ALAN Online

Wendy Lamb, editor of Wendy Lamb Books, is the 2009 winner of the Ted Hipple Service Award, presented each year by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English (ALAN).  Named for long-time executive secretary and founding member of ALAN, the Ted Hipple Award is given to an advocate of ALAN whose work embodies the spirit of Ted Hipple’s lifetime service to young people, teachers, librarians, authors, schools and institutions of higher learning.

Wendy, who has been at the helm of her own Random House imprint since 2002, began her career in publishing in 1974 with HarperCollins before moving on to Viking and eventually Delacorte, which would merge with Random House in 1999.  She is a regular fixture at ALAN events, consistently making top authors available for the ALAN Workshop, as well as introducing us to up and coming stars.  Along the way, Wendy has also written for musical theater, attended the famous University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, discovered Christopher Paul Curtis, and provided a steady stream of books from Gary Paulsen, Walter Dean Myers, Graham Salisbury, and many others.  According to those who know her best (such as her husband, Paul), Wendy has had her nose in a book since she was a little girl and, even now, can often be found reading through a gigantic pile of book manuscripts, searching for the next, great author of YA literature. Congratulations, Wendy!

-James Blasingame