Introducing ABA’s New Member Relationship Manager, Liz Roberts

Former nonprofit outreach and development professional Liz Roberts has joined the American Booksellers Association staff as the organization’s new Member Relationship Manager, serving the NEIBA, GLIBA, and MIBA regions and sharing the NAIBA region with Senior Member Relationship Manager Nathan Halter.

Working under ABA Membership and Marketing Officer Meg Smith, Roberts will be the first point of contact for member bookstores in her regions, and will be available to answer questions regarding ABA services and provide assistance with industry-related issues. She succeeds Catherine Cusick, who left the organization earlier this year.

In her new position, Roberts’ other areas of concern will include disseminating “Opening a Bookstore” kits, supporting Associate Members and Friends of Bookselling category members, and supporting all Provisional Members within her assigned regions.

Roberts said she is looking forward to learning more about all of the opportunities and educational programs ABA provides for booksellers, which she plans to highlight for membership through both personal interactions and written communication with booksellers.

“It’s exciting to see what ABA offers. We have a relatively modest staff, especially for the breadth of programs and resources we provide,” said Roberts. “I’m looking forward to learning more deeply what these programs entail.”

Roberts’ prior career consisted of working at educational and cultural nonprofits as well as some experience as an early childhood educator and teacher trainer. Her past nonprofit work includes serving as an outreach coordinator at an adult education center and community art space, where she was involved with programming and publicity and worked closely with community groups and members. Following that job, Roberts continued with nonprofit work for seven more years as a development director at another organization, where she engaged with and supported members and donors.

Roberts has an undergraduate degree in politics and women’s studies from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree in alternative education from Vermont College of Norwich University. She recently received her MFA in poetry at Brooklyn College, and has had several poems published in literary journals and anthologies, including The Widows’ Handbook, an anthology from The Kent State University Press. Her favorite authors include poets Rainer Maria Rilke and Nicole Brossard and novelists Toni Morrison and Elena Ferrante.

“My lifelong addiction to books made ABA a very intriguing organization to me. The more I read about what ABA has been doing to strengthen community bookstores around the country, the more eager I was to support the work,” said Roberts, who named Bluestockings Books in New York City and City Lights Books in San Francisco as two of her favorite indie bookstores.

Roberts said she would describe independent bookstores as sort of sacred, secular spaces. “I don’t believe I would be the person I became without the amazing bookstores in all of the communities where I have lived throughout my life,” she said. “In this era where people are attached to their computers a lot of the time and apart from each other, there’s something magical about a space where books live and where people who love them come to linger.”

Roberts said she will find it meaningful to contribute to ABA’s work to strengthen the indie bookstore community, and she looks forward to providing booksellers with all of the resources they need to make the most of their ABA membership.

“Indie bookstores are more than just places of commerce; they are places where communities can come together for literary purposes, for gathering and sharing a range of ideas and experiences,” said Roberts. “It’s a privilege to work here; being around people who are committed to supporting these spaces, people who care so much about something I care about, feels wonderful.”

Roberts said she is excited to reach out to booksellers in her regions in the coming weeks and months and to meet with members in-person at upcoming ABA and regional association events. Roberts can be reached at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7566, or at [email protected].