BTW News Briefs

National Poetry Month 2008 Poster Unveiled

The Academy of American Poets (AAP) has unveiled the official poster for National Poetry Month 2008, designed by SpotCo, a New York City agency responsible for many poster designs of Broadway's most popular shows. ABA member booksellers can expect to receive their posters by mail in the end of February.

The poster features red letters set in flight to spell "National Poetry Month." The image is anchored by two cupped hands. Beside the hands are lines by Vermont poet Jay Wright: "I carried my life, like a stone, / in a ragged pocket, but I / had a true weaving song, a sly / way with rhythm, a healing tone."

Posters are being distributed free to libraries, schools, independent bookstores, and individuals in support of National Poetry Month this April. Additional posters and other materials are available via www.poets.org.

National Book Critics Circle Announces Awards Finalists

On January 12, the National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for its annual awards to be presented on Thursday, March 6, at New York City's New School University's Tishman Auditorium. The announcement of the finalists was made by former NBCC winners and finalists, including Frederick Crews, Dave Eggers, Troy Jollimore, Jason Roberts, and Maxine Hong Kingston, at San Francisco's famed City Lights Books.

The Saturday evening event also included the announcement of the winners of the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing and the Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award to Sam Anderson and Emilie Buchwald, respectively.

The 2007 NBCC fiction and nonfiction finalists are:

Fiction

• Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games (HarperCollins)
• Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao (Riverhead)
• Hisham Matar, In the Country of Men (Dial Press)
• Joyce Carol Oates, The Gravedigger's Daughter (Ecco)
• Marianne Wiggins, The Shadow Catcher (S & S)

Nonfiction

• Philip Gura, American Transcendentalism (Hill & Wang)
• Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America 1815 - 1848 (Oxford University Press)
• Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to the Present (Doubleday)
• Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: A History of the CIA (Doubleday)
• Alan Weisman, The World Without Us (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's)

The complete list of finalists is available on the NBCC website.

The Lambda Literary Foundation Names Nominees for Lammy Awards

The Lambda Literary Foundation has named the nominees for the 20th annual Lambda Literary Awards to be presented at a gala ceremony in West Hollywood, on May 29, on the eve of BookExpo America.

The awards honor books with LGBT content in 21 categories, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir/biography, children's/young adult, romance, and mystery.

The complete list of nominees is available at lambdaliterary.org.

800-CEO-READ Announces Business Book Award Winners

The Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops' e-commerce business-book division, 800-CEO-READ has announced the winners of its 2007 Business Book Awards. The overall winner for Best Business Book of 2007 was the finalist in the Advertising/Marketing category, Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath (Random House).

Among the other category finalists were:

• Biographies/Memoirs: Bill & Dave by Michael S. Malone (Portfolio)
• Entrepreneurship/Small Business: No Man's Land by Doug Tatum (Portfolio)
• Fables: The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly (Hyperion)
• Finance/Economics: A Demon of Our Own Design by Richard Bookstaber (Wiley)

For the complete list of finalists, visit 800ceoread.com/bookawards.

Kudzu Book Traders Closing

On January 14, Kudzu Book Traders, a remainder and bargain book dealer in Cartersville, Georgia, announced that it was closing its doors.

"Due to the untimely death of [company founder] Steve Wilson, the lack of required resources for future growth, and the uncertain business environment, we have come to this very difficult decision," said Britt Hinton, the firm's president, in a statement. "Our goal is to fulfill our current obligations and work closely with our lending institution, vendors and customers during this process. We will continue our operation over the next couple of months in order to reduce inventory, fulfill orders, and handle all necessary business requirements. We are inviting all customers to visit our warehouse to help close-out our inventory."

Kudzu was created by Atlanta entrepreneur Steve Wilson to be the sister company of Academic Book Services. The two companies jointly occupied two warehouses in Cartersville with more than 270,000 square feet and employed 148 full-time and many more part-time employees until Wilson and his partner sold Academic Book Services in November 2006 to Follett Educational Services of Woodridge, Illinois.

Census Bureau Needs Business Numbers

In December, the U.S. Census Bureau mailed Economic Census forms to more than four million businesses -- to all large- and medium-size businesses and to many small businesses. Businesses that received a form are required by law (Title 13, U.S. Code) to complete and return it. The due date is February 12, less than a month away.

The Census Bureau uses information gathered from the forms in aggregate to create figures for Gross Domestic Product, monthly retail sales, and the producer price index. The data are also used by businesses large and small. Ben Bernanke says this census is "indispensable to understanding America's economy."

More information and help completing the form is available at the Census Bureau's site, www.census.gov/econhelp, or by calling (800) 233-6136.

BEA Relaunches Director's Blog

BookExpo America has redesigned and relaunched BEA Industry Vice President and Show Manager Lance Fensterman's blog. Fenstermann has been blogging from his vantage point as organizer of BookExpo America since 2006. The new blog will be called MediumAtLarge and will be the official blog for BEA, New York Comic Con, and the New York Anime Festival.

"The posts will now not only cover publishing and bookselling community news, but they will also reflect the observations and announcements of the varying mediums I now work in with the New York Anime Festival, New York Comic Con, as well as BookExpo America," Fensterman said in a statement.