Booksellers and Authors to Present Indies Introduce Debut Titles at Bookfest

Indies Introduce panelists and authors will present the titles chosen for the Summer/Fall 2021 program at Edelweiss Bookfest, which will take place virtually on June 8 and 9. Register here.

The schedule for the Indies Introduce presentations will be as follows:

• June 8 at 12:00 p.m. ET: Adult Debut Titles
• June 9 at 12:00 p.m. ET: Kids Debut Titles

Publishers are once again offering specials on 10 adult titles and 10 kids titles chosen by panels of American Booksellers Association member booksellers from across the U.S. as the top debuts of the upcoming publishing season. The Summer/Fall 2021 Indies Introduce program features titles for adults, young adults, and middle grade readers, all publishing between June and November 2021.

For stores that have taken part in past Indies Introduce promotions, there’s no need to sign up to take advantage of publishers’ Summer/Fall offers. However, stores that are new to Indies Introduce must complete the Indies Introduce sign-up form by June 15 in order to participate in the program.

This year, the bookseller panelists noted that Indies Introduce fostered a strong sense of community during COVID restrictions. Carrie Koepke of Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri, said, “Chatting with this bookish crew felt like home….this is the sort of thing that makes us better at what we do and love it even more.”

And Brein Lopez of Children’s Book World in Los Angeles, California, said, “I had an incredible experience and so happy to have made nine new friends with a shared vision for great inclusive books for kids.”

The Summer/Fall 2021 Indies Introduce Kids and Adult Debuts to be presented on June 8 and 9 are:

Adult Debuts

Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić
Restless Books, 9781632062895, Paperback Fiction, $18, 6/1/2021

House of Sticks by Ly Tran
Scribner, 9781501118814, Hardcover Memoir, $27, 6/1/21

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Doubleday, 9780385547062, Hardcover Fiction, $26.95, 6/8/2021

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
Harper Voyager, 9780062973122, Hardcover Fiction, $27.99, 6/8/21

Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven
Spiegel & Grau, 9781954118003, Hardcover Memoir, $28, 7/6/2021

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Ecco, 9780063049901, Hardcover Short Stories, $27.99, 8/3/2021

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
Liveright, 9781631498619, Hardcover Fiction/Thriller, $26, 8/10/2021

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
Henry Holt and Co., 9781250807151, Hardcover Short Stories, $26.99,10/5/2021

Cairo Circles by Doma Mahmoud
Unnamed Press, 9781951213367, Hardcover Fiction, $28, 10/12/2021

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park, Anton Hur (transl.)
Grove Press, 9780802158789, Hardcover Fiction, $25, 11/9/2021

Kids Debuts

The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons
Dial Books, 9781984815408, Hardcover Young Adult, $17.99, 6/1/2021

Don’t Hate the Player by Alexis Nedd
Bloomsbury YA, 9781547605026, Hardcover Young Adult, $17.99, 6/15/2021.

Me (Moth) by Amber McBride
Feiwel & Friends, 9781250780362, Hardcover Young Adult, $18.99, 8/17/2021

The Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
Sourcebooks Young Readers, 9781728234656, Hardcover Middle Grade, $17.99, 9/14/2021

When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez
Dial Books, 9780593324486, Hardcover Young Adult, $18.99, 9/21/2021

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker
Inkyard Press, 9781335405661, Hardcover Young Adult, $18.99, 10/12/2021

Barakah Beats by Maleeha Siddiqui
Scholastic Press, 9781338702064, Hardcover Middle Grade, $17.99, 10/19/2021

Manu by Kelly Fernández
Graphix, 9781338264197/9781338264180, Hardcover/Paperback Middle Grade Graphic Novel, $24.99/$12.99, 10/19/2021

Neverforgotten by Alejandra Algorta, Aida Salazar (Transl.)
Levine Querido, 9781646140947, Hardcover Middle Grade, $17.99, 10/26/2021

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
Random House Books for Young Readers, 9780593120941, Hardcover Young Adult, $18.99, 11/9/2021

Bookseller panelists who will be appearing at the presentations include:

Adult Panelists

• Sara Luce Look, Charis Books & More (Decatur, GA) (Chair)
• Deidre Dumpson, WORD Bookstore (Jersey City, NJ)
• Olivia Edmunds-Diez, Boulder Book Store (Boulder, CO)
• Audrey Huang, Belmont Books (Belmont, MA)
• Carrie Koepke, Skylark Books (Columbia, MO)
• Chris Lee, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI)
• Ariana Paliobagis, Country Bookshelf (Bozeman, MT)

Kids Panelists

• Brein Lopez, Children’s Book World (Los Angeles, CA) (Chair)
• Hannah Amrollahi, Bookworm of Omaha (Omaha, NE)
• Kelsy April, Bank Square Books (Mystic, CT) and Savoy Bookshop & Cafe (Westerly, RI)
• Kim Brock, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Cincinnati, OH)
• Cat Chapman, The Oxford Exchange (Tampa, FL)
• Connie Griffin, Bookworks (Albuquerque, NM)
• René Kirkpatrick, University Book Store (Seattle, WA)
• Abby Rauscher, Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY)

Bookfest, a virtual celebration of all things books, has a wide variety of programming on tap, including author panels and genre-focused sessions, Edelweiss training, meetups, and more. Stores can also opt-in to receive direct attendee e-commerce book sales.View the full program and register for the event here.

To access the list of titles with bookseller blurbs and full details on publishers’ offers, booksellers will need their BookWeb.org login name and password (email [email protected] for login information). The titles are also listed on Edelweiss. The Indies Introduce logo is available for download in the Marketing Assets section, which is located under BookWeb.org’s “For Booksellers” tab.