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Written by Authors Round the
South
July 2008
 The
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) is pleased to
announce the winners of the 2008 SIBA Book Award, celebrating the
best of southern literature.
Each year, hundreds of booksellers across the South vote on their
favorite hand-sell books of the year. These are the Southern books
they have most enjoyed selling to customers; the ones that they
couldn't stop talking about; the ones most often pushed into a
customer's hands with the words "You have got to read this!" The
SIBA Book Award was created to recognize great books of Southern
origin, as determined by people whose business it is to know great
books-the independent booksellers of the South.
Books are nominated in five categories, including fiction,
nonfiction, poetry, cooking and children's. For a book to be
eligible, it must be set in the South, and it must have been
published within the calendar year. Only SIBA-member booksellers can
submit nominations and vote on the selection of finalists. In 2008,
for the first time, winners were selected by a jury of SIBA
booksellers.
Taking the SIBA Book Award to a New
Level:
2008 is a landmark year for the SIBA Book Award, marking its
transition to a new level of visibility and public awareness. Since
it was first begun in 1999, the SIBA Book Award has become one of
the most successful initiatives of the Southern Independent
Booksellers Alliance. Today, nearly ten years later, the list of
award-winners represents some of the finest examples of Southern
literature, and the award has become a fully entrenched respected
entity among Southern booksellers and publishers. Beginning in 2008,
the SIBA Book Awards Ceremony will be held as part of the Decatur
Book Festival on Labor Day Weekend in Decatur, GA. The festival,
which attracts upwards of 60,000 attendees each year, is open to the
public and promises to garner increased exposure for the Awards and
the award-winning books and authors. Finalists and winner authors
will be invited to attend and be recognized for their work, and SIBA
booksellers will participate in the ceremonies. The Decatur Book
Festival will host a private reception for the authors and SIBA's
core members after the public awards ceremony, and the awards
themselves will be included in the general festival publicity.
For more information about the SIBA Book Awards, please visit
SIBA's website at
www.sibaweb.com.
About Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) is a trade
association which represents booksellers in Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. SIBA exists to
empower, promote, and celebrate core member bookstores in a spirit
of partnership. Independent, privately held, brick and mortar
bookstores in our region constitutes the core members. Included in
our membership are owners, managers and employees of independent
bookstores, publishers' representatives, publishers, wholesalers and
producers of "sideline" bookstore goods. Librarians, book reviewers,
writers and other "friends of the trade" are also represented in our
membership.
SIBA was formed to unite in one organization individuals and
businesses actively engaged in the writing, selling, publishing,
distribution and/or promoting of books in the Southeast United
States. SIBA provides a forum to discuss common problems and share
ideas; offers educational programs and workshops for the benefit of
its members; and strives to promote a high standard of ethics and
business practices among the membership. |
The best in Southern Literature as chosen by the people who
would know. . .
. . .Southern Independent Booksellers
The 2008 SIBA Book Award Winners:
Children's
Cookbook
Poetry Fiction
Non-Fiction
If you would like to purchase any of these books,
please use this form on our home page
and tell us which book you want and we will contact you about your
order.
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Children’s
 Deep
in the Swamp
by Donna Bateman,
illustrated by Brian Lies, Charlesbridge
I absolutely love selling this book to children. The
swamp in the book is in Georgia, but relates to our
Louisiana swamps, too. I love giving kids books about
their own land and heritage. Beautiful illustrations on
every page."~The Raven Bookstore
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Cookbook
 A
Love Affair with Southern Cooking
by Jean Anderson,
William Morrow
"Black-eyed pea hummus--yummy!" ~Park Road Books
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Poetry
 The
House On Boulevard Street
by David Kirby,
LSU Press
"Kirby's narrative poems are so amazing and
thought-provoking, funny in places you would never
expect, and wise and humble. Like the very best in
poetry, they need to be read out loud. You have the
feeling you have set out on a journey with a fascinating
companion, lost track of the way, and when you are sure
you are lost you suddenly find yourself, if not exactly
where you intended to be then in a new place even better
than you expected to find." ~Inkwood Books
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Fiction
 Garden
Spells
by Sarah Addison Allen,
Bantam Books
"Asheville, N.C resident Sarah Addison Allen has made a
fan out of us! In her first novel, Allen gives us great
characters, a pinch of magic and a beautiful cover that
draws us in." ~Two Sisters Bookery
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Nonfiction
 Animal,
Vegetable, Miracle
by Barbara Kingsolver,
HarperCollins
A fascinating and beautifully written book that is about
so much more than merely eating locally." ~City Lights
Bookstore
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If you would like to purchase any of these
books, please use this form on
our home page and tell us which book you want and we will
contact you about your order. |
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