BEA Spotlight: Celebration of Bookselling

Booksellers and other industry professionals attending next month's BookExpo America in Washington, D.C., are invited to the American Booksellers Association's Celebration of Bookselling, sponsored by Ingram Book Group and Ingram Publisher Services. The joyful event -- one of the highlights of BEA programming -- features food and drink and includes presentations of the Book Sense Book of the Year Awards and honors to several outstanding booksellers.

"Ingram is thrilled to sponsor the Celebration of Bookselling this year, and hopes to for many years to come," said Ingram Book Group President and CEO Jim Chandler. "Booksellers do such important work in our society. The independent marketplace has always been central to what we do at Ingram -- past, present, and future. For the past 14 months, we have also been able to create a 'level playing field' for small- to medium-sized publishers through Ingram Publisher Services in helping them reach the book markets. Support of independent booksellers and now independent publishers will always be core to our mission."

The authors and illustrators of three of the four Book Sense Book of the Year winners will be at the Celebration to receive their awards: For Nonfiction, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (William Morrow); for Fiction, Elizabeth Kostova , author of The Historian: A Novel (Little, Brown); and for Children's Illustrated, Jon J Muth, author and illustrator of Zen Shorts, (Scholastic Press). Children's Literature winner Cornelia Funke, author of Inkspell (Chicken House/Scholastic), will not be able to attend. Winners will receive gifts provided by Levenger.

Another highlight of the Celebration will be the presentation of only the second ABA Lifetime Achievement Award to Rhett and Betty Jackson, the former owners of the Happy Bookseller, by fellow South Carolinian, and longtime friend, author Pat Conroy.

The presentation of the Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year Award to Ed and Barbara Morrow of Northshire Bookstore of Manchester Center, Vermont, and the Rep of the Year Award to Mark Gates of Holtzbrinck will also be part of the Celebration festivities.

ABA will honor outgoing Board members ABA President Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Miami, Florida, and Suzanne Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, who has also served as Board vice president, at the event.

The festivities will also include an acknowledgment of booksellers from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Putumayo World Music artist Luca Mundaca, a featured artist on Putumayo's Brazilian Lounge CD, will treat guests to a live performance of original songs during the event, which is free and open to all BEA participants.

The Celebration of Bookselling will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Friday, May 19, in Ballroom A in the Washington Convention Center. Shuttle Bus service on Route 7 will be extended until 7:30 p.m. to accommodate transportation after the event to the ABA hotels.