BTW News Briefs

Black Images Book Bazaar to Close

Because of the failing economy and high rent, Dallas' Black Images Book Bazaar will close when the store's lease is up next year, as reported by the Associated Press. One-time ABA Board member Emma Rodgers told The Dallas Morning News that "the handwriting has been on the wall for a while. We're not generating as many sales as we were and this economy isn't helping."

Harry Robinson, president and CEO of the African American Museum, told AP that Black Images' closing would be a disaster for the community. "Emma has promoted authors, she's nurtured authors. She's been like a mother to them," he said. The AP noted that though Rodgers' lease runs through August 2005, she is hoping another retailer will take over the lease before then, so she can move out.

Ingram Book Group to Create New Distribution Service

On April 5, Ingram Book Group announced that it plans to create a new fee-based distribution service and will extend its distribution services to publishers beyond the current wholesale model, according to Jim Chandler, the company's chief commercial officer. To lead the charge, Ingram tapped Phil Ollila to fill the newly created position of vice president, publisher services at Ingram. Ollila will head the development, implementation, and execution of plans and will be relocating from Michigan where he served as vice president, category marketing-books, for Borders Group.

Monique Truong Wins 2004 Young Lions Fiction Award

On Thursday, April 1, Monique Truong was awarded the New York Public Library's 2004 Young Lions Fiction Award for The Book of Salt (Houghton Mifflin). In announcing the prize the Library's president, Paul LeClerc, said "This year's award goes to a novel that can rightly be called historical, but, like all works of startling originality, surpasses that genre to become a story beyond the boundaries of time." The book was also a May/June 2003 Book Sense 76 pick.

In picking the book for the 76, bookseller Mary Benham of Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, said: "This extraordinary, utterly original novel is narrated by a young, gay Vietnamese man who is banished from his homeland and who ends up in Paris in the 1920s, taking a job as a cook in the famous literary household of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Suffused with intelligence, wit, and sensuality, this is a novel to be savored -- every sentence contains a treasure."

PNBA Announces New Officers

The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association has announced the election of new officers, who began their terms on April 1. They are:

• President: Pat Rutledge of A Book for All Seasons in Leavenworth, Washington;
  
• Vice President: Will Peters of Annie Bloom's Books in Portland, Oregon;
  
• Secretary/Treasurer: DeDe Teeters of Armchair Books in Port Orchard, Washington.
  

Business Alliance to Hold Second National Conference in Philadelphia

On May 20 - May 23 in Philadelphia, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) will hold its second national conference, bringing together business and community leaders who are working together to strengthen local communities and preserve our natural environment. The BALLE conference will feature panel discussions and workshops to explore key issues and to generate ideas and action for stimulating local living economies throughout the country.

Some of the topics at the conference will include: best practice "Local Living Economy" business models; bringing capital back to communities; public policy changes for a positive future; education for sustainability; equity and diversity in sustainable businesses; organizing local first campaigns; and connecting local economies globally. For more information, click here.