Four Booksellers Recognized by PW as Rising Stars

Four indie booksellers were recently recognized as rising book industry stars by the PW Star Watch program. The honorees were feted along with the PW Star Watch Superstar at an awards ceremony on September 15.

Wintaye Gebru, general manager of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, was chosen as one of the five PW Star Watch finalists. Janet Geddis of Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia; Samantha Shaw of Green Apple Books in San Francisco; and Nicole Sullivan of BookBar in Denver, Colorado, were among the 40 industry honorees.

Publishers Weekly launched the Star Watch program last year in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair.  More than 300 nominations were submitted this year and reviewed by a team of judges from Publishers Weekly, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, and the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Andrew Harwell, senior editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, was named the PW Star Watch Superstar at the awards ceremony. Harwell will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, courtesy of the fair.