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 The International Booksellers Federation (IBF) has announced the American Booksellers Association member bookstores to be featured in the two-year calendar "50 Unique Bookshops -- 2007 & 2008." IBF, a non-governmental organization of booksellers associations and booksellers from around the world, is publishing the calendar featuring 50 bookstores representing all IBF member countries to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It will be unveiled at the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair.
As the popularity of ABA's educational seminar "Creating Killer Events" at last month's BookExpo America demonstrated, successful independent booksellers are always looking for ways to strengthen their position as community centers through events with, and without, authors (see related story). At Manhattan's Rizzoli Bookstore, the challenge was recently met with a series of free Italian lessons that successfully reinforced the store's objective of serving as a cultural center for the neighborhood.
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Booksellers attending the panel on "Creating Killer Events" on Thursday, May 18, at BookExpo America heard from experienced booksellers about the importance of making an independent bookstore the community center for great author (and "authorless") events, to sell books, to garner free publicity, and to strengthen ties with customers and other key community institutions.
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 When Don Muller first landed in Sitka in the mid-1970s, he worked as a chemist at the local pulp mill. When he could no longer tolerate the mill's effects on the surrounding Tongass Forest, he left. Muller and his wife, Mary Stensvold, then formed a partnership with two other couples to create Old Harbor Books, a store with a special focus on environmental and other progressive causes.
Two iconic booksellers are altering San Francisco's literary landscape as one closes a store and the other puts a business up for sale and opens another. Andy Ross, owner of Cody's Books, Inc., with three stores in the Bay Area, has announced the closing of the Telegraph Avenue location in Berkeley on July 10.
 Over the course of Millrace Books' 35 years on the banks of the Farmington River in Farmington, Connecticut, owner Jan Owens has always "made use of what we've got," that is, she often incorporates the river in book events and even displays -- there's a large picture window that overlooks the water and an island. For the store's 35th anniversary, however, Owens involved her entire community.
 This year's winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award for Excellence in Children's Bookselling, announced by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) on May 8, are Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, in the general bookstore category and A Likely Story Children's Bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia, in the children's specialty category.
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About ABA
American Booksellers Association is a national trade association that supports and advocates for the success of independent bookstores. We provide members with education, networking opportunities, advocacy, resources, and technology. In turn our members support local schools through book fairs, donations and author visits; promote literacy; provide inclusive community centers; connect readers and books; add character to neighborhoods; champion and center diverse and new voices; and contribute to the local economy. We feel honored to support them in their work.
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Don Shaw, and his wife, Margo, the owners of Books Plus in Fernandina Beach, relocated to the Amelia Island community on the northeastern coast of Florida from the Boston area 10 years ago. The area annually welcomes thousands of retirees and others embracing a more relaxed lifestyle and year-round sunshine; however, the Shaws didn't want to slow down.
For the owners of the 30-year-old Prairie Books & Gifts in Hastings, Nebraska, one can go home again. In 1983, owners Bernie and Jane Tushaus, moved their then seven-year-old store from downtown Hastings to the local mall. The general bookstore was located at the mall for 16 years until the Tushauses finally decided that enough was enough.
The six-year-old 
