35 Booksellers were in attendance at SIBA Annual Meeting and Town Hall on Tuesday. The first half of the event was devoted to the "Annual Meeting" portion of the event, with brief updates from Kathy Bartson of Binc on the help the organization has been able to provide to Florida booksellers impacted by Hurricane Ian, and Ryan Quinn of the American Booksellers Association who announced the SIBA recipient of the 2023 Children's Institute Raffle winner, Amy Rishell of Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, MS.

Executive Director Linda-Marie Barrett reported on the state of SIBA, noting that 2022 has been a "time of transition" as the country comes out of the pandemic. She reported bookstore membership was up by 11% and that SIBA was in a financially sound and stable position, while still maintaining an active and well-received programming schedule, including two well-attended in person events in Winston-Salem and New Orleans.

The SIBA Board reported on its continuing work to update SIBA's Bylaws to expand the number of Board members and allow for a wider range of business models in the definition of a "core member bookstore."

Read the coverage in Publishers Weekly

Meeting Resources: Agenda | 2021 Minutes of the Annual Meeting

Binc Issues Appeal to Help Florida Booksellers
The Book Industry Charitable Foundation has issued an appeal to the industry to contribute funds for bookseller relief after Hurricane Ian devastated southwest Florida this past week. In a release, Binc stated that “dozens of bookstores and comic shops” have closed temporarily, while others are trying to stay open despite having no power and dealing with damaged fixtures and lost inventory. Bookstore owners and employees in Florida are also contending with having to pay rent and buy essentials while also dealing with lost income due to Ian’s impact. This past weekend, Binc started receiving requests from assistance from Florida booksellers in need and the organization anticipates that it will receive many more such requests in the coming weeks and encourages booksellers in need to contact the organization. Donations can be made via Binc’s website.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, SIBA has been reaching out to its Florida bookstores for updates on their staff and their stores. So far booksellers have reported that they and their families and friends are safe. They are now beginning to assess the damage and make plans for reopening or rebuilding.

Early updates from booksellers were reported in Shelf Awareness. SIBA also heard from stores via email and social media, as we reported in the latest edition of The Southern Bookseller Review. So far, stores are mostly contending with some minor flooding, loss of power, and sporadic utilities and internet service.

The bookstores on Sanibel Island faced the full force of the storm’s destruction. Owners and staff evacuated ahead of Ian’s arrival, and still have been unable to return to assess the damage. "Our entire staff are safe and off the island," Gene’s Books posted to their Facebook page, "but we are all reeling from the devastation."

Perhaps the most vivid and forthright account comes from Rebecca Binkowski, owner of Macintosh Books + Paper. She has been using the store's Instagram account to keep customers informed and document the storm's aftermath:

"Publix is open and a few gas stations with long lines, some have gas and some don’t, but everything else is closed. Most traffic lights are out and cones reroute you to where you’ll be safest. So much debris. So much devastation. The mission was mail, but the magic in the day was in the stories we told one another. How we endured this traumatic event, how we’re moving forward. What we hope to teach our kids, what we wish we had already known. How we still felt like we were in our twenties, working at South Seas on Captiva, were we met nearly three decades ago. We’re sad. We’re grateful. We’re scared. We need help and we want to help. It’s the same for all of us. It was cathartic and a balm, this story session and I hope that all of you have friends like this, even one, who lets you tell your raw, real, messy stories."

Binkowski has created a GoFundMe campaign to help with the expense of either rebuilding or relocating. "MacIntosh means a lot to me too," she posted in response to the outpouring of customer support, "and we will continue in some way…we’ll figure it out."

The Nobel Prize for Literature has been announced, but the jury is still out on which books will be recognized as the best Southern book of the year!

Nominations for the Southern Book Prize close on October 15.
All nominations must come via a SIBA bookseller. For a book to be eligible, it must be set in the South and/or the author must be Southern (preferably both!). It must have been published within the previous calendar year.

Nominate here

Finalists will be announced November 1st, and voting on the winners takes place between November 5 and February 1. SIBA Bookstores and their customers are allowed to vote on the finalists ballot.

Winners are announced February 14th.

The Southern Book Prize, was created to recognize great books of Southern origin. All the finalists and winning books are promoted to the media and featured on SIBA's websites. This is a great opportunity to involve your customers and generate excitement for titles you are especially passionate about. Each year, hundreds of booksellers across the South vote on their favorite "handsell" books of the year. These are the "Southern" books they have most enjoyed selling to customers; the ones that they couldn't stop talking about.

Read more about SBP and the 2022 Winners

Southern indie booksellers have selected five books, their hand-sell favorites for the upcoming month, as October 2022 Read This Next! titles. The chosen books all release in September and have the enthusiastic support of southern booksellers, This month Read Different! Read These Next!

Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Front (JPG)

What SIBA Booksellers have to say:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper)
A brilliant retelling of the David Copperfield story from the perspective of the poor son of a teenage mother living in rural Appalachia. From the first sentence, Demon’s voice grabs us and takes us on an unforgettable journey through his early life. This novel about a resilient boy develops empathy for families and children so frequently dismissed in the national discourse. It is a masterful American story.
–Lia Lent in Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, Arkansas

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner (St. Martin's Griffin)
There is something that happens when you take an age old trope (age-gap or best friend's dad) and make it queer that breathes new life into the story. So many chili peppers for this book. Sheesh.
– Katie Garaby in Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

This Story Is Not About a Kitten by Randall de Sève, Carson Ellis (Illus.) (Random House Studio)
Many hands make light work, and many hearts working together can accomplish great things. This is not a story about a kitten, its a story about community, the language of caring, and of the incredible powers of kindness group effort can bring.
–Angie Tally in The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)
In addition to being an all-too-believable near-future dystopian novel in the tradition of The Handmaid's Tale, Our Missing Hearts is also a subtle call to action to those of us who recognize how essential stories and art are to freedom. Celeste Ng's previous books were terrific. This is her most important work yet.
–Frank Reiss in A Cappella Books in Atlanta, Georgia

Which Side Are You On by Ryan Lee Wong
Which Side Are You On is a dialogue-heavy book with prose that is sharp, thought-provoking, and humorous at times. The reader sees the subjects of race, policing, politics, and privilege through the eyes of a young activist as he pries into his parents’ own personal history of activism in their younger days. Filled with interesting anecdotes and hard-learned lessons, this book shows that sometimes personal growth is best attained through deep conversation and self-reflection.
–Stuart McCommon in Novel in Memphis, Tennessee

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

Bans on Truth

The upswell in book banning and book challenges in the past couple of years has been a source of increasing alarm in the book industry, especially since the targets of the challenges have been focused specifically on LGBTQ+ books and books ostensibly about "Critical Race Theory" -- a term that has come to mean any book dealing with systemic racism or racial justice.

"Today’s anti-CRT movement epitomizes yet another dangerous and anti-democratic effort to suppress and deny the voices, power, and lived experiences of Black and Brown people in America. Now the target is the truth," notes Ishena Robinson of The Legal Defense Fund.

In an article analyzing how book bans have been weaponized, Robinson points out the number of gag orders that have been implemented by local, state, and even federal agencies that prevent them from addressing or even discussing systemic racism. In September 2020 President Trump created the "Equity Gag Order" (revoked in January 2021 by incoming President Biden), which then spawned copycat bills at the state level, which have been passed in many states in SIBA territory: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia have all passed similar bills, and these have restricted the way American History can be taught or discussed in classrooms, and have imperiled teachers, librarians, and students.

Books about the Civil Rights Movement are frequent targets of book bans on the basis they promote critical race theory. Ruby Bridges Goes to School, about one of the first African American students to attend an all-white New Orleans public school, was challenged for its portrayal of the "large crowd of angry white people who didn't want Black children in a white school" and its lack of "redemption" for them.

The fact is, book bans are no longer about a few parents concerned about swear words or sex scenes in the books on the high school reading list. They are an important tool to stop people talking, and fundamentally anti-democratic.

2021 was a record year for book bans. The American Library Association reported more than 729 attempted bans of 1,597 individual books. Sadly, 2022 will probably surpass those figures.

For most of us, this week is Banned Books Week. What we need is a Banned Books Year.

Resources:
Unite Against Book Bans

In June 2021, as part of SIBA’s commitment to our planet’s environmental health, SIBA prioritized a vegetarian menu as the primary option at in-person gatherings. Gluten-free vegan meals will also be served, and meat options available by special request. To further reduce our carbon footprint and support local farmers, SIBA works with hotel and restaurant partners to locally source as much of the menu as possible. Perhaps surprising to readers, a vegetarian menu is not a cost-savings, as host venues consider it “custom,” and food prices have risen considerably during Covid. To support accessibility and keep overall event pricing as low as possible, SIBA has been subsidizing food costs (and bus tours) for booksellers.

SIBA’s first opportunity to offer a vegetarian menu was at our spring gathering in Winston-Salem, NC. We partnered with Foothills Brewing, owners of our host venue, Footnote. We were their first client to ask for a completely vegetarian menu, and we worked closely with them to create a custom menu of appetizers and desserts for our welcome reception. We ordered more options and greater quantities than the venue suggested for our crowd, and we still had to order more that evening to meet demand.

Our recent gathering in New Orleans involved two receptions, one meal, and a snack bar (during our afternoon session of education). The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) hosted our welcome reception and they happily agreed to our request for a vegetarian menu. They worked with Chez Nous, a local gourmet catering company, to provide an array of sweet and savory appetizers that included vegan and gluten-free treats. The spread was delicious and delightful, with twists on familiar items, like hummus made with avocados, and phyllo-wrapped asparagus. We arrived early and were able to sample most items. We gave THNOC and Chez Nous two thumbs up!

We worked more closely on the menu with the Sheraton which hosted our luncheon and Authors & Aperitifs reception. They only had one vegetarian choice for lunch. Although we came up with a vegan, gluten-free alternative, we also learned from bookseller feedback that we need to bring more variety into the mix (including one choice that is mushroom-free), and be assured, we will! 

We added a snack bar to the afternoon education event, knowing brainy work like examining P & Ls, or learning about time-saving apps, needs sustenance. We chose a snack bar that offered fresh and dried fruit, mixed nuts, and sweet treats like M&M's, and urns of coffee, and hot water for tea. 

So far response to our vegetarian menus has been very positive from booksellers, but we do want to hear from you on ways to meet your needs, if they haven’t been met so far. We provide special meals upon request, though no requests have yet been made.

We are also pleased to share that the ABA has now adopted prioritizing a vegetarian menu at their upcoming Winter Institute and credits SIBA for leading the way. 

Registration is now open to attend the 2022 VIndies Awards, which will be held on October 13th at 7:00 PM ET on Zoom. Come and celebrate the creativity and joyful (and often hilarious) spirit of your fellow booksellers. Register here

Booksellers and fans of their bookstores have nominated 127 videos for the 2022 awards. The finalists will be announced October 3rd, and winners at the Awards Ceremony.

The VIndies were launched in 2021 by New Voices New Rooms, the collaborative partnership for virtual and hybrid programming created by the New Atlantic Booksellers Association (NAIBA) and the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). To be eligible, videos must have been created by a SIBA or NAIBA member bookstore and must have been publicly exhibited – appearing on the store’s website, in their social media channels, or in their store newsletters — between October 2021 and October 2022. For its second season, The VIndies have expanded the categories videos may be submitted for. Added for 2022 are:

“Around the Store” for videos showcasing a bookstore’s shop floor and storefront

“Community Work” for videos documenting bookstores’ engagement with their community

“Staff Picks & Book Recommendations” for store videos focused on specific book recommendations

“Trending Sounds,” acknowledging the growing popularity and unique character of TikTok videos which use viral “trending” sounds and music

See the 2021 finalists and winners

Excitement was high at SIBA's two-day conference in New Orleans last week. Over 100 people including almost 70 booksellers from 37 different bookstores across SIBA's territory came together for SIBA's largest gathering since the beginning of the pandemic three years ago.

That booksellers were eager to meet in person became clear when all the events in the program sold out in advance well ahead of the registration deadline. So many people were interested in the now de rigeur bookstore tour that SIBA had to add a second bus. Even so, the tour quickly filled up and SIBA was forced to implement its first-ever wait list for an event!

The first day of the two day conference was dedicated to experiencing a bookseller's New Orleans -- beginning with a tour of four NOLA bookstores, Octavia Books, Tubby & Coo's Mid-City Bookshop, Garden District Bookshop, and Baldwin & Co. It was especially encouraging to see expansion plans in the works for some of the stores. A number of people remarked on the positive outlook the NOLA stores had towards the future and the plans they were making to grow their businesses.

After the tour, and in keeping with SIBA's commitment to showcase the historical significance of the community hosting them, booksellers attended a "Welcome Reception" at The Historic New Orleans Collection. HNOC is a museum, publisher, and bookstore which SIBA members were already familiar with from Fatima Shaik's Reader Meet Writer presentation of Economy Hall, which they published. They also produced the video which received special mention at last year's inaugural VIndies Awards, "We Are the Holy Ones." As a special surprise poet Kelly Harris-DeBerry, who wrote the poem featured in the video, was in attendance.

Kelly Harris-DeBerry and Linda-Marie Barrett

Booksellers heard from the new SIBA Board President, Jamie Southern, ABA CEO Allison Hill, and Binc Director of Development Kathy Bartson, each of whom spoke about their delight to be there in person, and to emphasize the continued importance of bookstore engagement. Southern spoke about the SIBA Board's current work on redefining their core membership and asked booksellers to get in touch with the board to voice their opinions and concerns and to attend the forthcoming town hall. Hill talked about plans for the upcoming Banned Books Week, and encouraged booksellers to sign the petition posted on their website. Bartson discussed some of the ways the organization has helped booksellers facing crises, and provided a preview of a new initiative to help bookstores to open in under-served communities.

Day two of the conference was dedicated to education, with breaks at lunch and at the end of the day to hear from authors with books launching this fall and in 2023. The education itself was pragmatic in focus. The session led by Jill Hendrix, owner of Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC) "Bookselling A Hero's Journey" concentrated on creating a positive work environment for both yourself and your co-workers, and thus creating a staff that is trusted, resilient, and creatively engaged:

“Jill Hendrix was awesome! I felt like I got a really great handle on big picture management and how to make communication and positivity tangible.”

Angela Trigg (owner of The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, AL) and Shari Stauch ( owner of  Main Street Reads in Summerville, SC) provided a whirlwind tour into the apps and platforms they find useful in increasing productivity and -- more importantly -- saving time:

 “Incredible, gave enough info for us to know if we want/need to look further, TONS of resources. Carefully planned and well-presented. SO GOOD”

The American Booksellers Association did a deep dive into understanding Profit & Loss statements, an un-sexy topic that booksellers described as "fun and engaging" as they left: "The presenters killed it! Making a P & L session fun and engaging sounds impossible but I could listen to those two present anything-learned so much and loved every minute."

The day ended with a bookseller-to-bookseller "what's working" idea exchange led by booksellers from eight NOLA bookstores -- a session attendee wanted to go longer: “I love this-we all do amazing things and need more opportunities to share our brilliance!

"Sharing our brilliance" is perhaps the best description of SIBA in New Orleans.

Read more in the media:
Publishers Weekly
Shelf Awareness

The Anti-Racist Bookshelf: How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo

Are you a bad reader? Probably.

In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, booksellers well remember the sudden demand for books about fighting racism. Bestseller lists were dominated by titles like Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Anti-Racist, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, The New Jim Crow by Alexander Michelle, Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. Books sold out overnight. Publishers struggled to reprint in the midst of the pandemic. Black-owned bookstores received avalanches of orders from house-bound readers who, if prevented by lock down from doing anything else, could at least do this: read.

Booksellers know books change peoples' lives. That is one of the reasons they are booksellers. Booksellers also know that books are not pills: you don't take two to cure your existential headache. Books, the questions they ask of us, jump start the process of change. It is still up to us to do the work of changing.

The books listed above no longer dominate the bestseller lists, but new books are being published every season for the committed reader's Anti-Racist bookshelf. One of the most exciting to be released this summer is How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo.

"White supremacy makes for terrible readers, I find." is the often-quoted opening line to Castillo's razor sharp analysis of how white culture reads non-white writers, artists, and people. "When I say white supremacy makes for terrible readers, I mean that white supremacy is, among its myriad ills, a formative collection of fundamentally shitty reading techniques that impoverishes you as a reader, a thinker, and a feeling person; it's an education that promises that while swaths of the world and their liveliness will be diminished in meaning to you. Illegible, intangible, forever unreal as cardboard figures in a diorama."

When Castillo talks about reading, she is not just talking about books. She uses the verb "to read" in its larger sense -- the way we use it to, say, "read a room," "read the writing on the wall," "read a situation." That is, to engage with, to interpret, to understand. And despite her insistence that she did not write this book to "make better white people," it is nevertheless a heartwarming, wrenching, furiously funny account of all the ways white supremacy trains white people to fail at all those things.

How to Read Now takes aim at a number of comfortable but faulty truisms book people often tell each other, as evidenced by the titles of her chapter titles:

"Reading Teaches Us Empathy, and Other Fictions"
"The Limits of White Fantasy"
"Main Character Syndrome"
"What We Talk About When We Talk about Representation."

"The problem is," she notes at one point, "if we need fiction to teach us empathy, we don't really have empathy, because empathy is not a one-stop destination: it's a practice, ongoing, which requires work from us in our daily lives, for our daily lives--not just when we're confronted with the visibly and legibly Other." That is, books by people of color are not "ethical protein shakes" for white people and they are not written so white people can learn things, as what Castillo calls, unforgettably, "the gooey heart-porn of the ethnographic."

In other words, white readers tend to read writers of color for their specific experiences. But they read other white readers for their sense of the universal. That is reading as a white supremacist.

Castillo's ruthlessly close reading of everything from Joan Didion to The Watchmen to our current cinematic near-deification of Jane Austen stories is a joy and a pleasure to read. But the real take-away from the book is the question Castillo constantly asks:

"Who is this written/filmed/created for?"
The answer is usually "straight white people." We need to change that.

"How to Read Now is a battle cry. Incisive, provocative, humorous, brilliant — Castillo does not pull her punches. When the first essay opens with "White supremacy makes for terrible readers, I find" you KNOW you're in for an excellent collection of essays! If you are reading this, pretend I am standing next to you shoving this book in your hands because I seriously believe every reader and every writer would benefit from reading How to Read Now. This book is a big fat fuck you to the settler colonial narratives steeped in white supremacy that have taken up space for far too long. Seriously, you will not be the same after reading How to Read Now." --Christine Bellow, Loyalty Books, Washington D.C.