Hello SIBA friends!

It’s been a while since my last update, so I wanted to say hello and update you on membership projects. The team is hard at work on New Voices New Rooms, and the social committee has some really fun things planned for you. I’m currently working hard on setting up social fun for the conference and on creating social media content to inform you about bus tours, authors, education, and more. I’ve also been working on a mentorship program for SIBA as a way to help members with networking and getting questions answered. Stay tuned for more information.

Thus far this year, we’ve had 29 new bookstores join our membership from eight states! Welcome to our new members:

• All The Tropes Bookstore, Atlanta, GA
• Archimedes' Loft: books & more, Monroe, NC
• Belmont Bookshop, Belmont, NC
• Black Cafe and Bookstore, Pensacola, FL
• Bookends Literature & Libations, Tampa, FL
• Columbus Bound Books, Columbus, GA
• Cultured Books, St. Petersburg, FL
• Dad Suggests, Fayetteville, AR
• The Fallen Acorn Bookshop, Williamsburg, VA
• Fred & June's Books, Mooresville, NC
• Ghost Apothecary, Clayton, GA
• The Lectorium - Rare and Used Books, St. Petersburg, FL
• Lit Local Books, Asheville, NC
• Little Indie Bookshop, Maiden, NC
• Needful Books and Things, St. Augustine, FL
• Nexus Booksellers, Gay, GA
• Novelgrounds, Chesapeake, VA
• Page & Flame Bookshop, Landrum, SC
• Pages Of Brew, Huntsville, AL
• Paper Places Bookshop, Jasper, AL
• Paperbacks Ink Bookstore, Newport News, VA
• Philosophers & Fools, Charleston, SC
• Raven's Lore, Calhoun, GA
• Red Stick Reads, Baton Rouge, LA
• River & Hill Books, Rome, GA
• Sammy's Bookshelf, Little Rock, AR
• Spelled Ink Bookstore, Orange, VA
• Steamy Lit, Deerfield, FL
• Trope Bookshop, Charlotte, NC

As always, if you have any questions or if you just want to say hello, you can contact me any time at candice@sibaweb.com.

Reading: Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal, a Pride and Prejudice story set in Pakistan. So far this read is really engaging and culturally enlightening. I look forward to seeing who will be the Pakistani Mr. Darcy to Alys Binat's Elizabeth Bennet (and will he dive into a body of water while wearing a white linen shirt?)
Listening: Enjoying ambient summer-themed music, and neighborhood birdsong.
Watching: Death in Paradise and the beginning of summer unfold across western North Carolina..

Candice Huber / Membership:
Reading: I randomly picked up The Examiner by Janice Hallett to flip through the ARC, and I haven't been able to stop reading it, so it has taken over! It's such an interesting format, reading e-mails and messages and coursework to try to discover what happened with this class of students. It's so compelling!
Listening: Just started Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle because the audiobook cast is FIRE.
Watching: Still binging through Vampire Diaries, and it's hitting the spot.

Nicki Leone / Communications:
Reading: Having just finished Her Side of the Story, I am now on to The Forgotten Notebook, also by Alba de Céspede. Still working on Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, (my summer doorstop book), and my "Take a mental break" book is Still Pictures by Janet Malcolm. This posthumous collection of memories and musings born of a shoe box full of old family photos is poignant and beautiful. Malcolm's writing is picture-perfect, pun intended.
Listening: Running through my copies of the Arkangel Shakespeare performances. Somehow, mowing the lawn to A Midsummer Night's Dream is not so bad, even if it is in the mid-to-high 80s.
Watching: At the suggestion of SP, The River (1951), based on the Rumer Godden novel of the same name..It has a beautiful, shimmery quality to it and I found myself searching for information on the Indian actress, Radha, who leaves an indelible impression.

SP Rankin / Website Administrator:
Reading: Next on my list is Alice Winn's WWI epic In Memoriam, with Chick Flicks: Theories and Memories of the Feminist Film Movement and New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut--both from film critic and historian B. Ruby Rich--scheduled to arrive soon.
Listening: New music from Hurray for the Riff Raff (The Past Is Still Alive) and Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft), newish music from Irish singer CMAT (If My Wife New I'd Be Dead), very old music from Gram Parsons (Burrito Deluxe), Elvis Costello (Imperial Bedroom) and the greatest hits of the late, great Françoise Hardy.
Watching: I plowed through the second half of the third season of Bridgerton. And since that felt pretty much like eating a basketful of Easter candy in one sitting, I figured it was the perfect time for the season premiere of House of the Dragon.

Andrea Richardson / Sales:
Reading: I'm in a tortured-women-memoir phase right now, apparently. I just finished Sociopath (Patric Gagne) and Men Have Called Her Crazy (Anna Marie Tendler) and they were both fascinating!
Listening: I love Bob's Burgers musical episode and I've had Friend Zone stuck in my head for a week.
Watching: Old seasons of Newhart! We're in the void of no new summer TV so the oldies are a nice distraction.

The July and August Read This Next! Kids list is all about the importance of taking the time to be yourself...whether you are a deadly princess with a sharp sword or a little fairy without wings, a little girl who wants summer to last forever, or a teenager getting ready to graduate and wondering what the future will bring.

RTNext! Kids Bookseller Resources:
Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Front (image)

Here is why Southen indie booksellers love these books:

Beneath These Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan
Lexi Ryan knows how to ramp up the tension and keep you guessing. Jasalyn's story is heartbreaking and traumatizing, the loss of hope and representation of PTSD throughout was done well and had me either holding my breath or crying at certain parts.
– Brianne Wik, Main Street Books, Davidson, North Carolina

Millie Fleur's Poison Garden by Christy Mandin
Perfect lawns with their manicured grass and neat hedges are SO 2020. Wilding is IN and every neighborhood needs a weird wild little garden like Millie Fleur's. Share this delightful little gem with the weirdest and wildest kid in your world.
– Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, North Carolina

Tiny Jenny: Little Fairy, Big Trouble by Briony May Smith
Tiny Jenny is a wingless fairy born in a nest of wrens. She goes in search of her fairy family and hopes to earn her wings. After a surprising journey, she finds where she truly belongs in this beautifully illustrated picture book.
– Rae Ann Parker, Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tennessee

Ready or Not by Andi Porretta
This is one of those graphic novels that I think everyone can relate to! Ready or Not follows a group of high school graduates as they are trying to spend one last summer together before their next journeys begin. It touches on intense anxiety about the future and the pressures that young adults face with deciding what to do after they graduate school.
– Juliana Reyes, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

In Time by Marina Ruiz
In Time perfectly describes the different ways the passage of time is experienced: From the young -- slow and never moving; From the old -- fast and never enough. The illustrations will have you looking over each page again and again before turning to the next.
– Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller Savannah, Georgia

The Secret Dead Club by Karen Strong
The Secret Dead Club is a full-fledged haunted ghost story, his exciting mystery uses themes of friendship and grief to help the reader know themselves better. This story masterfully includes (what can be seen as) delicate topics such as getting your period or how emotions can manifest physically in your body to create an extremely relatable and readable book.
– Rachel Watkins Avid Bookshop Athens, Georgia

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

SIBA Launches Pay by Installment Dues Option for Bookstores

SIBA has added a new dues option for its core bookstore members. Starting in June, bookstores joining SIBA or renewing their membership can choose to pay either a single annual membership fee, or a monthly installment plan.

The one-time annual membership fee $125 per year.
The monthly installment plan is $12.50 per month ($150 per year).

The new payment option has been implemented in recognition of the broader range of bookselling entities now eligible to be SIBA core members under the organization's newly revised Bylaws. The expanded variety of business models now represented in the SIBA's core bookstore membership -- including pop up stores, bookmobiles, and online-only stores with a local focus -- calls for more flexible dues payment options. Bookstores currently on the annual membership plan can switch to the installment plan when their SIBA membership comes up for renewal.

Members who select the installment plan can track their payments in their SIBA account.

Contact SIBA if you have questions or need more information.

Current Newsletter: Juneteenth Reading

Book Buzz Feature: Shae by Mesha Maren
For my generation, your coming out story was huge. Right, like when did you come out and how did it go?, and I’m sure that’s still a part of many people’s narratives, but I do have the feeling that things have shifted. The fluidity of both Cam and Shae’s sexuality and the conversations or sometimes lack of conversations around it felt very real to my sister in terms of the conversations she has had with her teenagers, and I was glad that came across as being real. ― Mesha Maren, Southern Review of Books

Decide For Yourself Banned Book Feature: Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
After two private school students are selected to be prefects, an anonymous bully starts sending text messages with revealing secrets about them to the rest of the student body. In this debut novel, suspense is expertly combined with interesting social commentary–perfect for fans of Courtney Summers, Maureen Johnson, or Karen McManus!
―Jen Minor, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

NEW REVIEWS | SUBSCRIBE | SUBMIT A REVIEW | FOR PUBLISHERS

SOUTHERN INDIE BESTSELLER LIST
For the week ending 6/9/2024

Edelweiss Collections:
(sort by "Catalog Order" to see each list according to rating)

Hardcover Fiction | Hardcover Nonfiction | Trade Paperback Fiction | Trade Paperback Nonfiction | Mass Market | Children's Illustrated | Children's Interest | Children's Series

The results are in! Booksellers have voted to select artwork from the illustrator of Little Hare Finds a Gift (Red Comet Press) to be the cover of the 2024 Holiday Catalog.

The artist, Oleksandr Shatokhin, lives and works in Ukraine. He created Little Hare Finds a Gift in response to the war in the first months after the Russian invasion of his country. Having evacuated from his home town of Sumy in Eastern Ukraine, he is looking to settle in Lviv, Western Ukraine, with his wife and small child. Little Hare Finds a Gift highlights the spirit of the season and the joys of giving.

There is still time to place catalog orders for your store. Go here to get started. (Orders close on June 15).

The title list for the catalog is still being created. Booksellers can suggest titles they would like to see included here:

https://rampbooks.com/booksellers-recommend/

Linda-Marie Barrett / Executive Director:
Reading: Finished Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, which was extremely moving and revelatory, and a huge hit with my book club this week. Currently reading Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn, a new favorite author since meeting her at last year's NVNR conference. Her romances are very satisfying and inspire reflection on life choices.
Listening: To birdsong with my Merlin app, and to a giant loud and proud neighborhood bullfrog who's apparently deeply loving the daily rains.
Watching: The Beautiful Game with Bill Nighy, which was inspiring and educational, Death in Paradise on Britbox, and fireflies, including the famous blue ghosts of the Southern Appalachians.

Candice Huber / Membership:
Reading: Still into The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sarah Raasch, which I'm really enjoying so far!
Listening: In the midst of The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields.
Watching: I am unashamedly still binging The Vampire Diaries. I'm two seasons in, and it's actually better than I thought it would be!

Nicki Leone / Communications:
Reading: Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes, Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, and Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
Listening: Judy Chicago being interviewed about her exhibition "Revelations" on the Great Women Artists podcast. It's like listening to the Oracle at Delphi.
Watching: Taste of Things (2023) directed by Trần Anh Hùng and starring the immortal Juliette Binoche. It was one of the films a suggested list SP gave me when I asked for "feel good movies." A beautiful story about the intimate relationship between a gourmand and his cook expressed almost entirely through the food they cook together. And the best example of how a kitchen becomes the heart of a home that I've ever seen. Also, I want every knife, pot, slotted spoon, and copper pan in that movie -- especially the dove-tailed turbotiere.

SP Rankin / Website Administrator:
Reading: I finished Anna Dorn's latest, Perfume and Pain, which was my pick for a long plane ride in a window seat. I hoped it (book, not plane ride) would be funny and fast and irreverent and roman-à-clef-ish with an unlikable but semi-lovable main character and while it's more than that, my hopes worked out fine. I never hope for much on a plane ride.
Listening: The Mavericks' swoonily excellent new album Moon & Stars (how can Raul Malo STILL sound like this?). The audiobook of film critic and podcaster Alonso Duralde's Hollywood Pride, while I impatiently wait for the hard copy to arrive.
Watching: The Taste of Things (2023). Love, food, art, France, cooking, living, dying, more love, highly inspirational copper pans. The season finale of Hacks, which was perfect even without copper pans. I'm happy it's June when one million Pride-themed lists and collections are everywhere and it's impossible to choose what to watch next.

Andrea Richardson / Sales:
Reading: Just finished You Like It Darker, Stephen King's newest story collection. I loved it even though it gave me terrifying rattlesnake nightmares.
Listening: After working an event with some of the guys from The Replacements, I've had "Can't Hardly Wait" on repeat this week.
Watching: My cats are having the best time watching "The Squirrel and Bird Show" in the backyard and I am having the best time watching them enjoy it.

Deadline to nominate is July 1

Nominations are now open for booksellers to serve on the SIBA Board. Consider someone today for a board position. Candidates must be from a SIBA core member in good standing. Self‐nominations are encouraged, and anyone can nominate. Board terms are three years.

Serving on the Board  is both rewarding and enlightening. This will also be the first Board to serve under SIBA's newly revised Bylaws, with its expanded definition of core membership.

SIBA functions under The Carver Method. Board members do not get paid for service but expenses incurred are generally covered by the organization. The position requires attendance at board meetings plus a Carver training session. Adequate preparation for all meetings is also required. The Board seeks persons from the core membership taking into account the following:

• Relevant Policy Governance skills (including the ability to work within group decisions, to use conceptual categories of Ends and Means, to judge performance only against previously stated expectations),
• Relevant industry skills and knowledge,
• Geography,
• Store size and business model.

SIBA’s current Board members will assess interest among potential candidates. A slate will be determined from the potential candidates by the Board of Directors and presented for vote by the membership before the fall annual meeting. 

Nominate here

Current Newsletter: A year of banned books

Book Buzz Feature: Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

I never used to reread. Then I started teaching and had to think of books I cared about enough to want to discuss with students. Now I reread a lot. I’ve discovered that if I pick up more or less anything I read before I was 30, it’s as if I’m reading it for the first time. It’s odd – the more I read, the less I feel I’ve read. The last “classic” I reread was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which is one of those “over-familiar” books it has become fashionable to dismiss. I was, I think, just as enchanted by Gatsby’s forlorn love for Daisy as when I first read it as an A-level student.

― Hari Kunzru, Guardian

Decide For Yourself Banned Book Feature: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
I didn’t think it was possible to read a book and feel both completely hopeless and hopeful at the end but leave it up to Octavia Butler to write the impossible.
―Ndobe Foletia, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

NEW REVIEWS | SUBSCRIBE | SUBMIT A REVIEW | FOR PUBLISHERS