BTW News Briefs

Starbucks to Sell Second Book

Starbucks has announced that it will soon begin selling A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by first-time author Ishmael Beah (FSG) at its U.S. company-operated locations. The first book Starbucks offered was Mitch Albom's For One More Day (Hyperion), which sold nearly 100,000 copies at the coffeehouses.

Beah's debut book is about his life as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone, in the 1990s. A Long Way Gone will go on sale at Starbucks locations on February 15, and Beah is slated to go on tour to Starbucks stores in 10 cities. Starbucks said that it would be donating $2 to UNICEF from each sale of the $22 book, with a minimum donation of $100,000.

Sobol Award Canceled

The Sobol Award, a literary contest that offered writers a $100,000 first prize and a contract with Simon & Schuster for the three winners, has been canceled. The contest website notes, "No further manuscript submissions will be accepted. All writers who have submitted manuscripts will receive a full refund of their entry fee ($85), and our copies of the manuscripts will be destroyed and deleted from our system."

According to the Associated Press, officials acknowledged that the prize's entry fee deterred many writers from participating in the contest. The Sobol Award also generated controversy for charging participants what many considered to be tantamount to a reading fee, which industry policy prohibits.

Caravan of Children's Book Authors to Visit Vermont Independents

A group of 29 children's book authors and illustrators will visit independent bookstores in Vermont in January in conjunction with the Kindling Words retreat, a three-day gathering of children's book authors, illustrators, and editors to be held January 25 - 28 at the Essex Inn in Essex, Vermont. The authors and illustrators include winners of the National Book Award, Governor General's Award, Golden Kite Award, Toms Rivera Award, Caldecott Honor, and Michael L. Printz Honor.

The second annual Kindling Words Caravan will kick off at Book Rack and Children's Pages in Essex on Thursday, January 25. A second leg of the caravan will visit Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne on Sunday, January 28.

"Last year we had 12 authors and illustrators participating in the Kindling Words Caravan," said organizer and author Susanna Reich in a press release. "This year we have 29, some of them from as far away as California. And we're thrilled to be partnering with such fantastic independent bookstores."