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At the SCBWI meeting held on Tuesday 20 November 2007 at UNISA Penny Hochfeld discussed the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Awards.

Exclusive Books, in association with IBBY S.A., has taken on the sponsorship of the award for the best original children's picture book or illustrated children's story book published in South Africa.

For the EXCLUSIVE BOOKS IBBY SA AWARD for 2007, they invited submissions of books published between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2007. Fifty-six entries were received and evaluated by the jury.

The jury consisted of various people associated with publishing of children’s books as well as experts in Fine Art and book illustration. Other members comprised the Chairperson of IBBY SA, the IBBY SA Executive member responsible for the awards portfolio, and members co-opted from the areas of design, public and school libraries, academic librarianship, and book-selection for children.

The rules require that the award is for a picture book or illustrated children’s story book adjudged the best in the period of adjudication. The writer and illustrator must be South Africans, whether living in South Africa or not; or non-South Africans living and working in South Africa. The book must be an original work written in any of the official South African languages and it must have been published in South Africa.
Importantly, the award is given to a book that is recognisably South African in character.

The shortlist of five titles was published some weeks before the final award was announced. The award was announced at an Exclusive Books event on 11 September in Johannesburg.

Robin Malan announced that the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Award was awarded jointly to:

The Cool Nguni (written by Maryanne Bester, illustrated by Shayle Bester, published by Jacana Media) to award and reward adventurousness and a quirky sense of fun in the jaunty image projected through both text and illustrations.

Fynbosfeetjies (written by Antjie Krog, illustrated by Fiona Moodie, published by Umuzi) to award and reward professional excellence and artistry in both the writing and the illustration of the funky fairies.

Ouma Ruby’s Secret (written by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Anneliese Voigt-Peters, published by Giraffe Books Pan Macmillan) for the humanity and the homespun South African authenticity of both text and illustrations.

UTshepo mde / Tall enough (written by Mhlobo Jadezweni, illustrated by Hannah Morris, published by Electric Book Works) for the magic of its story and the sophistication of its illustrations.

Zanzibar Road (written and illustrated by Niki Daly, published in English by Pan Macmillan and in Afrikaans by LAPA Uitgewers) for the professionalism and experience of the writer and illustrator as much as for the fun he has and gives young readers.

Excerpt from presentation by Robin Malan (Chairman of IBBY SA) at Awards Event held on 11 September 2007.

The award will be made every second year, from 2007 onwards. Exclusive Books and IBBY SA hope that this new Award will encourage the publication of wonderful new South African children's books, as it rewards talented authors and illustrators.

I love that people send me articles about books, bookstores, book technology, and other stuff they know I might be interested in for the blog. My friend Steve sends me the best of the gazillion articles he reads about ebooks. The ALP sends me articles about comics. And sometimes my mom sends me articles about bookstores. Thanks, guys -- I read them all, though I don't always have time to talk about them.

Speaking of time, if you've got any this Saturday and Sunday, check out the Indie & Small Press Book Fair at the New York Center for Independent Publishing. As the Times notes, the sessions include musicians as well as authors and publishers, and the conversations should be as wide-ranging as the books on offer.

And speaking of a wide range of great books, check out the new project of the National Book Critics Circle: a monthly Best Recommended list, compiled from the favorites of lots of great authors and critics. It's sure to be an extremely well-curated list -- like an NBCC award shortlist for every month. We're planning on featuring a display in the bookstore, and I think the list will prove useful in lots of other venues for finding out the best books of the moment. Here's the current list:

Fiction

So maybe you remember me mentioning the Brooklyn Business Library's business plan competition, which I entered with a crazy plan for an independent bookstore in Brooklyn. The winner of the competition gets $15,000 to use toward starting up their business, and runners-up get lesser financial prizes or service packages from local vendors.

Well, late last week I got a call to tell me I'm a finalist. (!!!)

I still have a presentation to make to a panel of judges on the 28th (which sounds like a cross between a dissertation defense and those prepared speeches I did in junior high), and there's no guarantee I'll take home the prize or even a secondary one. But what an incredible confidence booster it has been to realize that it's not just fellow book nerds who are enthusiastic about this idea. There are some Brooklynites out there who don't think I'm completely nuts, too, and allow for the possibility that I might have something to bring to our community. I'm grateful, and newly excited about the future.


Speaking of community, I'd like to officially invite all you younger booksellers and publishing folks to our fourth (or fifth?) quarterly ELNO - Emerging Leaders Night Out. This is your chance to meet others of your age and outlook who work in the field of books. Network, mingle, throw your head back and laugh engagingly, or just look around and realize that you're not alone. The shindig will be held Wednesday, November 28, from 7 to 9 PM at the beautiful HousingWorks Used Book Cafe on Crosby Street; visit HousingWorks' website for directions. It costs nothing to get in, and HousingWorks is offering happy hour prices on beer from its cafe all evening. And rumor has it there will also be some comp copies of books donated by publishers for young booksellers, and perhaps even some authors to class up the joint. You can email me here if you have questions or you want to RSVP. And learn more about Emerging Leaders here. Hope to see you at the bookstore!

You'll get the narrative rundown later, along with all the valuable things I learned and people I met, but everyone knows the pictures are the fun part, right?

I feel the story of my BEA will be clear from these photos: i.e., I burned out early. Stressing out over the EL party on Wednesday, the LBC party on Thursday, and my panel on Saturday meant that I was not at my best for the rest of the festivities. But "oh, my foes, and oh my friends," as notorious party girl Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote -- it was worth it.


Here's an overhead shot of the scene at Floyd, the Brooklyn bar chosen to hold a roomful of young booksellers from all over the country for the First Annual EL-BEA.
My coworker Katie chats with EL Council Member Sylla on Floyd's comfy couches.

From left to right, Amanda of Harvard Square, Tom of McNally Robinson AND A Public Space, and Megan of Harvard Square (who has the distinction of being the only OTHER person to have both an EL button and an LBC button to her name...)
Here the ABA's own Lisa Winn (our EL Liaison) gets into the bocce game, with Kari Patch of Harvard Square looking on.
Here my co-conspirator bookseller Amanda Lydon, BTW reporter Karen Schechner, Tattered Cover's Neil, and BEA director Lance Fensterman confab on the couches.
Here we have the ever-youthful John Mutter of Shelf Awareness and Susan Weiss of breathe books in Baltimore, classing up the party.

Here we find the inimitable Lance Fensterman in a rare moment of leisure.

And my favorite -- Book Nerd and Mr. BEA, totally geekin' out at the greatness of it all.
Here we graciously draw the curtain over EL-BEA (though I may have other, more incriminating photos if anyone's interested...)

On to Thursday night. Here's the prettiest crowd shot from Kettle of Fish, where members of the Litblog Co-Op and a couple hundred of their closest friends gathered to hobnob with their fellow book folks.

Here's the smoking lounge outside -- there's Megan again, Richard Nash from Soft Skull Press, Jill from Powell's (thanks Dave!), and a flash of red hair that is Carolyn of Pinky's Paperhaus.

I'm out of time and I have to run to work, so I'll have to post the rest tomorrow and Friday. Have fun -- let me know if there are other places I should look for great BEA pictures... Read the rest of this post

I've been thrilled and intrigued by the answers to my questions about where you read reviews, and why. I want to keep the question open for a couple of days longer to get some more feedback and refine my thoughts on the subject. Look for a synthesis of your responses and my thoughts on the matter by Wednesday, and in the meantime, if you haven't responded I'd love to hear from you. (It's the end of Fundraising Drive Week at WNYC, which I listen to every morning, so forgive me if I sound like I'm soliciting pledges...)

Instead, today I want to point out joyfully two major articles about independent bookstores that are NOT playing the same, sad "too bad independent bookstores are doomed" tune. Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the link to these two:

The Colorado Springs Business Journal allows as how there are fewer indie bookstores in Colorado Springs than there used to be, but demonstrates that those that remain are growing and thriving because they have adapted to the changing marketplace. Poor Richards and Covered Treasures (which doesn't have a website yet) are highlighted as stores that have diversified their inventory (PR has a restaurant, wine bar, and toy store, and CT carries unique stationary), and created community gathering places through author readings and other events. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

The LA Weekly magazine has a whole string of articles on their local indie bookstore scene, which is as diverse and sprawling and sometimes kooky as the city itself. Bookstores admired include Book Soup, Vromans, Skylight, Family, Diesel, A&M Book Cellars, Alias Books, Counterpoint Records and Books, The Daily Planet, David Kaye Books & Memorabilia, Equator, The Iliad Bookshop, Metropolis, Small World Books, and Tia Chucha’s Cafe Cultural.

The cool bookstore names alone are worth savoring, and the LA Weekly highlights not only the stores' unique aesthetics but the staff that give them their personality. My favorite was reading about Book Soup's events coordinator Tyson Cornell, since we have basically the same job on opposite coasts, and Book Soup and my bookstore have a lot of overlap in the authors that we host... but Cornell has had drinks with Johnny Depp, and his photo indicates he is clearly far cooler than me.... still, it's nice to find oneself in such hip company. Kudos to LA for focusing on what's great in its literary scene, and honoring the booksellers as a major part of that.

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So while you're in the celebratory mood, I'd like to announce that the Emerging Leaders Party at BEA is in full effect. We'll be hanging out at 7:00 on Wednesday night, May 30, at a cool Brooklyn bar with good music, some young authors, and a whole bunch of hot young booksellers. Under 40-ness will be [semi-]strictly enforced -- this is for the youngsters who don't necessarily get invited to all the big BEA parties, and it's just for us. We'll have some practical information to hand out to help the kids get the most out of BEA and our bookselling careers, and the drinks are on BEA (thanks a zillion again, Lance Fensterman!). Email me (booknerdnyc, earthlink) if you didn't get an invite yet and you want to come, and I'll send you the info. Hope to see lots of you there!

(We now return to our regularly scheduled Friday programming. In Brooklyn today bookstore and wedding compete for the Book Nerd's attention...)