On the second night of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference, NAIBA members gathered in the banquet hall of the DoubleTree hotel in Somerset, N.J., to honor booksellers, authors and publishing representatives at the annual awards dinner.
The night's first award, for Children's Book of the Year, went to Dragons Love Tacos by author Adam Rubin and illustrator Daniel Salmieri (Dial). The duo thanked indie booksellers for the "wonderful part" they play in the book world and pledged to continue buying their books from indie bookstores.
Tom Angleberger's Secret of a Fortune Wookiee: an Origami Yoda Book (Amulet), won Middle Grade Book of the Year. The author said that winning such an award with Judy Blume present made it even more special, and that the success of a middle grade author can be roughly determined by whether Blume is aware of you. Proclaimed Angleberger: "For at least three minutes, she knows who I am!" After Angleberger stepped down from the podium, he and Blume hugged and posed together, to exuberant applause.
Publishing house Europa Editions took home the NAIBA award for Best Original Paperbacks. Michael Reynolds, Europa's editor-in-chief, recalled how a single indie bookseller in Northern California turned Europa's first book published in the U.S. into an indie bestseller and that sales of that 2008 title, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, helped indies during a very difficult year. "Our relationship [with indie bookstores] helps to define what we are as an indie publisher," said Reynolds.
Unable to attend, authors Junot Diaz (This Is How You Lose Her, Adult Fiction Book of the Year), Andrew Soloman (Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, Adult Nonfiction) and David Levithan (Everyday, YA Book of the Year) sent messages of gratitude.
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Sales Rep of the Year Kristin Keith (left) with Drabyak Award winner Alicia Michielli. |
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The Helmuth Sales Rep of the Year award went to Norton representative Kristin Keith, who raised the award--a silver bowl--above her head and cheered as though it were the Stanley Cup. "I leave our meetings even more excited about the books I'm selling," Keith told the audience. "It's such a rush to put the right book in the right person's hand... I share this award with all of you."
Alicia Michielli, assistant manager of Talking Leaves, Buffalo, N.Y., received the Drabyak Handseller of the Year award, named for the late Joe Drabyak, former NAIBA president and bookseller at Chester County Book & Music Company in West Chester, Pa. "There's nothing I love more than talking about books," Michielli said, adding that outside of family gatherings, "this is the one place I could feel I completely belonged."
Jim Davis of the International Association of Crime Writers announced that Howard Owen was the winner of the 2012 Hammett Prize for his crime novel Oregon Hill (Permanent Press). "Nothing in my 25 years as a crime writer has pleased me this much," said Owen, who also thanked NAIBA for its hospitality and kindness. "I'm a lucky man, and especially tonight."
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| Judy Blume with Suzanna Hermans of Oblong Books. | |
The night's final prizes, the Legacy and Carla Cohen Free Speech awards, went to Judy Blume for her hugely influential, decades-spanning career and her work with the National Coalition Against Censorship. As she took the podium, Blume received a standing ovation befitting a rock star.
Blume said that she often hears from fans that they plan to give their children copies of her books when they enter adolescence. She suggested that the best way to ensure that is to buy or borrow an edition with a new cover, leave it somewhere around the house, and then, when your son or daughter asks about it, say, "I don't think you're ready."
She also talked about her love of indies and her gratitude to indie booksellers for supporting her while she was still in the early stages of her career. She announced that she hoped to finish her next novel soon, so she can "visit all of your stores." --Alex Mutter