We’re excited to host the exclusive virtual launchon 5/24 for James Lee Burke’s new novel, Every Cloak Rolled in Blood. James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He’ll be in conversation with Reader Meet Writer host and SIBA’s 2022 Southern Book Prize winner for fiction, Wiley Cash. We’d love your store to join us as a co-host!
We want this to be a success for you, and to help you sell books! When folks register to attend, they are asked to specify their indie bookstore of choice. After our event, stores can request lists of attendees linked to their store, in order to follow up with purchases. The publicist for Mr. Burke also has signed bookplates if you’d like to offer that to your customers. One store is live-streaming the event to her customers, in-store, on a big screen. Want to do that, too? Let us know so we can let you in early to make sure you’re good to go at showtime.
More info to market this event can be found at the Bookseller tab for Reader Meet Writer, (which requires you log in). I’d love to hear if you’re part of the circle of stores co-hosting, and to answer any questions! Contact lindamarie@sibaweb.com for more information.
Mesha Maren’s thrilling follow-up to Sugar Run takes us from missionaries to wrestling matches to a luxurious cartel compound, and deep into the psychic choices that shape our identities. A sweeping novel that tells us as much about our perceptions of the United States and Mexico as it does about our own natures and desires. Mesha Maren will be in conversation with host Wiley Cash, NYT Bestselling author.
Mesha Maren is the author of Sugar Run. Her work has appeared in the Oxford American, the Guardian, Tin House, the Southern Review, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She is an assistant professor at Duke University and also serves as a NEA Writing Fellow at the federal prison camp in Alderson, West Virginia
Beginning in June, the Reader Meet Writer Author Series will expand its bookseller participation to include bookstores from the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA), SIBA's sister association to the north. NAIBA territory includes West Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware.
Reader Meet Writer is hosted by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) in cooperation with its -- and now NAIBA's -- bookstore members. The Author Series features bestselling authors and fresh new voices, fiction and nonfiction titles, in an engaging and accessible format. Participating bookstores are invited to include the events in their regular event schedule, with their own store brandings.
General Event information:
RMW events are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM Eastern
Each event is fully moderated and hosted, with plenty of time for author Q & A. Current host is Wiley Cash, author of When Ghosts Come Home (William Morrow, 2021)
All events are recorded and available to stream at SIBA's Reader Meet Writer TV YouTube channel.
“The Reader Meet Writer events have been a fantastic way for my store to sell books that we most likely would not have sold, and to stay present in the minds of our customers, especially since we have not been curating our own online author events until recently.” - SIBA Bookseller, submitted via anononymous member survey.
It was nearly a year ago that SIBA launched its first Reader Meet Writer virtual author event, on March 31, 2020, with Taylor Branch, who spoke about his (then) new book, The Pride of Eden. Since that time, Reader Meet Writer has hosted 57 author events, featuring "A-list" authors like Sarah Broom, Lee Smith, Alan Gurganus, and TJ Klune; breakout and debut writers such as Odie Lindsay, Yaffa Santos and Genevieve Hudson; Southern favorites like Lisa Wingate, Silas House, and Jill McCorkle; and media personalities and social media influencers like Julia Fowler and Miles McKenna.
I came to enjoy the Allan Gurganus interview, which was a beautiful example of the moderator trying to keep the philosopher from telling the entire story of humankind in one answer...
but seriously, thanks for making this a significant part of the legacy of the great Southern and American author. -- RMW attendee
What a great event! -- Deb Seager, Grove/Atlantic, on RMW with David Zucchino
We were thrilled to be a part of this program.” --Jessica Dorman, New Orleans Historical Collection, on RMW with Fatima Shaik
Originally started to help bookstores whose event programs had been cancelled due to the pandemic, Reader Meet Writer has established itself as a premier author series with an excellent reputation among booksellers, publishers, and most importantly, readers. It was cited as one of SIBA's most popular and valuable programs by booksellers in 2020.
That trend has continued in 2021. Of the eight RMW events hosted far this year, the average attendance has been over 100 people. (109.5, to be exact!). Post-event videos on YouTube are averaging 100 views and climbing.
RMW is an opportunity to host authors who might otherwise never visit your store. For stores without a virtual events program, it can work as your own store-branded event schedule. For stores with a virtual events program, RMW can fill in some of the gaps in your schedule, and bring authors to your customers that you might not otherwise reach.
Event promotion, ticket and book sales are done through SIBA stores. SIBA provides resources for stores to use in their own promotions:
RMW events are also promoted on SIBA's consumer-facing website and newsletter, The Southern Bookseller Review. Authors also often promote their upcoming appearance to their own fan base, a source of potential new customers for SIBA stores.
Each RMW event begins with an exhortation by host Wiley Cash for listeners to support their local stores. The event Q&A also includes call outs to thelocal bookstore of every view who asks a question.
After the event is over:
RMW events are recorded and posted on SIBA's YouTube channel. All are available for stores to link or embed on their own websites as part of their event programming and store marketing. Click here for the RMW playlist
Events are recapped in The Southern Bookseller Reviewnewsletter.
Booksellers: if your store is not on this list, contact Linda-Marie to be added to the RMW program.
Publishers: to submit an author for RMW, click here.
Posted By Nicki Leone,
Thursday, February 25, 2021
New on SIBA TV
February's virtual events are now available to view on SIBA TV.
Reader Meet Writer: Ariel Lawhon
Lawhon's novel Code Name Helene is a fictionalized account of Nancy Wake, a real WWII spy and possible superhero.
Reader Meet Writer: Jerry Mitchell
Listen to Mitchell discuss his ground-breaking investigative work in bringing unsolved crimes from the Civil Rights era back into the public eye, and ultimately to prosecution and justice served.
Reader Meet Writer: Ed Tarkington
The author of The Fortunate Ones, a SIBA Bookseller favorite, talks about the inspiration for his novel and his exploration into the themes of friendship, privilege, money, and the facade of what we consider civilized behavior.
And also now available: NVNR Presents Love & Pajamas
If you didn't get a chance to attend this fun event with five romance writers now you can see what you missed. It does get a little steamy in places, so we've rated the video for 18 and over.
Posted By Nicki Leone,
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
It was a lively, funny, and really very sweet Reader Meet Writer event with Youtube star Miles McKenna and Schitt's Creek actress Emily Hampshire on Tuesday night. Talk ranged from McKenna's field guide to haircuts, to the best way to stave off a panic
attack, to what the writing process looks like to someone who does most of their creative work in front of a camera, to why Miles McKenna didn't have a ghost writer and how far you have to read into his new book, Out, before you get to a page where
he isn't sticking his tongue out in the photo. (No spoilers, you will have to see for yourself).
The video is now available to watch and share. Take a look and be instantly charmed.
SIBA's Reader Meet Writer Author Series features bestselling authors and fresh new voices, fiction and non-fiction, in an engaging and accessible format. Over 65 SIBA member bookstores participate in our virtual event series, and audiences have topped well over 400 attendees. Beloved author and indie advocate Wiley Cash is our host, and viewers couldn't be more pleased with his thoughtful, charismatic presence and engagement with featured authors. If you're a member store and would like to join our circle, or a publisher with authors you'd like us to consider hosting, please contact lindamarie@sibaweb.com<
September Reader Meet Writer Events:
Thursday, Sep 3 at 7PM EDT: Daniel Nayeri, author of Everything Sad is Untrue will be in conversation with host Wiley Cash. Nayeri is the publisher of Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, where he oversees a team of designers, editors, and inventors creating joyful books for curious minds. In his middle-grade novel, Nayeri shares the fictionalized story of his family’s flight from Iran in the middle of the night to a refugee camp in Italy, and eventually to a school in Oklahoma, where he is met with curiosity and suspicion. Kirkus Review calls Everything Sad is Untrue a “A modern epic... with beauty amid the pain, as well as laughter.”
Tuesday, Sep 8 at 3PM EDT: Anna North, author of Outlawed, will be in conversation with Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood. North's novel dusts off the myth of the old west and reignites the promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. It’s been described as “The Crucible meets True Grit in this riveting adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West.”Febos' book of essays examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be a girl and the realities of growing up female in a world that prioritizes the feelings, perceptions, and power of men at girls' expense. Carmen Maria Machado praises Girlhood, "These essays are moss and iron-hard and beautiful-and struck through with Febos' signature brilliance and power and grace. An essential, heartbreaking project.”
Thursday, Sep 10 at 7PM EDT: Carl Hoffman, author of Liar’s Circus: The Strange and Terrifying Journey into the Upside-Down World of Trump’s MAGA Rallies will be in conversation with host Wiley Cash. A former contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler, Hoffman has traveled to 80 countries on assignment; he has written about cannibals in New Guinea, Mumbai’s railways (the deadliest in the world), and the indigenous tribes of Borneo. Now he trains his unique eye on his own country. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail meets Strangers in Their Own Landin this work of daring and immersive contemporary anthropology. Hoffman, who has written about the most dangerous and remote corners of the world, journeys deep inside Donald Trump’s rallies, seeking to understand the strange and powerful tribe that forms the president’s base.
Tuesday, Sep 15 at 3PM EDT: Simon Stephenson will discuss his debut novel, Set My Heart to Five. For fans of Fredrik Backman and Gail Honeyman, Set My Heart to Five is a delightfully entertaining, deceptively poignant debut novel about a human-like bot named Jared. Jared works as a dentist in small town Michigan and is engineered with human DNA to look and act like a real person. One day at a screening of a classic movie, Jared feels a strange sensation around his eyes. Everyone knows that bots can’t feel emotions, but as the theater lights come on, Jared could swear he’s crying. Confused, he decides to watch more old movies to figure out what’s happening. And so Jared’s adventure begins in “this profound exploration of what makes us human, and a love letter to outsiders everywhere.”
Thursday, Sep 17 at 7PM: Margaret Kimberley will discuss her book, Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, a concise, authoritative exploration of America's relationship with race and black Americans through the lens of the presidents who are elected to represent and govern all of its people. Cornel West, author of Race Matters praises, "Margaret Kimberley gives us an intellectual gem of prophetic fire about all the U.S. presidents and their deep roots in the vicious legacy of white supremacy and predatory capitalism. Such truths seem more than most Americans can bear, though we ignore her words at our own peril!" Margaret Kimberley is a New York-based writer and activist for peace and justice issues. Perfect timing for this discussion as we head into election season.
Tuesday, Sep 29 at 5PM: Connor Towne O’Neill will discuss his book, Down Along with that Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy.
Journalist Connor Towne O’Neill takes a deep dive into American history, exposing the still-raging battles over monuments dedicated to one of the most notorious Confederate generals, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Through the lens of these conflicts, O’Neill examines the legacy of white supremacy in America, in a sobering and fascinating work sure to resonate with readers of Tony Horwitz, Timothy B. Tyson, and Robin DiAngelo. Publishers Weekly praises, “O’Neill writes with grace and genuine curiosity, allowing people on all sides of the issue to speak for themselves. This inquiry into the legacy of American slavery is equally distressing and illuminating.” As communities across the South grapple with these issues, O’Neill’s book could not be more timely.
We're excited to present the August Schedule for Reader Meet Writer, our virtual author event program. Reader Meet Writer events are co-hosted by up to 65 participating
SIBA-member stores. Wiley Cash, our Conroy Legacy Award recipient and the author of The Last Ballad,A Land More Kind than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy is our host.
August Schedule:
Odie Lindsey, author of Some Go Home, in conversation with Chanelle Benz
Thursday, Aug 6 at 7 PM EDT
Some Go Home is a searing debut novel following three generations fractured by murder in fictional Pitchlynn, Mississippi that complicates notions of race, class, history, and identity.
Odie Lindsey is also the author of We Come to Our Senses: Stories. He received an NEA-funded fellowship for veterans, holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
Tennessee.
Chanelle Benz has published work at Guernica, Granta.com,The New York Times, Electric Literature, The American Reader, Fence, and is the recipient of an O. Henry Prize.
Kim Powers, author of Rules for Being Dead, in conversation with Louis Bayard
Tuesday, August 11 at 5 PM EDT
An unlikely love child of Mark Childress' Crazy in Alabama and Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, Rules for Being Dead pays homage to the movies of the 1960s and vividly conjures the machinations of small-town Texas with a wicked
sense of humor and an unexpected tenderness.
Kim Powers is a two-time Emmy winner and author of the novels Dig Two Graves and Capote in Kansas, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir The History of Swimming, a Barnes & Noble Discover Book and Lambda Literary Award
finalist for Best Memoir of the Year.
In the words of the New York Times, Louis Bayard "reinvigorates historical fiction," rendering the past "as if he'd witnessed it firsthand." His acclaimed historical novels include national bestseller Courting Mr. Lincoln and the highly praised young-adult novel, Lucky Strikes.
Sarah M. Broom, author of The Yellow House, in conversation with Imani Perry
Thursday, Aug 13, 7 PM EDT
The Yellow House is a brilliant, haunting, and unforgettable memoir from a stunning new talent about the inexorable pull of home and family, set in a shotgun house in New Orleans East. It is also the winner of the 2019 National Book Award in
Nonfiction.
Sarah Broom has also published her work in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Oxford American, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others.
Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and the author of six books, including the award-winning Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry.
Adam Rutherford, author of How to Argue With a Racist Tuesday, Aug 18, 3PM EDT
How to Argue With a Racist shows us how being a responsible and enlightened citizen on the matter of race today requires us to know what modern genetics actually can and can't tell us about human difference. Racial categories still vexing our
societies do not align with observable genetic differences—and those differences are, in fact, so minute that they serve as evidence of our commonality.
Adam Rutherford is a geneticist, science writer, and broadcaster. He is also the author of The Book of Humans and A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction.
Justin A. Reynolds, author of Early Departures
Thursday, Aug 20 7 PM EDT
Early Departures is a smart, funny, and powerful stand-alone YA contemporary novel, with a speculative twist in which Jamal's best friend is brought back to life after a freak accident...but they only have a short time together before he will
die again.
Justin A. Reynolds's debut novel, Opposite of Always, was an Indies Introduce selection and a School Library Journal Best Book, and is being developed for film with Paramount Players. He lives in northeast Ohio with his family. You can find him
at www.justinareynolds.com.
Heather Bell Adams, author of The Good Luck Stone
Thursday, Aug 27 7 PM EDT
The Good Luck Stone moves between the verdant jungles of the war-torn Philippines and the glitter of modern-day Savannah, Georgia, as friendships new and old are tested, and characters discover you can only outrun your secrets for so long.
Heather Bell Adams is also the author of the novel Maranatha Road, winner of the gold medal for the Southeast region in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and named to Deep South Magazine's Fall/Winter Reading List. She is also a
nationally-recognized scholar on the works of Ron Rash.
After a short break, Reader Meet Writer, SIBA's virtual author tour program for member booksellers, comes back stronger than ever in July! We've made a few bookseller-friendly changes:
Events are on Tuesday afternoons (start times between 3-5 PM EDT) and Thursdays at 7 PM EDT.
Bookseller resources, including Zoom links for rsvp-ing attendees, are available a month in advance. You must login to sibaweb.com to access. Please keep the Zoom info in-house and don't share on your store site, general email list, newsletter or social media. Only make available to folks who rsvp/sign up for your events. Thank you!
No more weekly emails with zoom links and templates for your emails. We trust you to use the assets and resources provided in RMW Bookseller Resources as works best for your customers. Still need reminders? Let me know; we'll work it out!
Wiley Cash, our Conroy Legacy Award recipient, award-winning author, and indie bookseller advocate, takes over as host. We have a FANTASTIC slate of authors scheduled for the summer, presenting books in genres and on subjects near and dear to our hearts.
Are you interested in joining the circle of bookstores sending invites to their customers? Please email me and we'll discuss what's involved.
A Quick Glance at July's Reader Meet Writer Schedule:
Tuesday, July 7 at 3 PM EDT: Marian Keyes will discuss Grown Ups. Confession: Marian Keyes is one of my favorite authors. She's also one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. Her books have been bestsellers around the world. Anybody Out There won the British Book Awards award for popular fiction and the inaugural Melissa Nathan Prize for Comedy Romance. This Charming Man won the Irish Book Award for popular fiction. Her novels, though laugh out loud funny, explore serious themes like addiction, domestic abuse, grief, and depression with compassion and hope.They are great choices for book clubs. Grown Ups tackles eating disorders, compulsive spending, infidelity, and more, in a narrative that moves quickly, is impossible to put down, and completely satisfies. I fell in love with the characters, cheered them on as they struggled to overcome challenges, and hope they reappear in future books. Graham Norton praises Grown Ups, "So enjoyed this! Magnificently messy lives, brilliantly untangled. Funny, tender, and completely absorbing!." She's coming to us from Ireland. Your customers will love her; let's raise her visibility across SIBA territory.
Thursday, July 9 at 7 PM EDT: Silas House will discuss Clay's Quilt, A Parchment of Leaves, and The Coal Tattoo. Silas is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, one book of creative nonfiction, and three plays. His writing has appeared frequently in the New York Times and has been published in Time,Newsday, Garden & Gun, the Oxford American, and many other places. The three novels, which share a common setting and some characters, are companion novels. They may be read individually, in any order, but collectively, they form a rich tableau of life in rural mountain Kentucky in the last century. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution praises Silas House, "In sly and subtle ways, House skillfully beckons readers to dig deep into their own hearts and minds.
Tuesday, July 14 at 5 PM EDT: Peggy Noe Stevens and Susan Reigler present their work Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? Join Peggy and Susan for a bourbon tasting and demonstration, and learn how to make an out-of-this-world Old Fashioned and a marvelous Mint Julep. Peggy Noe Stevens is founder of the Bourbon Women Association and a master bourbon taster. Susan Reigler is a former restaurant critic for the Louisville Courier-Journal and a current correspondent for Bourbon+ and American Whiskey magazines. Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? offers a step-by-step guide to hosting a successful bourbon-tasting party—complete with recipes, photos, and tips for beginners and experienced aficionados alike.
Thursday, July 16 at 7PM EDT: Lenard D. Moore and contributors to All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Carolina African-American Writers' Collective. Lenard D. Moore, internationally-acclaimed poet, anthologist, and professor, and North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will discuss the collective, which has shaped the modern literary landscape of the Carolinas for the last twenty-five years. They will be joined by contributors who will read selections from poems, stories, and essays included in this collection. Contributors joining us include L. Teresa Church, Crystal Simone Smith, Bridgette A. Lacy, Grace Ocasio, Fred Joiner, Carole Boston Weatherford, Camille T. Dungy, Angela Belcher-Epps, and Gideon Young.
Tuesday, July, 21 at 5 PM EDT: Kristin Harmel will discuss The Book of Lost Names in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris. Harmel, the best-selling author of The Room on Rue Amelie now offers the story of a young woman with a talent for forgery who helps hundreds of Jewish refugees flee France in WWII, encoding their true identities in an ancient book for safekeeping. Though she falls in love with a Resistance agent, they are cruelly separated by the war, and only the Book of Lost Names can reunite them. Fiona Davis praises, "Not since "The Nightingale" have I finished a book and been so choked with emotion. Harmel ...shines a brilliant light on those who had their identities erased and lives destroyed, on a country and its people torn apart, and young women like Eva, who risked their lives with everyday acts of epic heroism. Sweeping and magnificent."
Thursday, July 23 at 7PM EDT: Jill McCorkle presents Hieroglyphics. Jill McCorkle's first two novels were released simultaneously when she was just out of college, and the New York Times called her "a born novelist." Since then, she has published six novels and four collections of short stories. Hieroglyphics is a mesmerizing novel about the burden of secrets carried across generations and the difficulty of ever really knowing the intentions and dreams and secrets of the people who raised you. Damita Nocton, a bookseller at The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, NC writes, "The brilliance of Jill McCorkle is that her novels read as if you are enjoying a marvelous cup of coffee and conversation with a very dear friend. Hieroglyphics is about memories and remembering, loss of love and loved ones, preserving the past and what remains after we are gone. Jill McCorkle writes with poignancy and wry honesty. This is the work of a master at the top of her game.
Tuesday, July 28 at 5 PM EDT: S. A. Cosby discusses Black Top Wasteland. Shawn A. Cosby is a writer from Southeastern Virginia, now residing in Gloucester, Virginia. His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. His short story "The Grass Beneath My Feet" won the Anthony Award for best short story in 2019. He is also the author of My Darkest Prayer and Brotherhood of the Blade. Black Top Wasteland is a gritty, voice-driven thriller about a former getaway driver who thought he had escaped the criminal life who is pulled back in by race, poverty, and his own former life of crime. Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a man with many different titles: husband, father, friend, honest car mechanic. But before he gave it up, Bug used to be known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best Wheel Man on the East Coast. After a series of financial calamities, Bug feels he has no choice but to take one final job as the getaway driver for a daring diamond heist that could solve all his money troubles and allow him to go straight once and for all. Like "Ocean's Eleven" meets "Drive" (but with a mostly black cast of characters), Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of sons living up (or down) to their fathers; of a heist gone sideways; of a man ground down by economic desperation; of fast cars and daring chases and identity and love.
Thursday, July 30 at 7 PM EDT: Lara Prescott discusses The Secrets We Kept, a thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice—inspired by the real-life CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago. At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dared publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world—using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world. Amy C. Spaulding, bookseller at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC writers, "Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept: A Novel dances before and behind the Iron Curtain with nimble grace. This well-crafted debut provides the right tempo of danger and intrigue, coupled with an LGBTQ backstory, and a deep dive into the role of literature in liberation. Every reader can find something here to enjoy."
Beginning July 1, Wiley Cash will take over as host of Reader Meet Writer, SIBA's virtual author series. Wiley Cash is the recipient of the 2020 Conroy Legacy Award, and the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy.The founder of the Open Canon Book Club and co-founder of the Land More Kind Appalachian Artists Residency, Cash has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Weymouth Center. He serves as the writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and lives in North Carolina with his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, and their two daughters. Wiley Cash is a passionate supporter of independent bookstores, and a charismatic presenter, a winning combination for Reader Meet Writer and our guest authors.
First Event at 7pm:
May 28th - Kristy Woodson Harvey interviews Lisa Wingate & Diane Plauche
Diane Plauche is a volunteer with the Historic New Orleans Collection museum. In 2015, she began assisting the museum in creating a database of historical Lost Friends advertisements, through which formerly enslaved people desperately tried to find their lost families in the decades following emancipation. After reading Lisa Wingate's 2017 novel, Before We Were Yours, Diane wrote to Lisa about the Lost Friends ads, saying, "There is a story in each one of the ads." To date, Diane has entered over 2500 unique ads, and tens of thousands of names in the museum's database, preserving the histories of thousands of families. Diane's work, and the stories of the real-life Lost Friends inspired Lisa's newest novel, The Book Of Lost Friends.
Lisa Wingate is a former journalist, an inspirational speaker, and the author of numerous novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which has sold more than 2.2 million copies. The co-author, with Judy Christie, of the nonfiction book, Before and After, Wingate is a two-time ACFW Carol Award winner, a Christy Award nominee, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, and a Southern Book Prize winner. She lives with her husband in North Texas.
Kristy Woodson Harvey is the bestselling author of Dear Carolina, Lies and Other Acts of Love, Slightly South of Simple, The Secret to Southern Charm and The Southern Side of Paradise. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize
First Interactive Event:
June 4th @ 5pm: Which Fork Do I Use With My Bourbon? by Peggy Noe Stevens & Susan Reigler
Join Peggy and Susan for a tasting and demonstration. Learn how to make an Old Fashioned and a Mint Julep. Ingredients: Old Forester 86 Proof, dried cherries or cranraisins, roasted pecans, caramel candy, squares of dark chocolate Watch the trailer!
Peggy Noe Stevens is founder of the Bourbon Women Association and a master bourbon taster. A lifestyle expert, she is also a professional speaker. As a Bourbon Hall of Fame inductee, she has planned hundreds of events globally over the last thirty years, often working with distilleries and master distillers.
Susan Reigler is a former restaurant critic for the Louisville Courier-Journal and a current correspondent for Bourbon+ and American Whiskey magazines. She has also authored or coauthored six books on bourbon, including Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide and The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book.
First Tour Event:
June 9th @ 3pm: How Not to Get Away with Murder in the 1940s
Join Beverly Bell, author of The Murder of Marion Miley, as she traces the path the killers took: how they got in, how they got out and made their escape.
Beverly Bell is an award-winning magazine and crime writer whose work has appeared in Arizona Highways, Indianapolis Monthly, Keeneland Magazine, and Kentucky Monthly. Bell is also a featured consultant in Kentucky Education Television's recent documentary Forgotten Fame: The Marion Miley Story.
The RMW Kristy Woodson Harvey (Feels Like Falling) and RMW Marie Benedict (The Other Einstein) events are now available to view online. All SIBA member stores are invited to link, post, or embed them on your websites, in your newsletters, or your social media feeds, and to include your own store branding and purchase links:
It is SIBA's goal to continue Reader Meet Writer after a two week break from June 15-July 1. Half of the books that have been featured on Reader Meet Writer have made the Southern Indie Bestseller List the week following their appearance. That bodes well for the program if that keeps up, and we need to hear from stores who are participating. These virtual events have been well received by booksellers, publishers, and authors alike.
Beginning in July, SIBA is going to offer two virtual events a week, one in the afternoon on Tuesdays and in the evenings on Thursdays. We have confirmed Kristen Harmel on July 21st, and Odie Lindsey on August 6th. We will fill in the remaining dates over the next few weeks and keep the calendar updated at the Reader Meet Writer site for booksellers.
Join this list of bookstores and choose from this list of events to present to your customers. Stores are handling the events as they would handle their own virtual events -- it is left up to the stor. Some are selling the book as the ticket to attend. Some are selling tickets for a flat rate that can then be used as a credit towards the book or any purchase from the store. Each store determines how they want to use the events to assist in selling more books. It is our hope that we are offering stores an easy way to sell books without the headache of managing a new tool.
The RMW Lee Smith (Blue Marlin) and RMW Ruthie Lindsay (There I Am) events are now available to view online. All SIBA member stores are invited to link, post, or embed them on your websites, in your newsletters, or your social media feeds, and to include your own store branding and purchase links:
Paricipating stores, have you completed the events survey? This is a really important final step. We need the data to carry this program forward. Please complete this form for each event.
May 8 at 5pm: Kimberly McCreight, A Good Marriage
May 12 at 5pm: Mary Kay Andrews, Hello Summer
May 13 at 4 pm: Katy Simpson Smith, The Everlasting
May 14 at 4 pm: Susan Beckham Zurenda, Bells for Eli
May 15 at 3 pm: Kristin Arnett, Mostly Dead Things
Lee Smith's appearance on Reader Meet Writer for Blue Marlin (an Okra Pick book) drew an audience of over 450 readers. The event is now available on video. SIBA member stores are invited to embed the video on their own websites and use it in their own marketing efforts.
Born in the small coal-mining town of Grundy, Virginia, Lee Smith began writing stories at the age of nine and selling them for a nickel apiece. Since then, she has written seventeen works of fiction, including Fair and Tender Ladies, Oral History, and, most recently, Guests on Earth. She has received many awards, including the North Carolina Award for Literature and an Academy Award in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her novel The Last Girls was a New York Times bestseller as well as winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. She lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with her husband, the writer Hal Crowther.
Steven Wright's appearance on Reader Meet Writer is now available on video. SIBA member stores are invited to embed the video on their own websites and use it in their own marketing efforts.
If you haven't signed up to participate in Reader Meet Writer Virtual Author Events, you can do so by simply emailing wanda@sibaweb.com.
Join this list of bookstores and choose from this list of events to present to your customers. Stores are handling the events as they would handle their own virtual events. Some are selling the book as the ticket to attend. Some are selling tickets for a flat rate that can then be used as a credit towards the book or any purchase from the store. Each store determines how they want to use the events to assist in selling more books. It is our hope that we are offering stores an easy way to sell books without the headache of managing a new tool.
When asked "Are you pleased with the outcome?", a resounding YES from participating booksellers:
"Yes! It came together very quickly for us and we're delighted that people joined in and bought some books. Thank you for putting this together."
"Yes - this was an opportunity to have an author event at a time when we otherwise could not at all."
"Yes-- I was super late in getting the word out so this was more than I'd hoped. I'd ordered 2 in for the store and they might not have sold without this. I sold those 2 locally, did one Direct-to-Home shipment and 1 on Bookshop."
"Yes, it attracted some readers that haven't attended our events in the past."
"Very pleased. Excited to participate again soon."
"Yes. We had I believe 86 RSVPs, but it looks like only 2/3 or so actually attended the event. 17 books in less than 24 hours for an online event is nothing to turn up our noses at! Some of these customers also purchased other books in their orders."
"Yes. My customers loved the chance to hear from such a beloved author!"
"Yes! Normally I sell ZERO hardcover debuts."
Last, and most important, only 18 of the current 60 participating bookstore have completed the events survey. This is a really important final step. We need the data to carry this program forward. Please complete this form for each event. Thanks!
SIBA has created the Reader Meet Writer Author Series as an alternative for bookstores that—now that most of the country in under some version of a shelter-in-place order—are seeking to create ways to engage with their customers online. Participating stores will be able to invite their customers to exclusive video events with authors which are only available to SIBA stores. Events will be hosted by SIBA and can be attended by up to 1000 people. Bookstores handle all ticket and book sales from their customers.
We are adding authors to the schedule. First, if you haven't signed up to promote the Reader Meet Writer (RMW) events and sell the books to your customers and want to, email wanda@sibaweb.com. We have two events coming up next week. Lee Smith is on Tuesday, and Ruthie Lindsay is on Wednesday. Their books, Blue Marlin, and There I Am: The Journey from Hopelessness to Healing - A Novel, are both perfect books for the times. And we will soon be offering three or more events a week. Lee Smith has signed a limited number of bookplates in preparation for her SIBA Reader Meet Writer event (April 21 at 4 p-m). Booksellers who are interested in having some bookplates for their readers and/or those who are interested in hosting virtual events should email Lynn York at lynn@blairpub.com.
Let us know how the events are working for you by participating in our survey, and by sending us quotes we can use for promotion with publishers or naysayers. Is this helpful? Is it working? Let us know. We are happy to do this heavy lifting but not if we are getting in the way.
There is an Edelweiss collection of RMW titles and new titles will be added and, of course, we are keeping the website as up to date as possible. Finally, some of you have asked for all of the zoom links and passwords in advance and I'm happy to provide these if you want to get everything created in advance. These passwords simply cannot end up on any public-facing websites or social media. Let us know if you'd like to have all of that in advance.
What booksellers are saying about Reader Meet Writer:
Doing Great today!
"Our web traffic had fallen off then I sent out the notice for Lee Smith in (our version of) Shelf Awareness and we now have more than 35 participants and more than 20 books sales.
I am working hard to get the promos going on the rest of them. I don’t know if the others will be as popular - Lee Smith is a favorite in the mountains as you know - but its a great profit to effort ratio - thanks your and Wanda’s efforts.
Our sales were only averaging about $200 a day - but we’ve hit $550 plus today.
Hope you’re finding some fun time out there. I enjoy your flowers and outdoor pics on Facebook. I hope it won’t be too long till I can post grandkid pictures again."
Stay safe
Doloris Vest
Book No Further
112 Market St SE | Roanoke, VA 24011
dolorisvest@booknofurther.com | www.booknofurther.com
540-206-2505
RSS
We want this to be a success for you, and to help you sell books! When folks register to attend, they are asked to specify their indie bookstore of choice. After our event, stores can request lists of attendees linked to their store, in order to follow up with purchases. The publicist for Mr. Burke also has signed bookplates if you’d like to offer that to your customers. One store is live-streaming the event to her customers, in-store, on a big screen. Want to do that, too? Let us know so we can let you in early to make sure you’re good to go at showtime.
Reader Meet Writer with Mesha Maren, author of Perpetual West
Mesha Maren is the author of Sugar Run. Her work has appeared in the Oxford American, the Guardian, Tin House, the Southern Review, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She is an assistant professor at Duke University and also serves as a NEA Writing Fellow at the federal prison camp in Alderson, West Virginia
Thursday, Sep 3 at 7PM EDT: Daniel Nayeri, author of Everything Sad is Untrue will be in conversation with host Wiley Cash. Nayeri is the publisher of Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, where he oversees a team of designers, editors, and inventors creating joyful books for curious minds. In his middle-grade novel, Nayeri shares the fictionalized story of his family’s flight from Iran in the middle of the night to a refugee camp in Italy, and eventually to a school in Oklahoma, where he is met with curiosity and suspicion. Kirkus Review calls Everything Sad is Untrue a “A modern epic... with beauty amid the pain, as well as laughter.” 
Tuesday, Sep 8 at 3PM EDT: Anna North, author of Outlawed, will be in conversation with Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood. North's novel dusts off the myth of the old west and reignites the promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. It’s been described as “The Crucible meets True Grit in this riveting adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West.”Febos' book of essays examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be a girl and the realities of growing up female in a world that prioritizes the feelings, perceptions, and power of men at girls' expense. Carmen Maria Machado praises Girlhood, "These essays are moss and iron-hard and beautiful-and struck through with Febos' signature brilliance and power and grace. An essential, heartbreaking project.” 
Thursday, Sep 10 at 7PM EDT: Carl Hoffman, author of Liar’s Circus: The Strange and Terrifying Journey into the Upside-Down World of Trump’s MAGA Rallies will be in conversation with host Wiley Cash. A former contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler, Hoffman has traveled to 80 countries on assignment; he has written about cannibals in New Guinea, Mumbai’s railways (the deadliest in the world), and the indigenous tribes of Borneo. Now he trains his unique eye on his own country. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail meets Strangers in Their Own Land in this work of daring and immersive contemporary anthropology. Hoffman, who has written about the most dangerous and remote corners of the world, journeys deep inside Donald Trump’s rallies, seeking to understand the strange and powerful tribe that forms the president’s base. 
Tuesday, Sep 15 at 3PM EDT: Simon Stephenson will discuss his debut novel, Set My Heart to Five. For fans of Fredrik Backman and Gail Honeyman, Set My Heart to Five is a delightfully entertaining, deceptively poignant debut novel about a human-like bot named Jared. Jared works as a dentist in small town Michigan and is engineered with human DNA to look and act like a real person. One day at a screening of a classic movie, Jared feels a strange sensation around his eyes. Everyone knows that bots can’t feel emotions, but as the theater lights come on, Jared could swear he’s crying. Confused, he decides to watch more old movies to figure out what’s happening. And so Jared’s adventure begins in “this profound exploration of what makes us human, and a love letter to outsiders everywhere.” 
Thursday, Sep 17 at 7PM: Margaret Kimberley will discuss her book, Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, a concise, authoritative exploration of America's relationship with race and black Americans through the lens of the presidents who are elected to represent and govern all of its people. Cornel West, author of Race Matters praises, "Margaret Kimberley gives us an intellectual gem of prophetic fire about all the U.S. presidents and their deep roots in the vicious legacy of white supremacy and predatory capitalism. Such truths seem more than most Americans can bear, though we ignore her words at our own peril!" Margaret Kimberley is a New York-based writer and activist for peace and justice issues. Perfect timing for this discussion as we head into election season.
Tuesday, Sep 29 at 5PM: Connor Towne O’Neill will discuss his book, Down Along with that Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy.
Journalist Connor Towne O’Neill takes a deep dive into American history, exposing the still-raging battles over monuments dedicated to one of the most notorious Confederate generals, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Through the lens of these conflicts, O’Neill examines the legacy of white supremacy in America, in a sobering and fascinating work sure to resonate with readers of Tony Horwitz, Timothy B. Tyson, and Robin DiAngelo. Publishers Weekly praises, “O’Neill writes with grace and genuine curiosity, allowing people on all sides of the issue to speak for themselves. This inquiry into the legacy of American slavery is equally distressing and illuminating.” As communities across the South grapple with these issues, O’Neill’s book could not be more timely. 
Tuesday, July 7 at 3 PM EDT: Marian Keyes will discuss Grown Ups. Confession: Marian Keyes is one of my favorite authors. She's also one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. Her books have been bestsellers around the world. 
Thursday, July 9 at 7 PM EDT: Silas House will discuss Clay's Quilt, A Parchment of Leaves, and The Coal Tattoo. Silas is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, one book of creative nonfiction, and three plays. His writing has appeared frequently in the New York Times and has been published in Time, Newsday, Garden & Gun, the Oxford American, and many other places. The three novels, which share a common setting and some characters, are companion novels. They may be read individually, in any order, but collectively, they form a rich tableau of life in rural mountain Kentucky in the last century. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution praises Silas House, "In sly and subtle ways, House skillfully beckons readers to dig deep into their own hearts and minds.
Tuesday, July 14 at 5 PM EDT: Peggy Noe Stevens and Susan Reigler present their work Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? Join Peggy and Susan for a bourbon tasting and demonstration, and learn how to make an out-of-this-world Old Fashioned and a marvelous Mint Julep. Peggy Noe Stevens is founder of the Bourbon Women Association and a master bourbon taster. Susan Reigler is a former restaurant critic for the Louisville Courier-Journal and a current correspondent for Bourbon+ and American Whiskey magazines. Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? offers a step-by-step guide to hosting a successful bourbon-tasting party—complete with recipes, photos, and tips for beginners and experienced aficionados alike.
Thursday, July 16 at 7PM EDT: Lenard D. Moore and contributors to All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Carolina African-American Writers' Collective. Lenard D. Moore, internationally-acclaimed poet, anthologist, and professor, and North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will discuss the collective, which has shaped the modern literary landscape of the Carolinas for the last twenty-five years. They will be joined by contributors who will read selections from poems, stories, and essays included in this collection. Contributors joining us include L. Teresa Church, Crystal Simone Smith, Bridgette A. Lacy, Grace Ocasio, Fred Joiner, Carole Boston Weatherford, Camille T. Dungy, Angela Belcher-Epps, and Gideon Young.
Tuesday, July, 21 at 5 PM EDT: Kristin Harmel will discuss The Book of Lost Names in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris. Harmel, the best-selling author of The Room on Rue Amelie now offers the story of a young woman with a talent for forgery who helps hundreds of Jewish refugees flee France in WWII, encoding their true identities in an ancient book for safekeeping. Though she falls in love with a Resistance agent, they are cruelly separated by the war, and only the Book of Lost Names can reunite them. Fiona Davis praises, "Not since "The Nightingale" have I finished a book and been so choked with emotion. Harmel ...shines a brilliant light on those who had their identities erased and lives destroyed, on a country and its people torn apart, and young women like Eva, who risked their lives with everyday acts of epic heroism. Sweeping and magnificent."
Thursday, July 23 at 7PM EDT: Jill McCorkle presents Hieroglyphics. Jill McCorkle's first two novels were released simultaneously when she was just out of college, and the New York Times called her "a born novelist." Since then, she has published six novels and four collections of short stories. Hieroglyphics is a mesmerizing novel about the burden of secrets carried across generations and the difficulty of ever really knowing the intentions and dreams and secrets of the people who raised you. Damita Nocton, a bookseller at The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, NC writes, "The brilliance of Jill McCorkle is that her novels read as if you are enjoying a marvelous cup of coffee and conversation with a very dear friend. Hieroglyphics is about memories and remembering, loss of love and loved ones, preserving the past and what remains after we are gone. Jill McCorkle writes with poignancy and wry honesty. This is the work of a master at the top of her game.
Tuesday, July 28 at 5 PM EDT: S. A. Cosby discusses Black Top Wasteland. Shawn A. Cosby is a writer from Southeastern Virginia, now residing in Gloucester, Virginia. His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. His short story "The Grass Beneath My Feet" won the Anthony Award for best short story in 2019. He is also the author of My Darkest Prayer and Brotherhood of the Blade. Black Top Wasteland is a gritty, voice-driven thriller about a former getaway driver who thought he had escaped the criminal life who is pulled back in by race, poverty, and his own former life of crime. Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a man with many different titles: husband, father, friend, honest car mechanic. But before he gave it up, Bug used to be known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best Wheel Man on the East Coast. After a series of financial calamities, Bug feels he has no choice but to take one final job as the getaway driver for a daring diamond heist that could solve all his money troubles and allow him to go straight once and for all. Like "Ocean's Eleven" meets "Drive" (but with a mostly black cast of characters), Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of sons living up (or down) to their fathers; of a heist gone sideways; of a man ground down by economic desperation; of fast cars and daring chases and identity and love.
Thursday, July 30 at 7 PM EDT: Lara Prescott discusses The Secrets We Kept, a thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice—inspired by the real-life CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago. At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dared publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world—using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world. Amy C. Spaulding, bookseller at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC writers, "Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept: A Novel dances before and behind the Iron Curtain with nimble grace. This well-crafted debut provides the right tempo of danger and intrigue, coupled with an LGBTQ backstory, and a deep dive into the role of literature in liberation. Every reader can find something here to enjoy."
Beginning July 1, Wiley Cash will take over as host of Reader Meet Writer, SIBA's virtual author series. Wiley Cash is the recipient of the 2020 Conroy Legacy Award, and the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy.
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