I was away for much of the month of January, partly on vacation in both California and Florida, and partly to attend the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute in New Orleans. What an interesting and crazy city! It was an intense few days of speakers, seminars, discussion, and education all about the book business; what a great experience it is to mingle with so many interesting book people and great authors too! I was thrilled to be able to meet Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder, Bel Canto, and others, following her excellent address to the group. She is the cofounder and owner of a new independent bookstore in Nashville, so if you happen to visit that city, be sure to stop in and you might get to meet her there.

James Patterson spoke also and really emphasized the huge importance of getting kids (especially boys) reading more. His message directed especially to dads was to teach your son how to ride a bike, how to throw a baseball, and also be sure to keep him reading good books all summer. Setting an example by taking time for reading yourself is important too! Patterson is putting his money where his mouth is by providing $70,000 in college scholarship money to young men across the nation. One recipient was there and was privileged to introduce Patterson to the group.

We heard historian and author Douglas Brinkley (current history professor at Rice University in Houston) interviewed about his experience during Hurricane Katrina; his book on that subject is The Great Deluge. He has a new biography of Walter Kronkite coming out in May. Brinkley is one of a select group of writers / historians who are in an occasional book club with President Obama at the White House!

A few of the other authors I was privileged to meet were:
Chris Cleave (Little Bee); his new book is called Gold and will be released in July in time for the 2012 summer Olympics. The story features two elite women athletes and their quest for Olympic Gold.
Katherine Howe, author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which I enjoyed very much. Her new book, The House of Velvet and Glass, will be here in April.
Richard Ford, Pulitzer prize winning author of many titles—his newest will be out in June and is called Canada.
Jan-Phillipp Sendker, author of a lovely book I read recently called The Art of Hearing Heartbeats which is available now in paperback.

There was a lot of buzz during the conference about World Book Night; please check out the information in this newsletter and register online to be a book giver. It's going to be a great event! Now I'm back to stay for a while and I have a notebook full of ideas to ponder over the next months. For the most part, independent bookstores did well last year and we all hope the trend continues. A statement from Douglas Brinkley that I liked was that the "independent bookstore is central to the civic life of a community". We're here for you!

Kathleen