National Book Festival Provides Opportunity to Spread the Word About Book Sense

On Saturday, October 4, a blustery day more suited to mid-November than the first week of October, more than 70,000 booklovers gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the third National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush. In themed tents -- History & Biography, Fiction & Imagination, Poetry, Mysteries & Thrillers, Home & Family, Teens & Children, and Children -- approximately 80 authors appeared throughout the day to read from and discuss their works. Many of them also autographed books in an area set aside for book signings. There was also a tent sponsored by the Library of Congress, a Pavilion of States, a Storytelling tent, and two tents devoted to literacy efforts, Let's Read America I and II.

ABA's Kristen Gilligan, Linda Sinisi, and Rosemary Hawkins with festival director John Y. Cole.

ABA and independent booksellers with Book Sense were represented this year in the Let's Read America Pavilion I. Attending from ABA were staff members Kristen Gilligan, Linda Sinisi, and Rosemary Hawkins, who set up the Book Sense map and distributed information about local independent bookstores and more than 4,600 Book Sense 76 lists, including the September/October 2003, Reading Group, and Fall Children's 76s, and the Halloween Top Ten, to more than 1,400 people.

Proclaiming "reading recommendations from independent booksellers with Book Sense" as they distributed the lists, ABA staff were greeted by many positive responses from attendees, with such comments as "I know this," "I love this," "Is this the new list?" and "I know this -- I saw it in the New Yorker." Among those stopping by the ABA/Book Sense table were customers from Washington's Olsson's and Politics and Prose; A Likely Story in Alexandria, Virginia; Vertigo Books in College Park, Maryland; Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi; Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon; and Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cleveland, Ohio.

Staff also answered questions about Book Sense Gift certificates and ABA, and, fielded a few questions of "What is an independent bookstore?" The response "a bookstore owned by someone like you or me" usually elicited the response "Oh, you mean not Barnes & Noble or Borders" and provided staff the opportunity to explain about the commitment and knowledge of independent booksellers and the importance of diversity.

Gilligan, ABA's manager of communications, industry relations, and trade policy, likened her reaction to the event to that of independent booksellers who attend the ABA Convention and BookExpo America -- an energizing experience. "We [on staff at ABA] often deal with booksellers, publishers, and the media, but we don't often get to interact with customers. It really was gratifying to see that Book Sense is being recognized and welcomed by so many consumers." -- Rosemary Hawkins