Administration/Projects
Send project-related
questions (Fall Discovery Show, Winter Catalog, Reading the West Book Awards, Website)
plus bills, invoices,
and payments to:

MPIBA Administration
c/o Kathy Keel
208 E. Lincoln Avenue

Fort Collins, CO 80524

Mark Your Calendar!

Fall Discovery Show (Trade Show) 2016

October 6-8, 2016
The Renaissance
Denver Hotel

Kent Haruf Novel
to Become Movie

Kent Haruf was an acclaimed author

and the recipient of many awards, including the Colorado Book Award, the Wallace Stegner Award, the MPIBA Reading the West Award, and the MPIBA Lifetime Literary Achievement Award during his lifetime of writing. He will always be revered and beloved by booksellers and readers in the MPIBA community.

His 2015 novel, OUR SOULS AT NIGHT, will be adapted a for film produced by Netflix starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.

The last time Jane Fonda and Robert Redford collaborated
was in 1979, for "The Electric Horseman."

The town of Florence, Colorado is about to see stars ... Hollywood stars.

Located about one hour south of Colorado Springs, the burg of about 3,800 residents that bills itself as the antique capital of Colorado will be the main location for filming OUR SOULS AT NIGHT.

The movie is based on the late Colorado author Kent Haruf's novel about a widow and widower in a small Colorado town who embark on a friendship that eventually blossoms into romance.

Filming will begin September 17 during the 89th annual Florence Pioneer Days, held September 16-18. Fans can get up close and personal with the actors and crew as they participate in the "Remember When" parade at 10:00 a.m. The production is expected to continue shooting the following two days and one week in October at a number of sites, including the hardware store, bowling alley, corner cafe and baseball field. Filmmakers will use Colorado Springs as their base of operations. ...

A version of this article by Jen Mulson appeared in The Gazette, August 10, 2016. To read the full article, please click here.

News From Our Bookstores

This House of Books, a community-owned bookstore in Billings, MT is set to open in September.

This House of Books
Finds a Home in Billings, MT

This House of Books, a new community-owned bookstore (and new MPIBA member), has signed a lease on a 2,800 square foot space
in downtown Billings.

The building, originally the Billings Masonic Temple, is located at 224 North Broadway at the corner of 3rd Avenue North across the street from the Alberta Bair Theater.

"This location will be perfect for us," said General Manager & CEO Gary Robson. "Our proximity to the Parmly Billings Library makes it easy to collaborate on book events, the Farmer's Market will be a perfect showcase for our tea bar, and it's a gorgeous building."

The space leased for the store is significantly bigger than Robson's previous store in Red Lodge, and he intends to stock more books and a broader selection of games.

This House of Books is going for a historic look. They will be ripping out the existing wall-to-wall carpeting and replacing it with hardwood floors and using rustic shelving and fixtures. They will be carrying the theme through in other aspects of store d�cor.

Since This House of Books is organized as a

co-op, they are relying on community involvement and volunteers.

One of the first volunteer activities will be a painting party, and volunteers are already helping with fundraising, podcasts, and social media.

The funding for the store comes from sales of shares. Member/owners receive benefits depending on their level of investment, which include discounts on books & tea, advance notice of events, end-of-year rebates, access to advance review copies of upcoming books, and the opportunity to try new tea blends before they are released to the public.

"We haven't yet reached our funding goals," Robson explained, "largely because we didn't have a location or an opening date.

Now the progress is more visible, with a completed business plan, a full board of directors, a building, a projected mid-September grand opening, and well over 100 member/owners."

Momentum is also building on events and social media. Robson is scheduling book signings and talks as well as poetry readings, tea tastings, and tabletop game nights where people can try out new board, dice, and card games.

-The Billings Bookstore Cooperative.

To learn more about This House of Books, click here.

Guidon Books in Scottsdale, AZ Moving After 52 Years

Shelly Dudley, owner of Guidon Books in Scottsdale, Arizona, is moving
the store to Scottsdale Airpark after 52 years in Old Town.

Guidon Books, a niche bookstore that opened in Old Town Scottsdale 52 years ago, plans to close next month and will move to a new location in the Scottsdale Airpark, where it will focus more on online sales.

The store, which specializes in Western literature and American history, features more than 30,000 new and second-hand books on subjects ranging from the U.S. Civil War to Native American culture.

"There's magic in touching these books - some of them are 50 years old, and some of them are 100 years old," owner Shelly Dudley said.

Guidon Books opened on Main Street in 1964 but eventually outgrew that space. Dudley, a former historian for Salt River Project who inherited the shop from her parents about five years ago, moved it to Second Street and Marshall Way.

A version of this article by Parker Leavitt appeared in the Arizona Republic on July 22, 2016. For the full article, please click here.

Weller Book Works
Celebrates 87th Anniversary

Tony Weller, Co-Owner of Weller Book Works,
talks about 87 Years of Bookselling:

Our bookstore feels to me like a cathedral of human culture. The books are low-tech magical devices where the stuff of minds and sou

ls is available for the taking. My days pass quickly enveloped by the words of thinkers from everywhere and time. Each day, I meet interesting persons with unique interests. Our exchanges are rich.

Books and ideas are addictive and I lose
track of dull realities.

Every day seems like an intellectual adventure. I am grateful that the opportunity to spend my life in this rich environment was available to me. Now that I have reached the top tier of experience in our store, I realize, k

nowing that my knowledge is, and will always be, incomplete, that the awe I felt for my seniors in the past was partially awe of my own ignorance. I am no longer pained by it. Since no one in the book trade knows enough, I've learned to enjoy the inquiries, investigations and discoveries. Each day I learn a bit more and enjoy the lessons I take from my customers and coworkers. Occasionally, I become giddy at such abundant potential for such wealth of spirit. Sometimes I become mentally frenetic trying to manage complex relationships between my tiny gleanings.

Books are virtual magic.

There are many ways to get them and new ways to read them. Seekers and curious readers value the experience of browsing books in a space where related books are neighbors. We receive compliments for the order of our store. Biblio-tourists from everywhere praise our efforts.

Some local citizens don't realize how
unique stores like ours have become.
We sell books with affection and the sincere belief that books and reading are important as well as pleasurable. Reading broadens one's sensibilities and deepens insights into every aspect of human experience.

I learned a lot in this bookstore but it never feels like enough. I love this bookstore and hope you do too.

Excerpted from the August-September edition of "Text Block," the Weller Books Works Newsletter.

Fun Photos: Bookstores Lure Pokemon Go Players

Booksellers have noticed an increase in customers whose noses are buried in their cell phones ... and are cleverly using Pokemon Go to their advantage!

From the website of Changing Hands in Tempe, AZ:

Bookish Pok�People, behold! We're a Pok� Stop!

Come to Changing Hands Tempe to pick up handy items (and the occasional egg!) and explore the store to encounter cool Pok�mon. Maybe you'll catch that one you've been missing.

Nicole Sullivan of BookBar in Denver, Colorado, lures Pokemon Go

players with the promise of beer.

MPIBA's Summer Photo Booth

Rae Meadows Visits Brace Books

Author Rae Meadows (I WILL SEND RAIN, Henry Holt) with Jerry Brace
from Brace Books & More in Ponca City, Oklahoma

Laura Burnett Visits Townie Books

Laura Ayrey Burnett, MPIBA's Executive Director,
visits Townie Books in Crested Butte, Colorado