A basket full of Spring 2016 Okra Picks!

(Columbia, SC) – Spring may be the time to plant, but Southern indie booksellers are already harvesting a new crop of Okra Picks. The 2016 Spring Okra Picks have just been selected–a basketful of a dozen great books representing the best in forthcoming southern lit, according to the people who would know–Southern independent booksellers. 

All the picks have a strong Southern focus and are publishing between April and June, 2016, and all have fans among Southern indie booksellers; people who are always looking out for the next great writer who should be on your plate and in your TBR stack. So the next time you visit your local Southern indie bookstore, expect someone to hand you one and say, “You’ve got to read this!” Read them before they hit the bestseller lists and impress your friends with your impeccable taste and literary savvy!

The 2016 Spring Okra Picks   

Lies and Other Acts of Love 
by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Berkley Books, April 2016          
Fiction, 9781101987063

Chasing the North Star
by Robert Morgan
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, April 2016
Fiction, 9781565126275

Raymie Nightingale
by Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press, April 2016
Juvenile Fiction, 9780763681173

The Other Widow
by Susan Crawford
William Morrow & Company, April 2016
Fiction, 9780062362889

Julia Reed's South: Spirited Entertaining and High-Style Fun All Year Long
by Julia Reed
Rizzoli International Publications, April 2016
Cooking, 9780847848287

Over the Plain Houses
by Julia Franks
Hub City Press, May 2016
Fiction, 9781938235214

Redemption Road
by John Hart
Thomas Dunne Books, May 2016
Fiction, 9780312380366

Lily and Dunkin
by Donna Gephart
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, May 2016
Juvenile Fiction, 9780553536744

Highly Illogical Behavior
by John Corey Whaley
Dial Books, May 2016
Juvenile Fiction, 9780525428183

Last Ride to Graceland
by Kim Wright
Gallery Books, May 2016
Fiction, 9781501100789

Field of Graves
by J.T. Ellison
Mira Books, June 2016
Fiction, 9780778318927

A Thousand Miles from Nowhere
by John Gregory Brown
Lee Boudreaux Books, June 2016
Fiction, 9780316302807

Okra Picks are chosen every season by Southern Independent Bookstores. For more information visit sibaweb.com/okra.

Join us on Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10 when NAIBA and SIBA will blow up the internet with a Social Media Retreat. This retreat will increase booksellers’ level of expertise, comfort, and productivity in marketing books and their store on social media platforms. General discussions and specific training will commence based on skill level (beginner, intermediate, expert).

Register here!

Best way to describe this? Hands-on training and hands-down best bookselling event you'll go to this year.  We will cover all the social media platforms and talk about best practices, best uses, and strategy, and then spend time in groups based on levels of comfort for each platform. You'll up your skill level.  We'll do live social media on titles selected by publishers. We'll schedule, photograph, discuss content, learn about advertising. We will talk about and work on everything! Bring your laptop and your enthusiasm.

When?
Saturday - Sunday, April 9-10

Where?
Hilton Arlington, VA
950 North Stafford St.
Arlington, Virginia  22203

Your hotel reservations should be made by this Friday, March 25. The room rate is $119 and both associations will rebate $100 of that to their attending member stores after the event. (One rebate per store.)  Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-HILTONS (445-8667) or booking at www.arlingtonva.hilton.com  Group code is SIB

For more information go to NAIBA.com/events; email naibabooksellers@gmail.com; or call (516)-333-0681

(Columbia, SC) --The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) is paying tribute to one of the South’s most beloved writers by renaming the SIBA Book Awards. This has been in the works since the news of Conroy’s 70th birthday. SIBA Executive Director Wanda Jewell confirmed that the organization had been planning to update the Award to make it more reflective of the current Southern bookselling community. “We have long wanted a sexier more marketable name for our book awards, and nothing is sexier than Mr. Conroy!,” she noted, “So, at least for this year, along with other changes, we are delighted to bring this prize and long list to southern readers.”

“Pat Conroy has been a force for good in the world of southern books and literature and we want to acknowledge that,” Jewell added, “He has not just written some of our favorite books, he has been incredibly generous in his support of readers, of booksellers, and of other writers. The world of southern literature is a rich place today because of the encouragement he extends to new authors and the commitment he has always shown towards the southern literary community.” Southern bookstores can attest to Conroy’s dedication to their stores, as it is a regular occurrence for the author to show up at their doors with each new book, often signing copies for customers for hours and hours. On one now legendary occasion he signed books for eight hours straight, and the store arranged to have a masseuse on hand to help with writer’s cramp.  “Pat Conroy is a storemaker,” said Jewell, “a writer whose single visit can make the difference to a bookstore’s year end bottom line.”

Along with the new name, The Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize also has an expanded list of categories. “Our goal is to have the nominations drive the categories rather than forcing all nominations into a category they might not fit. Rather than being married to a certain set of categories like “fiction,” “nonfiction,” “children’s,” we can open the award up to new categories driven by the nominations,” explained Jewell. She noted that SIBA used the BISAC designations of nominated books to help determine the award categories for the year.  This year, ”Fiction” has been expanded into four categories, and “History & Life Stories” (including biography, autobiography and memoir) has been added to the nonfiction categories. Each category is named for one of Conroy’s works, or in the case of Youngsters, a book about Mr. Conroy.:

The Great Santini Fiction Prize
The Prince of Tides Literary Prize
Beach Music Mystery Prize
Lords of Discipline Thriller Prize
The Death of Santini Nonfiction Prize
The Water is Wide History & Life Stories Prize
The Pat Conroy Cookbook Prize
Poppy's Pants, Jr. Youngsters Prize (Ages 0-9)
Poppy's Pants Young Adult Prize (Ages 10+)


“Over 140 great Southern books received nominations,” noted Jewell. “it’s a dream reading list.” All nominated books had to meet the Award criteria: they had to be Southern in nature, or by a Southern author, and had to have been published in 2015. All nominations had to come from a SIBA bookstore or from a SIBA store customer.

SIBA member booksellers will vote on the Long List over the month of March, and Finalists for each category in the 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize will be announced in April. From there, the finalists will be sent to a jury of booksellers in each category, who will then choose the winning book for their category. Winners will be announced on July 4, “Independents Day.”

For more information, visit sibaweb.com/siba-book-award or contact Wanda Jewell at wanda@sibaweb.com

The Long List

The Great Santini Fiction Prize

A Peach of a Pair by Kim Boykin (Berkley Books, 9780425281994)
A Week at the Lake by Wendy Wax (Berkley Books, 9780425274477)
Affair & Honor by Batt Humphries (Yellow Dog Press, 9780692411865)
Aftermath Lounge by Margaret McMullan (Calypso Editions, 9780988790390)
All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank (William Morrow & Company, 9780062132567)
At the Corner of King Street by Mary Taylor Brown (Berkley Books, 9780425278253)
Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews (St. Martin’s Press, 9781250065933)
Before I Go by Colleen Oakley (Gallery Books, 9781476761664)
The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright (Gallery Books, 9781501100765)
Come Rain or Shine by Jan Karon (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399167454)
Dark Heir by Faith Hunter (Roc, 9780451465962)
Dear Carolina by Kristy Woodson Harvey (Berkley Books, 9780425279984)
Fate Moreland's Widow by John Lane (University of South Carolina Press, 9781611174694)
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Harper, 9780062409850)
Juventud by Vanessa Blakeslee (Curbside Splendor Publishing, 9781940430584)
Lawyer for the Dog by Lee Robinson (Thomas Dunne Books, 9781250052414)
Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe (Tor Books, 9780765376541)
Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor (Penguin Books, 9780143126751)
Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League by Jonathan Odell (Maiden Lane Press, 9780525427094)
My Sunshine Away by M. O. Walsh (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399169526)
Point Blank by Fern Michaels (Kensington Publishing Corporation, 9781617734649)
Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain (St. Martin’s Press, 9781250010742)
The Sea Keeper's Daughters by Lisa Wingate (Tyndale House Publishers, 9781414386904)
The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton (Grand Central Publishing, 9781455551927)
See Me by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing, 9781455520619)
Sisters of Shiloh by Kathy and Becky Hepinstall (Houghton Mifflin, 9780544400009)
Soil by Jamie Kornegay (Simon & Schuster, 9781476750811)
The Sound of Glass by Karen White (New American Library, 9780451470898)
The Summer's End by Mary Alice Monroe (Gallery Books, 9781476709024)
This Side of the River by Jeffrey Stayton (Nautilus Publishing, 9781936946655)
Trampoline: An Illustrated Novel by Robert Gipe (Ohio University Press, 9780821421529)
Untying the Moon by Ellen Malphrus (Story River Books, 9781611176100)
Water from My Heart by Charles Martin (Center Street, 9781455554706)
Welcome to Serenity by Sherryl Woods (Mira Books, 9780778318637)
Whisper Hollow by Chris Cander (Other Press, 9781590517116)
Year of the Snake: 1989 by Sue Lile Inman (Fps, 9781934216231)

The Beach Music Mystery Prize

A Pattern of Lies by Charles Todd (William Morrow & Company, 9780062386243)
Agnes Hopper Shakes Up Sweetbriar by Carol Heilman (Lighthouse Publishing, 9781941103265)
Bloody Royal Prints by Reba White Williams (Tyrus Books, 9781440585456)
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399173967)
The Cat, the Sneak and the Secret by Leann Sweeney (New American Library, 9780451415431)
Don't Go Home by Carolyn Hart (Berkley Books, 9780425276549)
Edisto Jinx by C. Hope Clark (Bell Bridge Books, 9781611946659)
The Evidence Room by Cameron Harvey (Minotaur Books, 9781250031150)
Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer (Henery Press, 9781941962473)
Lowcountry Bordello by Susan M. Boyer (Henery Press, 9781943390175)
Miss Julia Lays Down the Law by Ann B. Ross (Viking, 9780525427094)
Murder is on the Clock by Fran Rizer (Odyssey South Publishing, 9780692540336)
Time of Departure by Douglas Schofield (Minotaur Books, 9781250072757)

The Lords of Discipline Thriller Prize

The Bone Tree by Greg Iles (William Morrow & Company, 9780062311115)
Descent by Tim Johnston (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 9781616204778)
False Positive by Andrew Grant (Ballantine Books, 9780345540751)
Fragile Brilliance by Eliot Parker (Roundfire Books, 9781785350825)
The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399174001)
The Jezebel Remedy by Martin Clark (Knopf Publishing Group, 9780385353595)
The Marauders by Tom Cooper (Broadway Books, 9780804140584)
The Redeemers by Ace Atkins (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399173943)
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham (Doubleday Books, 9780385539432)
The Scribe by Matthew Guinn (W.W. Norton & Company, 9780393239294)
Season of Fear by Brian Freeman (Quercus Books, 9781623654078)
Shark Skin Suite by Tim Dorsey (William Morrow & Company, 9780062240019)
Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs (Bantam, 9780345544049)
Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm (Viking, 9780525427506)
Where All the Light Tends to Go by David Joy (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399172779)

The Prince of Tides Literary Prize

A Free State by Tom Piazza (Harper, 9780062284129)
Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash (Ecco Press, 9780062349316)
Calloustown by George Singleton (Dzanc Books, 9781938103162)
Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam (William Morrow & Company, 9780062325891)
Crash Bang Burn by Dawn K. Goodwin (Createspace, 9781514305171)
The Drunken Spelunker's Guide to Plato by Kathy Giuffre (John F. Blair, Publisher, 9780895876515)
The Ever After of Ashwin Rao by Padma Viswanathan (Soft Skull Press, 9781593766139)
The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall (Gallery Books, 9781476772141)
Grant Park by Leonard Pitts, Jr. (Agate Bolden, 9781932841916)
Hall of Small Mammals: Stories by Thomas Pierce (Riverhead Books, 9781594632525)
Honey from the Lion by Matthew N. Null (Lookout Books, 9781940596082)
In Every Way by Nic Brown (Counterpoint LLC, 9781619024595)
The Last Days of Video by Jeremy Hawkins (Soft Skull Press, 9781619024854)
Memphis Movie by Corey Mesler (Soft Skull Press, 9781593766146)
Minnow by James E. McTeer III (Hub City Press, 9781938235115)
My Sweet Vidalia by Deborah Mantella (Turner, 9781630269623)
New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott (Tin House Books, 9781941040157)
Postmark Bayou Chene by Gwen Roland (Louisiana State University Press, 9780807161449)
Refund: Stories by Karen E. Bender (Counterpoint LLC, 9781619026230)
Soon: Stories by Pamela Durban (University of South Carolina Press, 978161175332)
Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson (William Morrow & Company, 9780062302120)

The Death of Santini Nonfiction Prize

Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom by Alysia Burton Steele (Center Street, 9781455562848)
Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant (Simon & Schuster, 9781476709642)
Every Father's Daughter: Twenty-Four Women Writers Remember Their Fathers edited by Margaret McMullan (McPherson, 9781620540138)
The Last Season: A Father, a Son, and a Lifetime of College Football by Stuart Stevens (Knopf Publishing Group, 9780385353021)
Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus Dean (Graywolf Press, 9781555977092)
Little Rivers and Waterway Tales: A Carolinian’s Eastern Streams by Bland Simpson (University of North Carolina Press, 9781469624938)
Maude Schuyler Clay: Mississippi History by Maude Schuyler-Clay (Steidl Dap, 9783869309743)
My Southern Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South by Rick Bragg (Oxmoor House, 9780848746391)
Our Only World: Ten Essays by Wendell Berry (Counterpoint LLC, 9781619024885)
Penguins with Problems by Mary Laura Philpott (Tarcherperigree, 9780399173097)
Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate by Laura Lengnick (New Society Publishers, 9780865717749)
Start Your Engines: Famous Firsts in the History of NASCAR by Jay W. Pennell (Sports Publishing LLC, 9781613218280)
What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South’s Tornado Alley by Kim Cross (Atria Books, 9781476763064)
When You Pass Through Waters: Words of Hope and Healing from Your Favorite Authors edited by Nicole Seitz (Water Books, 9780996940207)
The World Is On Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of Apocalypse by Joni Tevis (Milkweed Editions, 9781571313478)

The Water is Wide History & Life Stories Prize

After a While You Just Get Used to It: A Tale of Family Clutter by Gwendolyn Knapp (Avery Publishing Group, 9781592409136)
American Evita: Hillary Clinton’s Path to Power by Christopher Andersen (William Morrow & Company, 9780062420336)
Barefoot to Avalon: A Brother’s Story by David Payne (Atlantic Monthly Press, 9780802123541)
Bettyville: A Memoir by George Hodgman (Viking, 9780525427209)
Don't Suck, Don't Die: Giving Up Vic Chestnutt by Kristin Hersh (University of Texas Press, 9780292759473)
The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II by Winston Groom (National Geographic Society, 9781426215490)
Gin & Gardenias: A Memoir of Desire, Love, and Loss: Poems by A. Scott Henderson (A. Scott Henderson, 9781934216774)
Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab by Steve Inskeep (Penguin Press, 9781594205569)
Our Man in Charleston: Britain’s Secret Agent in the Civil War South by Christopher Dickey (Crown Publishing Group, 9780307887276)
Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World by Leigh Ann Henion (Penguin Press, 9781594204715)
Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll by Peter Guralnick (Little Brown and Company, 9780316042741)
Wailing Wall: A Mother’s Memoir by Deedra Climer (Inkshares, 978194758113)
The World's Largest Man: A Memoir by Harrison Scott Key (Harper, 9780062351494)

The Pat Conroy Cookbook Prize

Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes by John Besh (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 9781449469177)
Crabs & Oysters: A Savor the South Cookbook by Bill Smith (University of North Carolina Press, 9781469622620)
Foster's Market Favorites: 25th Anniversary Collection by Sara Foster (Story Farm, 9780990520573)
The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin (University of Texas Press, 9780292745483)
Soul Food Love: Heathy Recipes Inspired by One Hundred Years of Cooking in a Black Family by Alice Randall (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 9780804137935)
Southern Soups and Stews: More Than 75 Recipes from Burgoo and Gumbo to Etouffee and Fricassee by Nancie McDermott (Chronicle Books, 9781452124858)
The Southerner's Cookbook: Recipes, Wisdom, and Stories by the editors of Garden & Gun (Harper Wave, 9780062242419)
Sunday Dinner: A Savor the South Cookbook by Bridgette A. Lacy (University of North Carolina Press, 9781469622453)
Too Blessed to Be Stressed Cookbook: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Stress-Free Cooking by Debora M. Coty (Barbour Publishing, 9781634093224)
Trisha's Table: My Feel-Good Favorites for a Balanced Life by Trisha Yearwood (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 9780804186155)

Poppy's Pants, Jr. Youngsters Prize

Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow Books, 9780062238610)
Bottle Cap Boys Dancing on Royal Street by Rita Williams-Garcia (Marimba Books, 9781603490306)
Duncan the Story Dragon by Amanda Driscoll (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9780385755078)
Hamster Princess: Of Mice and Magic by Ursula Vernon (Dial Books, 9780803739840)
Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama by Hester Bass (Candlewick, 9780763669195)
Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty (Disney-Hyperion, 9781484709016)
Villain Keeper by Laurie McKay (HarperCollins, 9780062308443)
The Water and the Wild by Katie Elise Ormsbee (Chronicle Books, 9781452113869)
Yard War by Taylor Kitchings (Wendy Lamb Books, 9780553507539)

Poppy's Pants Young Adult Prize

Anything Could Happen by Will Walton (Push, 9780545709545)
Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 9780525426509)
Mosquitoland by David Arnold (Viking Books for Young Readers, 9780451470775)
The Odds of Getting Even by Sheila Turnage (Kathy Dawson Books, 9780803739611)
Persuasion by Martina Boone (Simon Pulse, 9781481411257)
Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams (Simon Pulse, 9781481422628)
Terminal by Kathy Reichs (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9781595145284)
The Trouble with Destiny by Laureen Morrill (Delacorte Press, 9780553497977)
Valiant by Sarah McGuire (Egmontusa, 9781606845523)
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780399171611)

Happy New Year, dearest SIBA Booksellers!

Here is the latest super-duper important stuff we want you to be aware of! Make a resolution to read all your SIBA email this year so you don't miss out.

A Letter from Jill Hendrix, SIBA Board President

Dear SIBA Members!

I hope you all had great holiday sales. Fiction Addiction was up slightly for the holidays and more for the year thanks to some big events. Now, if I could just figure out how to get those big events each and every year :)

Winter seems to have finally hit the South, so maybe I'll be used to the cold by the time I fly to Denver for Winter Institute in a couple of weeks. I hope to see many of you there or in Atlanta in March for SITS & GABBS.

As you work on your financial end-of-the-year reports, think ahead to filling out the ABACUS survey for the ABA in a few months. If you'd like a copy of the questions asked last year, just email me or Wanda.

My New Year's Resolution is to read (done!) and implement The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I've begun implementing at home and at the store and am pleasantly surprised at how well it's worked. What are your resolutions for your business this year?

As you reflect on the past year and plan for the future, please let SIBA know what we can help you with over the coming year and what opportunities you are excited about.

Happy New Year!

-Jill Hendrix, SIBA President
Fiction Addiction owner
jill@fiction-addiction.com

________________________________
Jill Hendrix, Owner
Fiction Addiction
1175 Woods Crossing Rd #5
Greenville, SC 29607
864-675-0540
info@fiction-addiction.com
http://www.fiction-addiction.com
http://twitter.com/FictnAddictn
http://facebook.com/FictionAddictionBookstore

INDIE Bookstore Day
Participate fully for 25 B3! Engagement points

The 2016 Independent Bookstore Day catalogue and order sheet goes live January 15, and participating booksellers will have until February 1 to place their orders. IBD staff will also have a consultation station at ABA's Winter Institute in Denver later this month to offer ordering guidance. Orders are placed online through the IBD website and fulfilled by Ingram.

The 2016 list of exclusive, limited items IBD includes:

• Draw Me! How to Draw Your Favorite Characters. Plus Treasure Maps, Flip Books and More! with art by Raina Telgemeier, Mo Willems, Tedd Arnold, Lisa Brown, Kazu Kibuishi, David LaRochelle and others (CBD Publishing)
• Special signed edition of Kate DiCamillo's Raymie Nightingale with bound-in mini-essay on the joys of books and bookstores (Candlewick)
• Bad Citizen stencil reading: Think before you read. READ before you think. --Fran Lebowitz (CBD Publishing)
• $6 Story: The Care and Feeding of an Independent Bookstore, 3 Instructive Essays by Ann Patchett, signed (CBD Publishing)
• Literary Tea Towels with quotes from Anna Quindlen and David Mitchell (CBD Publishing)
• X Is for... 7" vinyl record of an original song based on Rad American Women A-Z, featuring the voices of Angela Davis, Rebecca Solnit, Charlene Yi and many others. Poster and free download included (CBD Publishing)
• READ with ME Curious George plush toy
• Signed Bourdain's Perfect Burger print, with art by Giacamo Gambineri (HarperCollins).
• The Neil Gaiman Coloring Book, with art by Chris Riddell (HarperCollins)
• Out of Print cotton canvas zippered pouch featuring famous bookstore cats (Out of Print)
• Duck & Goose limited-edition signed print with pro-reading message from Tad Hills
• Plus some very cool FREE items to give away on Bookstore Day

More info here:
http://www.indiebookstoreday.com./for-bookstores

The 2016 Winter Okra Picks have been announced!

The current picks: http://authorsroundthesouth.com/okra
Edelweiss catalog link:http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com/CatalogOverview.aspx?catalogID=3788943

Nominate future okra, share okra sales data & display photos all for more B3! Engagement Points.

Mark your calendars for SITS & GABBS, March 1-4, Atlanta, GA!

NASHVILLE – Mac McAnally, a songwriter whose music is featured in the traveling TRIO exhibit, has been selected as “Musician of the Year” by the Country Music Association (CMA). A chart-topping recording artist, accomplished producer, hit songwriter and studio owner Mac McAnally marks another note in history with a record-breaking eight consecutive wins as the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year.  The achievement, which bests his own previous number of wins record from last year, was revealed in a pre-broadcast ceremony for the 49th Annual CMA Awards.

>

McAnally’s music is represented in TRIO – the multimedia exhibit of original music and art inspired by southern literature. TRIO debuted in September at the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Discovery Show in Raleigh, North Carolina and is currently traveling to bookstores and book festivals in throughout South.  McAnally’s song “Alive and In Between” was written in response to Harrison Scott Key’s bestselling memoir, The World’s Largest Man.

On stage, Mac said to the room full of his peers, "I'm a lucky man to be in Music City to get to strum up and down with the guys I'm nominated with. So many great players in town, it's the best pool of musicians in the world and I'm a tadpole that's happy to be here. Thank y'all very much, thanks CMA for recognizing the musicians behind the corners sometimes. God Bless."

McAnally is one of sixteen award-winning and critically acclaimed musicians represented in TRIO. The entire list of musicians and artists can be viewed at the TRIO website: http://shari-smith.com/trio/

The BIBB Pick – "Bibb's Independent Bookstore Best of 2016" is
Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC!

Voted warm, welcoming, inclusive, knowledgeable, and always with a smile
by nearly 100 writers in attendance at #SIBA15.

Besides voting, all the authors signed "the Bibb podium," -- handcrafted by Doug Robinson of Eagle Eye Books in Decatur, Georgia -- which was gifted to the store for their stellar author event programs. And nearly 70 authors committed to some form of support to the store over the next year. Over 20 authors will be linking their website directly to the Quail Ridge Books website. Fifteen authors have agreed to place the bookstore name – Quail Ridge Books – in a book. Nearly 30 authors will be writing original content for QRB’s newsletter/website.  Twenty writers have agreed to join QRB’s Staff Picks sharing what they are reading with the store regularly. Thirteen authors have agreed to invest in QRB store swag and promote virtually or in real time their love of Quail Ridge Books. Fourteen want to support QRB’s Indies First effort. Quail Ridge Books and her army of authors are going to make this Bibb Pick a Big One.

So what are those criteria again? Warm, welcoming, inclusive, knowledgeable, and always with a smile. SIBA hopes that bookstores will beinspired to bring these qualities to the forefront when BIBB’s Independent Bookstore Best of 2017 is chosen at the 2016 SIBA Discovery Show in Savannah, GA in September.

About the Bibb Pick – Anonymously endowed, the BIBB Pick was created in 2014 in memory of Matthew Bibb, a long-time SIBA employee who handled Registration and a million other details at many SIBA Trade Shows. Matt died unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day 2013.

Read Your Okra! A Fall Harvest of Okra

Columbia, SC – The harvest is in for the Fall Okra Picks! Southern independent booksellers have a bushel of books representing the best in southern lit, fresh off the vine. All the picks have a strong Southern focus and are publish between October and December, 2015, and all of them have fans among Southern indie booksellers; people who are always looking out for the next great writer who should be on your plate and in your TBR stack. So it is very likely the next time you visit your local Southern indie bookstore, someone will hand you one and say, “You’ve got to read this!”

The 2015 Fall Okra Picks

Bottle Cap Boys on Royal Street by Rita Garcia-White
9781603490306 | Marimba Books | 10/1/2015| $6.95

Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain
9781250010742 | St. Martin’s Press | 10/06/2015 | $26.99

My Sweet Vidalia by Deborah Mantella
9781630269623 | Turner Publishing | 10/06/2015 | $27.95

Grant Park by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
9781932841916 | Agate Bolden | 10/13/2015 | $24.95

Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant
9781476709642 | Simon & Schuster | 10/13/2015 | $16.00

Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of a Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator by Homer Hickam
9780062325891 | William Morrow & Company | 10/13/2015 | $25.99

The Southerner's Cookbook: Recipes, Wisdom, and Stories edited by Garden & Gun Magazine
9780062242419 | Harper Wave | 10/27/2015 | $37.50

Too Blessed to Be Stressed Cookbook: A Busy Woman's Guide to Stress-Free Cooking by Debora M. Coty
9781634093224 | Barbour Publishing | 11/01/2015 | $16.99

Wailing Wall: A Mother's Memoir by Deedra Climer
9781941758113 | Inkshares | 11/10/2015 | $14.99

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll by Peter Guralnick
9780316042741 | Little Brown and Company | 11/10/2015 | $32.00

Time of Departure by Douglas Schofield
9781250072757 | Minotaur Books | 12/01/2015 | $25.99

Welcome to Serenity by Sherryl Woods 
9780778318637 | Mira Books | 12/29/2015 | $15.99

False Positive by Andrew Grant 
9780345540751 | Ballantine Books | 12/29/2015 | $27.00

Okra Picks are chosen every season by Southern Independent Bookstores. For more information visit authorsroundthesouth.com/okra.

Congratulations to your fellow SIBA booksellers!

• Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC was chosen as the 2016 "Bibb Pick" bookstore by over a hundred authors who attended the Discovery Show
  
  
• Horton's Books & Gifts in Carrollton, GA won the 2015 SIBA Book Award Display contest ($1000 cash!) for their awesome "Steampunk/League of Seven" display (see all the displays below!)
  
  
• MacIntosh Books and Paper in Sanibel, FL, won the Exhibit Hall Scavenger Hunt and a free trip for 2 to #siba16 in Savannah, GA
  
  
• The Book Miser (Roswell, GA) and Octavia Books (New Orleans, LA) each won the GABBS/SITS raffle and will have their hotel rooms paid for at the 2016 Great American Bargain Book Show in March
  
  
• Page 158 Books of Wake Forest, NC won the $1000 Buyer's Raffle (and special thanks to Ingram Content Group, which wrote the order on the winning ticket!)

Inspiration: SIBA Book Award Displays