The Poetry Matters team recently celebrated the local poets, of the Central Savannah River Area, from their 10th annual poetry contest. The contest has been sponsored by P.R.A. Publishing (www.prapublishing.com) since it's inception. For more info on the event, including video visit www.poetrymatterscelebration.com.

Turner Publishing Company (www.turnerpublishing.com) let us know that they were also an IBPA member featured in the March 1st edition of Publishers Weekly as one of the nation's fast-growing small publishers (#6 on the list). Publishers Weekly's Small Publisher Standouts list highlights independent presses in the United States who were exemplary in terms of growth in sales, number of new titles released, and number of employees. Congratulations!

Oscar Robertson, principal in Oscar Robertson Media Ventures (www.thebigo.com), and author and publisher of The Art of Basketball and The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game, will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for a second time this August as a member of the gold medalist 1960 U.S. Olympic basketball team. Robertson, who co-captained the "original dream team" along with Jerry West, was originally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979, the first year he was eligible, for his individual achievements.

The tip for this week comes from David Katz & Judith Cohen of Cascade Pass, Inc., who suggested a public site for BISAC codes found at BISG. The BISAC Subject Codes List is used to standardize the electronic transfer of subject information between trading partners. BISG is a great resource for the publishing industry. They also have information about EDI and e-commerce, research and statistics and more. Thanks David and Judith!

Central PA Publishers can ride in a luxury motor coach to and from Book Expo for $50 per person roundtrip, Wednesday May 26th.  By leaving at 7 am from the Lancaster/Harrisburg area and returning at 9 pm - you'll get a full day in NYC (10 am- 6 pm) without the expense of hotel rooms. This is a co-operative, shared cost arrangement - currently Fox Chapel Publishing and Stackpole Books have reserved 12 seats for the 26 passenger coach. Interested? Email Wendy Calta/ Fox Chapel Publishing. wendy@foxchapelpublishing with CC info and number of seats needed.

PR by the Book is proud to debut their new website (www.prbythebook.com), where you can also read their new blog. Also, the firm was invited to share a rotating column called "After the Manuscript" in the San Francisco Book Review/ Sacramento Book Review. You can see the column here.

Lisa Pelto of Concierge Marketing & Publishing is assisting a Rotary Club in pulling together books for K-12 for three school libraries in Pakistan that have been destroyed. Used and damaged books are also acceptable as long as they are suitable for the K-12 audience and have covers intact. They won't take any books with religious content, but all other books are welcome. Publishers can send individual books or boxes weighing less than 35lbs to the address below to be shipped to Pakistan. Please send contributions before May 30 to:
Rotary Pakistan Book Drive, Concierge Marketing & Publishing, 13518 'L' Street, Omaha, NE 68137

Since the book was launched last year, proceeds of the sale of Postscripts from Mindanao, Gensan Publishing House were donated to build 'One house for One poor family' in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in Southern Philippines. "It's not yet completed, but for now, we can see a bright future ahead for one family," said author Wilma Basan Villanueva. Incidentally, only 2000 USD is needed to build the one house. Great news, Wilma!