The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to announce that the Sarah McCoy Grant will be awarded to Cortney Casey, Bookseller and Leadership Team at Books and Books in Coral Gables, Florida, and Beth Brown Ables, Marketing Manager at M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina. Each will receive a grant of $1500 to be used toward writing craft development.

 

A native of Michigan, Cortney Casey is an award-winning journalist, author, small business owner and bookseller living in Miami with her husband and her rescue Chihuahua. She's currently a member of the leadership team and the merchandising manager at Books & Books, a beloved independent bookstore in Coral Gables, Florida. She's represented by Kim Witherspoon of InkWell Management and is preparing to go out on submission to publishers soon with her upmarket family drama/mystery, Still Life with Dandelions.

"I firmly believe in pursuing constant improvement, says Casey, "and I credit online courses taught by P.S. Literary agent Cecilia Lyra for helping me fine-tune my writing over the past few years. I spent the last 20+ years as a newspaper reporter and then a freelance magazine writer, but needed to shore up my rusty fiction skills." Casey plans to use her grant to continue studying with writers like Lyra, and to attend the DFWCon writers' conference in Hurst, Texas, this fall.

When Beth Brown Ables received the news she would receive the McCoy Grant, she was overwhelmed with gratitude. "Thank you for reading my words and saying yes for seeing something in this project and giving me encouragement at just the right time," she said. "As a writer, it's easy to assume nobody sees this solitary work we're doing, and to not only be seen but also encouraged to keep going is nothing short of a literary blessing."

Ables is the marketing manager for M. Judson, Booksellers, and a contributor for several publications including Vessel and Garden and Gun., She is also the author of the cookbook zine series, A Place Here.   She’s an avid home cook, enjoys finding significance in the mundane, and is horrible at doing laundry. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina with her husband and two children.

Ables plans to use her McCoy Grant to spend some concentrated time revising the first draft of her lyric memoir, Ordinary Time. "A financial gift like this," she says, "means I can submit portions of my work for publication (which often include fees), seek out workshops for feedback and direction, and perhaps set aside time for a dedicated writer's retreat. Margin to create, to set aside time like this, while not worrying about the financial portion is freeing."

The McCoy Grant for Bookseller-Writers was created by New York Times bestselling author Sarah McCoy, (Mustique Island) in partnership with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) for any unpublished southern women or nonbinary booksellers who harbor ambitions to be published writers.

McCoy created the grant as a way to give back to the community of book people that supported her work as a writer. Calling it "a love letter" to writers who struggle to create while managing financial and time straits, she says "I can’t wait to see how the 2025 recipients use the grant to further their writing aspirations. Congrats to Cortney and Beth!”

SIBA Executive Director Linda-Marie Barrett notes that SIBA is appreciative of the many ways authors step up to support Southern independent booksellers, "This incredibly generous grant from author and friend Sarah McCoy will make a real difference in the lives of unpublished southern bookseller women/nonbinary writers."

Both grant recipients will be honored during SIBA's upcoming meeting at their annual conference at New Voices New Rooms in August.

For more information about the McCoy Grant, visit SIBA at sibaweb.com.