From the Land of SIBAA message from SIBA to its membership
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First Things First...
4/1: Reader Meet Writer - Wild Women and the Blues with Denny S. Bryce 4/5: Sure I'll Be Your Black Friend: A conversation with Ben Philippe and Luis Correa (register) 4/8: Reader Meet Writer - Whisper Down the Lane with Clay McLeod Chapman 4/12: 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge begins (learn more)
4/13: Reader Meet Writer - The Salt Fields with Stacy D. Flood 4/24: Independent Bookstore Day (
learn more)
As part of our 2021 anti-racism initiatives, SIBA is offering a 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge. This is a challenge you can do on your own, but we encourage stores to sign up their staff and journey the 21 days together.
The Challenge provides numerous opportunities for important conversations about store, community, and book industry environments and policies from the perspectives of racial equity and anti-racism.
How does the Challenge work? It’s a self-guided program; participants will receive daily emails containing prompts and resources for learning, reflection, and action. You’ll receive your first daily email on April 12.
We begin the Challenge with a Keynote Launch on Monday, April 5 at 7:00 PM EST: A Conversation Between Friends About Race and Joy. Ben Philippe, author of Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump,
will be in conversation with Luis Correa, the Operations Manager at Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia, and a member of the American Bookseller Association's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. We hope to see you there!
Registration for the Keynote. | See Ben Philippe hilarious and moving talk at last September's NVNR Late Night event
(Asheville, North Carolina) The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is happy to announce the 2021 Spring Read This Next! List: a selection of spring new releases generating extra excitement from Southern independent
booksellers. Each of the fifteen titles in the list received multiple high ratings and enthusiastic reviews from southern booksellers, marking them as hand-sell favorites for the forthcoming season.
Read This Next!Spring 2021 titles are chosen from the books publishing between April and June which have received the most positive reviews from Southern indie booksellers, and reflect the wide range
of reading tastes of booksellers from across the entire Southeast. These are the answer to the most important question of every avid reader – “What should I read next?”
How to Resist Amazon and Why Worksheet It was a packed virtual room on Zoom on March 31st for MIBA's presentation with Danny Caine and Microcosm Publishing on "How to Resist Amazon and Why." The event was recorded and will be available shortly, but the worksheet for creating momentum up to Independent Bookstore Day is available here. #ResistAmazon
Binc launches Survive to Thrive Bookstore Campaign The
Book Industry Charity Foundation (Binc) has the establishment of the Survive to Thrive bookstore grant program. Founded with initial support from Ingram Charities and Ingram Content Group,
the program will quickly provide grants to independent bookstores and comic shops affected by COVID-19. With a leading gift of $500k jointly from Ingram Charities and Ingram Content Group, $250k from Bookshop.org, and
an additional $250k total from Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan Publishers, and Penguin Random House, the Survive to Thrive initiative
has raised the first million dollars of its $2 million goal. (read more)
Reader Meet Writer: April Events
Are you interested in joining the circle of bookstores sending invites to their customers? Please email Linda-Marie and we'll discuss what's involved.
Wild Women and the Blues with Denny S. Bryce Thu Apr 1st 7:00pm - 8:00pm | REGISTER
DENNY S. BRYCE is an award-winning author and three-time RWA Golden Heart® finalist, including twice for Wild Women and the Blues. In addition to writing for NPR Books and FROLIC Media, the former professional dancer is
a public relations professional who has spent over two decades running her own marketing and event management firm. A member of the Historical Novel Society, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Novelists, Inc., she
is a frequent speaker at author events. Originally from Chicago, she now lives in Savannah, Georgia. Visit her online at DennySBryce.com.
Whisper Down the Lane with Clay McLeod Chapman Thu Apr 8th 7:00pm - 8:00pm | REGISTER
Clay McLeod Chapman writes novels, comic books, and children’s books, as well as for film and TV. He is the author of the horror novels The Remaking and Whisper Down the Lane. Visit him
at claymcleodchapman.com.
The Salt Fields with Stacy D. Flood Tue Apr 13th 7:00pm - 8:00pm | REGISTER
Originally from Buffalo, and currently living in Seattle, Stacy D. Flood's work has been published and performed nationally as well as in the Puget Sound Area. Having received his MFA in Creative Writing from San
Francisco State University, he has also been an artist-in-residence at DISQUIET in Lisbon, as well as The Millay Colony of the Arts. In addition, he is the recipient of the Gregory Capasso Award in Fiction from the University
at Buffalo, along with a Getty Fellowship to the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
This week on Circle of Sites
Read more about SIBA's Circle of Sites Program (aka the "banner for dues" program) and find out whether your store is eligible to participate and
receive free membership dues.
"I say this all the time, seriously, but I feel like “found family” or “chosen family” is such an important component of the varied queer experience. It’s so hard to be alone, especially with people who are your blood,
and may still love you, but can’t really understand something that makes up such a huge part of you and influences the other intersections of your identity." --Morgan Rogers, via She Reads
What booksellers are saying about Honey Girl
Honey Girl was the first romance I read in 2021, and I’m so glad I started 2021 with Grace and Yuki. I loved the oops-we-got-married-in-Vegas start, then following along with these wives as they navigated their way
towards their Happily Ever After. --Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC
This was a great reflection of how African-American women put an extreme amount of pressure on themselves; and that one must be gentle with themselves and know that everything will be ok. -- Deanna Bailey, Story on the Square,
McDonough, GA
If Nayyirah Waheed and Rupi Kaur teamed up to write a lesbian contemporary romance, it'd be this. Honey Girl has the most jaw-droppingly beautiful prose I've ever read. --Lizy Coale, Copperfish Books in
Punta Gorda, FL
About Morgan Rogers
Morgan Rogers is a queer black millennial. She writes books for queer girls that are looking for their place in the world. She lives in Maryland with her five dogs. Honey Girl is her debut novel.
When Freda learns how to capture the flavor of summer by making blueberry jam with her grandmother, she wonders what else she can preserve to save for later. Her collecting gets out of control, though, and soon she can’t
enjoy any of her favorite things because they are all in jars. Memory Jars is a cute story about living for the day and celebrating the things we have.
Memory Jars by Vera Brosgol (List Price: $18.99, Roaring Brook Press, 9781250314871, 5/11/2021) Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Riveting! This eco-thriller is made all the more terrifying by the research behind the work and just how much of the narrative is based in fact. He sought counsel from the likes of Jane Goodall and Leonardo DiCaprio and feels
like this could be the next Blood Diamond, following how animal poaching and trafficking is a global practice, and a bigger global threat.
The book features an extensive cast of characters including an Asian police officer, a South African militant and anti-poacher, an exotic animal insurance agent and a CIA operative looking for a terrorist connection. They each
are forced to juggle their self interests against those of the animals they’re meant to protect, from rhinos and elephants to tigers and more.
Animals by Will Staples (List Price: $27.99, Blackstone Publishing, 9781094065885, 3/30/2021) Reviewed by Shari Stauch, Main Street Reads in
Summerville, South Carolina
Linda-Marie: Reading: Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly, the April selection for my Women in Lively Discussion (WILD) Malaprop’s book club and Honey Girl by
Morgan Rogers, a beautiful novel that begins with a “drunk marriage” between strangers in Las Vegas and moves into deeper territories of inclusivity and diversity, self-acceptance, and astronomy. Listening: The Lover’s Waltz Radio on Pandora. Watching:The Great British Baking Show, Season Nine. May it never end.
SP: Reading: Back to reading The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy. Listening: to my dogs bark. Watching:The Hot Heiress. A pre-Code musical comedy from 1931 with this incredible description: A riveter strikes a debutante's fancy when he chases a hot bolt into her bedroom.
Lucy: Reading:Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler - A funny, engaging, and utterly charming modern take on Anne of Green Gables. I both cried and laughed out loud in the first 50 pages. Listening:Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - A haunting tale with expertly rendered characters which is absolutely dripping with gothic aesthetic. I can only listen to this at night or when it’s raining because
it’s so atmospheric. Watching:For All Mankind - “The acting in this character driven show (which asks the question, “What if the Russians landed on the moon first?”) is absolutely phenomenal. Basically the entire main cast
deserves awards.
Nicki: Reading: Matrix by Lauren Groff, She Would Be King by Wayetu Moore, which is some of the most beautiful storytelling I've ever encountered, and Judith Butler's The Force of Nonviolence,
which I started last summer and keep picking up and putting down because it is so dense, she is so smart, and I feel like such an idiot by comparison. Listening: Birth of the Etude with Anna Petrova-Forster, in honor of International Piano Day, which was Monday. Watching: Reruns of Shetland, mostly for the landscape scenery.
1. Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro, Knopf, $28, 9780593318171 2. The Four Winds Kristin Hannah, St. Martin's, $28.99, 9781250178602 3. The Midnight Library Matt Haig, Viking, $26, 9780525559474 4. The Consequences of Fear Jacqueline Winspear, Harper, $27.99, 9780062868022 5. The Lost Apothecary Sarah Penner, Park
Row, $27.99, 9780778311010
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99, 9780062976581 2. The Code Breaker Walter Isaacson, S&S, $35, 9781982115852 3. Caste Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $32, 9780593230251 4. Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott, Riverhead Books, $20, 9780593189696 5. Greenlights Matthew McConaughey, Crown,
$30, 9780593139134
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Supporting independent bookstores in the South SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
Thank you for your interest in SIBA, Nicki Leone SysAdmin
nicki@sibaweb.com
THANKS TO OUR INKREADIBLE SPONSORS:
SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805 You have received this email because you are currently subscribed to receive general correspondence. Please click @@unsubscribe_url@@ if you
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Dear Friends,
Announcing Read This Next! 2021 Spring Edition
Wild Women and the Blues with Denny S. Bryce
Whisper Down the Lane with Clay McLeod Chapman
The Salt Fields with Stacy D. Flood
Memory Jars by Vera Brosgol 
Animals by Will Staples 
