Whenever I went to an ABA event, I would look for Dan Cullen, the ABA’s former senior strategy officer. His quick smile and reassuring words soothed me as I introvertedly entered a big crowd where I likely knew few people well. He was the kindest man with the best laugh, and always gave me a warm welcome.

I first met him when he was presenting at an ABA education session on efficiency. He wore a t-shirt that read “Deadlines Amuse Me.” The session was great, and I admired his self-deprecating sense of humor as well as his passion for a job well done. I would come to know him as a fierce advocate for indie booksellers, ever open to conversations around how we could improve our industry. 

When the ABA staff were doing volunteer stints at stores during the holidays, he volunteered at Malaprop’s, my former bookselling home. He brought his familiar cheery spirit and a willingness to do anything we needed. He became our official gift wrapper. He also diplomatically noted that our signage could be better. I gathered that he often got lost in our maze of bookshelves while leading customers to where he thought/hoped/prayed a book might be, furiously scanning for our artsy, hard-to-read, and imaginatively placed section signs. We fixed them shortly after his visit.

The ABA held its 2015 Winter Institute in Asheville, and I had a chance, once again, to see Dan for more than the usual conversation in a hallway during a conference. The photo is from the ABA’s opening reception, where he’s speaking with my husband, Jon Mayes, the former PGW rep for the Southeast. I’m in the background, kind of a ghost between them. Dan’s expression is pure Dan. 

When I heard of his passing, I was shocked because I can’t imagine a world without him. Not because I knew him so well, as I wish I’d known him better, but because he was such a bright light, the kind of light we need especially now. I’m sure he is greatly missed by every life he’s touched. We send our deepest sympathy and love to his family and friends.

Linda-Marie Barrett
Executive Director

Linda-Marie Barrett / Executive Director:
Reading: How to Fake a Southern Gentleman by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt. A romcom based in Atlanta and set against a backdrop of racism, classism, and misogyny. Must finish ASAP and begin Autumn by Ali Smith for my book club discussion next week.
Listening: To lively bird chatter and the end-of-season clicking and droning of insects outside my office window.
Watching: Fall colors are brightening up the landscape in Western North Carolina. On SP’s suggestion I’m enjoying The Marlow Murder Club, which offers the usual British cozy features: beautiful setting, multiple murders in a village where everyone knows everyone, and tea offered to folks in distress. Every Friday I’m watching the newest episode of the Great British Baking Show because it’s the best TV ever.

Nicki Leone / Communications:
Reading: The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories by Virginia Woolf. Various books about identifying mushrooms.
Listening: The audiobook version of Penelope's Bones: A New History of Homer's World Through the Women Written Out of It by Emily Hauser.
Watching: Well there was the Yankees' Wild Card games. I didn't even know what that meant until mom and dad took it upon themselves to educate me. But a lot of my "watching" lately, or maybe "looking" would be a better word, has been while I am walking Lucy in the woods. Yesterday we found a big patch of "chicken in the woods" -- which is an edible fungi that tastes like, well, take a guess. Not that we were brave enough to test it ourselves. Lucy, who will eat almost anything, was NOT INTERESTED.

SP Rankin / Website Administrator:
Reading: Not reading yet since it doesn't come out until next week, but I am looking forward to Mirage City, the next book in Lev AC Rosen's queer noir Evander Mills series set in 1950s San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Listening: I saved up the latest episodes of some culty/MLM podcasts for a recent road trip which made the miles just fly by.
Watching: The Crow Girl, a very dark and twisty British adaptation of a Swedish thriller/crime series of novels. Think The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo meets Killing Eve meets every single British procedural with a frumpily dressed workaholic woman detective with a complicated personal life, AKA the perfect show!

Andrea Richardson / Sales:
Reading: All the scary books I can get my hands on! Currently I'm into Widow's Point by a father/son team we're hosting next week.
Listening & Watching: I'm combining these this week because we binged The English Teacher this weekend and it's got a bangin' soundtrack of 80's and 90's gems.

The Southern Book Prize season is almost upon us! Designed to highlight indie booksellers as a trustworthy source for what to read next, and to extend the shelf life (and therefore sales) of the buzz-worthy books of the year, the list of finalists will be announced to the public on November 1, and the ballot will open for the bookstores' customers to vote on "the best Southern books of the year."

SIBA Bookstores should watch their inboxes next week for an early sneak peek of the 2026 Southern Book Prize finalists. Member stores receive advance notice to give them time to check stock levels and make plans for their own displays and social media campaigns.

What to expect: The Southern Book Prize timeline

October 1: Six finalists are chosen in the three categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers. Finalists are chosen from books that have received the most nominations and positive reviews from SIBA member bookstores, and represent the favorite "handsells" of Southern booksellers for the year. Read more about eligibility requirements here.

October 15: Booksellers receive the list of finalists, and their Southern Book Prize toolkit with SBP marketing assets including downloadable flyers, shelf talkers, and bookmarks as well as social media graphics. SIBA also arranges an additional 2% discount with Ingram for orders of finalist titles. No code required.

November 1: The Southern Book Prize Ballot is launched at The Southern Bookseller Review. The ballot is meant to be a tool for bookstores to use get their customers engaged in the question of what should be the best Southern book of the year. Anyone can vote, but readers have to list their local bookstore, and say what they love about it. In the past this has created a truly heartwarming collection of praise for SIBA's member stores, ranging from "They always recommend great books" to "They keep every Star Wars novel in stock." SIBA provides bookstores with the option to host the ballot on their own website and drive traffic to their own store.

November 1 - January 31: The Southern Book Prize voting period. During this time SIBA will promote what booksellers have to say about each of the eighteen finalists. They will be featured in The Southern Bookseller Review, and shared on social media with the reviewing store, the author, and the publisher tagged.

February 14: Southern Book Prize Winners announced. From February 1-14, SIBA hosts a Southern Book Prize social media scavenger hunt to get readers engaged in the outcome and following Southern indie bookstores.

An annual meeting may not sound like the most riveting hour you could spend, but here are some very good reasons to attend:

1. You will hear what SIBA has done over the past year. SIBA is an active organization with a full programming schedule. Find out what your SIBA membership makes you a part of.
2. You will hear about what SIBA is planning. There is a reason SIBA calls it "A bright future."
3. You will hear from your SIBA Board. They has been working hard all year on behalf of their fellow booksellers and they are looking forward to talking about what they have been doing.
4. You can ask questions and raise your concerns with SIBA's staff and board. And you can hear the questions and concerns your fellow bookstores raise. You are not alone in the challenges you face.
5. You will hear about resources that can help your business. Did you know that SIBA recently released a Banned Books Week toolkit for stores? Or that the SIBA Board is offering free DEI training to SIBA members?

SIBA's Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 30 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

SIBA's mission is to help its member bookstores become more successful and profitable businesses. Come to the annual meeting to hear how we are doing that.

Register now

As part of SIBA's "a bright future" transition to a new website and member platform, the organization is consolidating and reorganizing some of its website content. Beginning in October, the newsletter and blog archives will move offsite and will no longer be updated on the current website platform. All newsletter content will be available in SIBA's "In the land of SIBA" newsfeed.

As part of its commitment to an anti-racist stance and to confront bias in the book industry, SIBA is making its innovative 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge available as a packaged training kit for bookstores. The training kit supports businesses in educating staff and community on how anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging enrich and better connect all of us.

The kit is divided into three sections, which seek to help users confront and dismantle bias at ever-widening levels. The sections can be pulled out and used individually for personal training, or they can be used together for a longer training, group sessions, and community dialogue. It includes self-guided lessons, worksheets, concrete action items, journal prompts, and in-depth recourse lists. The toolkit is built for bookstores; however, SIBA encourages anyone in the industry to use it for personal and professional training and reflection.

Click here to request a training kit.

SIBA Executive Director Linda-Marie Barrett said, "Our goal and hope for SIBA’s Anti-Racism Training Kit is to provide an important and very usable resource to our member bookstores. This toolkit is tailored to consider the concerns and challenges of our industry, and organized to be used selectively or as a whole. Whether you’re doing the work on yourself, your store, or the community you serve, our kit offers resources, potential actions, and reflections that apply in the bookstore and beyond."

Inspired by a similar program from the Food Solutions New Englang, SIBA created its original 21-Day Racial Equity Challange in 2021, and has offered it yearly since its inception, as part of the organization's commitment to confronting racism and bias.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance stands against racism. SIBA is committed to amplifying and supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) voices in our membership and industry and to offering educational programming on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to members, SIBA staff, and Board.

November 5 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom

SIBA will host an owner's retreat for new and prospective bookstore owners on November 5 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern / 12:00 noon Central, on Zoom. The event moderators will be Alsace Walentine, owner of Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida and Janet Geddis, owner of Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia.

SIBA has seen unprecedented growth in its membership in 2024-2025, averaging approximately 50 new bookstores per year, and the organization expect to reach 300 bookstore members by the end of 2025. Many of the new members are also brand new or not-yet-open bookstores. SIBA created the New and Prospective Bookstore Owners Retreat in order to provide networking opportunities, access to resources, and to help these new businesses succeed.

The retreat is intended for prospective and new (open under two years) bookstore owners to give them an opportunity to share information and advice on the challenges of establishing a new business.

Register here (requires login)

October 28, 12:00 noon-3:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom
Register

As part of SIBA’s commitment to anti-racism, the SIBA staff and Board undertake diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training. The SIBA Board is inviting up to 40 interested SIBA member booksellers to join them in an upcoming DEI training session on October 28, 12-3PM ET on Zoom. 

The session will be facilitated by Ilsa Govan of Cultures Connecting and the focus is “Foundations of Cultural Competence.” It is very participatory training with breakout sessions and large group engagement. This training is free to current member booksellers.

Register here.

This session provides a foundation for on-going conversations, as participants will leave with the tools to continue to engage one another and the diverse communities they serve. 

Participants will: 

• Learn a shared framework and language for understanding what it means to apply an equity lens to all of their work. 

•  Identify what gets in your way when attempting to have authentic conversations about race in the workplace. 

• Learn tools to help in listening for understanding and asking difficult questions to confront and manage conflicts. 

• Leave with new strategies to create an inclusive culture for employees and customers.

Sometimes you just want to sink into a really good book. Booksellers, no strangers themselves to that impulse, love to to feed it in others. Read This Next! is, at its heart, five new books that a reader can really sink into, no matter what kind of reader they are.

RTNX Bookseller Resources:
Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Graphic

What SIBA Booksellers have to say:

Overdue: A Novel by Stephanie Perkins
Overdue is such a delight to read. Even with Ingrid's crazy "we're on a break" plan, I thought the characters were fun, fleshed out, and people I would want to be friends with. Slow burn and lots of good fun.
–Christina Tabereaux, The Snail on the Wall in Huntsville, Alabama

Red City by Marie Lu
The balance Lu crafted between Sam and Ari is pure perfection, you could even say it's alchemical. I should have prepared myself for how entranced by this world that I would be, but I was taken off guard in the best way. A fresh addition to fantasy that I can't and won't stop thinking about.
– Sarah Hudson, M. Judson, Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

The Wayfinder: A Novel by Adam Johnson
Blending myth, storytelling and historical fact, and touching on themes of over-consumption, power, family, and individual autonomy, The Wayfinder is brilliantly realized, and impeccably researched. It is a mark of Johnson’s skill that he makes a story so remote in time and geography feel wholly alive, and relevant to today’s world.
– Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age by Joy Harjo
This is a book you keep close. Read these words when you need a friendly reminder that you can move forward, that you can take step after step into the future you desire. Give this book to those you love and treasure.
– Lera Shawver, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

In a Distant Valley by Shannon Bowring
I inhaled this book! Shannon has a way in her writing that makes you feel like you are a part of the story. She makes the place in Maine seem like a it's own character.
– Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

Current Read This Next! books and what SIBA booksellers have to say about them can always be found at The Southern Bookseller Review.

Things to do / Things not to miss

1. Request a Banned Books Toolkit

Banned Books Week is October 5-11. The 2025 edition of SIBA's Banned Books Toolkit will be available for bookstores on September 15. Watch your emails for an invite!

2. Take a tour of your SIBA member benefits
October 2, 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom (register)

SIBA has a wide range of tools, resources, and programs for its bookstore members. Odds are there will be something in the list you didn't know about.

3. Prep Winter Catalog displays and promotions

Winter catalogs land in stores the first week of October, but the online digital catalogs go live on Friday, 9/12. (more info)

4. Nominate your favorite books for the Southern Book Prize

The Southern Book Prize season starts in October, with finalists announced at the end of the month, and the ballot to choose the winners opening the first week of November. There is still time to nominate your favorite Southern hand sell books of 2025.

5. Attend the Fall NVNR Owners Strategy Session
October 16, 6:00 p.m. Eastern, on Zoom (register)

Bring your top-of-mind issues to your bookselling colleagues, and discuss 4th quarter strategies for making the most of the gift-buying season.

6. Tune in to the SIBA Annual Meeting
October 30, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, on Zoom (register)

Meet the SIBA Board and hear about the work they do and what members can look forward to from SIBA in the future. There will also be time for questions from attendees.