In an atmosphere described by attendees as buoyant and energized, greater numbers of booksellers and industry professionals than in recent years returned to New York for the city's first national booksellers trade show in over a decade. Scheduling considerations placed the show a full month earlier than usual, but few complained about an early spring visit to New York, particularly when the weather turned perfectly sunny and balmy and so many unique activities were within reach.

Shelley Jackson's debut story collection, The Melancholy of Anatomy (an Anchor Books trade paper original), boldly turns the human body inside out, as the visceral becomes visible and takes on a life of its own through her fantastical tales.

ABA has announced that David Walker of Washington, D.C., an independent consultant in the book industry, will be working with the association on matters relating to industry relations.

Walker has been an independent consultant for the past five years. During that time, he worked with ABA on a number of projects, including the processing of claims relating to the Penguin lawsuit settlement.

Prior to becoming an industry consultant, Walker was general manager of Olsson's Books in Washington, D.C. He worked at Olsson’s for 11 years.

After almost four decades in publishing working to serve writers, Toinette Lippe discovered that a friend’s challenge had turned the tables on her.

In April 1999, when Lippe told Joel Fotinos, publisher of the Jeremy P. Tarcher imprint at Penguin Putnam, over dinner at Manhattan’s Sarabeth's Kitchen, that she had decided to leave her full-time job at Random House, "his response was immediate, ‘Then you can write a book for me,’" Lippe recalled in a recent interview with BTW.

ABA has announced the results of the 2002 elections for Board officers and directors.

The candidates chosen to serve as ABA Board directors were: Neal Coonerty, owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California; Russ Lawrence, co-owner of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana; and Karl Pohrt, owner of Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Board members serve three-year terms. Coonerty and Pohrt are currently Board members.

Mavis Gallant

On April 17, the annual $30,000 Rea Award for the Short Story was awarded to Mavis Gallant. The Rea Award is the only award in the U.S.

BookExpo America show management announced this week that over 500 authors have agreed to participate in BEA’s highly popular autographing program, an annual convention tradition. The autographing program features over 30 authors signing books at one place, and at one time, for 30-minute or one-hour signing sessions all day, each day of the show. BEA’s autographing area will be located on the first floor of the exhibition hall of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and will be open on Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4.

The title of Elisabeth Hyde's new work of fiction from Macadam/Cage, Crazy as Chocolate, was taken from poet Anne Sexton's line, "Even crazy, I'm as nice as a chocolate bar." Izzy (née Isabel) narrates this tale of her family, alternating past and present.

Phoebe Storrs Stebbins, owner of the Dartmouth Bookstore in Hanover, New Hampshire, died on Wednesday, March 27, at the age of 83. Stebbins had been ill with brain cancer since last July. "She was an inspiration to everybody," said David Cioffi, Dartmouth Bookstore's store manager, and Stebbins's son-in-law.