BTW News Briefs

B&N Not Expected to Make Bid for Borders

According to the Wall Street Journal, Barnes & Noble isn't likely to make a bid for Borders Group. The Journal noted that Barnes & Noble's decision is based in part "on the tight lending markets that likely would make it difficult to arrange bank financing" and its concern about the length of some of Borders' store leases.

Borders has been up for sale since March, when it disclosed potential liquidity problems. In late May, B&N announced that it was studying the possibility of acquiring Borders.

The Journal added that B&N could change tactics, but it would have to make a move soon since "Borders hopes to complete the auction by the end of September, according to a person close to the company."

A Borders spokesperson told the Journal: "We continue to evaluate our alternatives."

The 2008 Midwest Booksellers' Choice Awards

This week, the Midwest Booksellers Association announced the winners of its 2008 Midwest Booksellers' Choice Awards:

• Fiction: Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan (Ballantine Books/Random House)
• Nonfiction: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish (Bantam Books/Random House)
• Poetry: Valentines: Poems by Ted Kooser; illustrated by Robert Hanna (University of Nebraska Press)
• Children's Picture Book: Agate: What Good Is a Moose? by Joy Morgan Dey and Nikki Johnson (Lake Superior Port Cities)
• Children's Literature: Little Klein by Anne Ylvisaker (Candlewick Press)

The awards honor authors from the Midwest Booksellers Association region and/or books about the region, which includes the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Awards will be presented at MBA's Fall Trade Show in St. Paul, Minnesota. Honor Books were also named in each category, and their authors will also be honored at the show.

NAIBA's Book Awards & Rep of the Year

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association has announced the winners of this year's NAIBA Book of the Year Awards:

• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (Algonquin)
• The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (S&S)
• Zen Ties by Jon J Muth (Scholastic)
• The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante (Bloomsbury Children's)
• Bronx Noir by S.J. Rozan (Akashic)

NAIBA has also named Trudy Kallman of Penguin Group the winner of this year's William Helmuth Award, which recognizes an exceptional salesperson who serves booksellers in the highest manner of professionalism.

Kallman and the winning authors will be honored at the Awards Banquet at the NAIBA Fall Conference.

Ingram Publisher Services Adds Distribution Clients

Ingram Publisher Services has announced distribution agreements with Mediane and GemmaMedia.

Mediane is an Italian publisher specializing in photographic books on cinema, culture, and music. GemmaMedia, located in Boston, Massachusetts, publishes titles in the categories of memoir, biography, fiction, and current affairs.

The 2008 Hugo Award Winners

The winners of the 2008 Hugo Awards were announced at Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, in Denver, Colorado, on August 9. This year's winners are:

• Best Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins; Fourth Estate)
• Best Novella: "All Seated on the Ground" by Connie Willis (Asimov's Dec. 2007; Subterranean Press)
• Best Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (Subterranean Press; F&SF Sept. 2007)
• Best Short Story: "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's June 2007)
• Best Related Book: Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)

Mary Robinette Kowal was named the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

The complete list of winners is available at www.thehugoawards.org.