbang; Eric Chasalow and Sound Icon; Amy Beth Kirsten and Sandbox Percussion; Nico Muhly and Nois; Jeffrey Mumford and the String Orchestra of New York City; and Tyshawn Sorey and Yarn/Wire.

The foundation again granted a commission in memory of composer Andrew W. Imbrie, a longtime Koussevitzky Foundation board member. This commission, inaugurated in 2021, is made possible through a gift from Barbara Cushing Imbrie and Andrew Philip Imbrie. Composer Eric Chasalow, sponsored by Sound Icon, is the 2022 recipient.

MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-22-110

Saylor Appointed Director Of American Folklife Center
Nicole “Nicki” Saylor has been appointed the fourth director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Before her new role at the center, Saylor served as chief of the Library’s Digital Innovation Lab, where she oversaw a team of innovation specialists exploring new technologies and creative ways to share the Library’s content and connect with researchers, artists and the public.

Saylor brings nearly 20 years of library and archives experience to the position, including her service as the director of the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center from 2012 to 2021.

The American Folklife Center Archives collections span the earliest field recordings made in the 1890s on wax cylinders to born-digital collections such as StoryCorps, a large oral narrative project.

MORE: loc.gov/item/prn-22-043

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