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ABA Coming to PDX
Member Forum Set for Spring
 The American Booksellers Association will join PNBA for an education lineup and luncheon on Wed, March 28 at Annie Bloom's Books' Southwest Portland village favorite, O'Connor's restaurant.
The event will start with a PNBA Education Committee offering, likely focused on "new media," from 9 - 10:15 am.
From 10:30 - 12, ABA will deliver "The Best of Wi7's Best Practices Sessions." The original 12 Winter Institute sessions covered everything from children's bookselling, to Google Analytics, to empowering your indie business alliance. "The Best of the Best" is a roundup of the top bookseller tips.
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Oren Teicher
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At noon, ABA will offer a sponsored lunch forum hosted by CEO Oren Teicher. This open discussion of industry issues will be driven by attendees, so come prepared with questions and ideas.
The forum concludes at 2pm, which only leaves an hour to kill next door at Annie Bloom's before O'Connor's' happy hour starts at 3pm. Not ABA sponsored, sorry.
Please send pre-happy hour RSVP's to ABA's Nathan Halter before March 23.
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Book Awards Buzz
The Winners Are Out There
Jonathan Evison kicked off the NW indie awards season with a Jan 31 appearance at his hometown store, Eagle Harbor Book Co. August will see the release of a new novel, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, but Evison rewarded his audience with a leapfrog, reading passages from another future novel, The Dreamlife of Huntington Sales.
Craig Thompson spent a night at the beach on Feb 11, courtesy of the Cannon Beach Library and Cannon Beach Book Co. Thompson read to a crowd of 30 at the library and then headed across the street to the bookstore, crowd in tow, including the local paper and  the town mayor! He was presented his award by fantasy legend and recently settled Cannon Beach local Terry Brooks. Thompson also sketched on a book for a customer while she explained how she'd just read his book Blankets back at home, in Beaverton, and just happened to be at the Coast the same weekend he was appearing. They were both delighted. Our plaque designer made a run to Portland last weekend and dropped off a couple more of the awards at their ceremonial locations. Patrick deWitt was given his award at Powell's City of Books on Sunday evening. It was presented by his friend, fellow writer and Powell's employee, Kevin Sampsell. We're expecting a report soon. Ismet Prcic will appear at Powell's on Hawthorne Thursday night, the 23rd. Manager (and show registration volunteer fave) Jan Waldmann received the plaque and finds it "wonderful." She says they'll have a real-life photographer on hand on Thursday, so we'll try and follow up with some shots of "Izzy" next month. Thor Hanson's plaque just arrived at Griffin Bay Bookstore, Friday Harbor, San Juan Island writes owner, Laura Norris. "It's beautiful--thanks!" His celebration is this Saturday, the 25th. Lidia Yuknavitch will be honored at Broadway Books in Portland March 6. Recaps to come. |
NWBL Noteworthies 
Recent Noisemakers
* When the January edition of Footnotes went out our 2012 Book Award season had just begun. Ismet Prcic's sweet and revealing essay was the first of our six winners essays published and not an award had been handed out. Over the past month, an additional five essays have hit the page and three plaques have been presented. Algonquin also gave away a really fancy version of West of Here; fancier than Johnny's hat.
* Fireside Books is in danger of losing top billing in Eowyn Ivey's bio, which has traditionally listed "author" as secondary to her bookselling duties. Ivey's Snow Child is a NW bestseller that's getting national and now international attention. After we ran the Australian interview, Inkling's Bookshop's Susan Richmond sent word via Facebook from vacation in New Zealand. The wonder of the north has gone even farther south: "...I'm visiting in Queenstown, NZ and saw Eowyn Ivey's book front and center at Whitcoulls! So very far from Alaska! I took a pic. I'll send it when I get a better wi-fi connection."
* Ahh, honey, honey. Cheryl Strayed is Sugar, and she and her new memoir, Wild, are featured everywhere from The Oregonian to Vogue. If you maybe wondered why a little-known author had a breakfast slot at the fall show, now you know. Look for an interview with Strayed on NWBL March 14.
Send Us Your Recs! Face Out What You Love
Did you know that NWBL features a new book recommendation from one of our booksellers every day in Face Out and that we link all of the titles and book jackets back to the sales sites for the booksellers' stores or IndieBound? As we get more readers, we hope they'll be clicking on those links and buying their books from you. Tell us what you love, so we can send more customers to you.
Join NWBL on Facebook
Let's Hike the Likes
Our fans receive a new Face Out every day and
news every time we post an author or bookseller essay or interview.
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Former Bookseller Walks Two Miles for Books
It's in Mary Gleysteen's Blood
 In December we announced the sad-for-us, happy-for-her retirement of Eagle Harbor's Mary Gleysteen. She recently wrote PNBA to check in from the post-bookstore world, and here's a distillation of that spirited letter. Thanks so much for your kind words and good wishes on my retirement. I am loving the freedom for things like travel and sleeping in, and, of course, reading. I am very much missing my friends and colleagues in the world of books, however. I recently returned from a week in northwest Iowa at the Okoboji winter games--ice fishing, beer drinking, music, card playing and general revelry. It was just about right--lots of ice and no fish to unhook or clean. One of the high points of the trip was actually a visit to Birchbark Books in Minneapolis. I had a layover at the airport, so took light rail, a bus, and walked 2 miles to Lake of the Isles and Louise Erdrich's magical bookstore. I'm planning a three-week Amtrak adventure with a friend. We are going to Birmingham in late March to a workshop on Gandhian non-violence with Narayan Desai and Jim Douglass whose book, JFK [and the Unspeakable]: Why He Died and Why It Matters, was extraordinary. Jim has a new book out, Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment With Truth, which I am also looking forward to reading. After visiting various civil rights landmarks, we'll stop off in New Orleans and Atlanta on our way back to Seattle. Please let me know if you have books to recommend in preparation for this trip or to read on the train, and bookstores we shouldn't miss along the way. I will be back home by April 23rd for World Book Night. I am going to give out Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part time Indian at the local skateboard park (and in the woods behind the park where the less athletically inclined kids go to smoke and hangout) and at the convenience store at the Port Gamble S'Klallam Reservation. My hope is that these teens who go to the same high school will find something in common to talk about. I'm looking forward to it! |
Member Notes
Hey, Ann Patchett Did It
"Owning a Bookstore: The Business Essentials" will take place March 19-23 on Amelia Island, FL. Key topics: strategies for making a profit in retail bookselling, best practices for driving sales, creating a magical sense of place with store design and merchandising, buying and managing inventory. More than a dozen trainers, including an ABA officer and a regional Small Business Administration loan officer, will provide in-depth training for success. Visit PazBookBiz.com.
Too Close to Home
Citing the struggling economy, MIBA's Board of Directors voted to eliminate the full-time Assistant Director position . MIBA will streamline operations prior to making additional staffing decisions. Ingram Behind World Book NightFrom the Ingram release: "Publicity surrounding World Book Night titles will have readers seeking out the 30 titles. Keep them available with an extra 3% discount when ordering from Ingram. Discount is available until April 30, 2012." |
2012 Calendar
Feb 23 NABP meeting, Lake Oswego
Mar 15 BPNW meeting, Seattle
Mar 28 ABA/PNBA Spring Forum, Portland
June 4-7 BEA 2012, NYC
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Classifieds
Now On NWBL
PNBA classified advertisement listings are now featured on the NW Book Lovers blog. NWBL greatly broadens the options and the audience for NW book-related postings. Current PNBA members are eligible for free classifieds. Contact Jamie for guidelines and scheduling.
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If you don't see photos or images in this version of our newsletter, try viewing it from our website. We post the newsletter to our website within a few days of emailing it. |
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