Two Revisit & Rediscover Authors to Appear at Wi11 Book Swap

Katherine Hannigan and Luis Alberto Urrea, authors whose earlier work has been highlighted in the Indie Next List’s new Revisit & Rediscover feature, will mingle with booksellers at the first-ever Backlist Book Swap party at Winter Institute 11 in Denver, Colorado.

More than 160 booksellers and publishers have already submitted a backlist title for inclusion in the book swap on Saturday night, January 23, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. 

Participants are encouraged to bring a copy of their favorite “under-read” book — the title should be at least five years old and still in print — to share with friends and colleagues while enjoying a few drinks. After perusing the selection of backlist books, including titles chosen for the Indie Next List’s Revisit & Rediscover feature; chatting about their favorites; and stepping into the Book Swap photo booth for a few snapshots, booksellers will leave for the night with someone else’s favorite under-read title.

Urrea’s 2004 nonfiction book, The Devil’s Highway: A True Story (Little, Brown), appeared as one of three Revisit & Rediscover titles for January 2015. The book about 26 Mexican men’s treacherous border crossing into the Arizona desert’s Devil’s Highway region in 2001 won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize. The two other Revisit & Rediscover titles for January are Plainsong by Kent Haruf and Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (both Vintage).

Hannigan’s 2004 middle-grade novel Ida B….and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World (Greenwillow Books) appeared as a Revisit & Rediscover title for children ages 9–12 on the Winter 2015-2016 Kids’ Indie Next List, along with London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (Yearling) and The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson (Puffin Books). Ida B. was a New York Times bestseller as well as a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner, and appeared on more than 25 state award lists.

The Backlist Book Swap will take place from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 23, in the Sheraton Denver Downtown’s Plaza Foyer. Earlier in the day on Saturday, booksellers and other swap participants will be asked to drop off their titles and fill out a bookmark with their name to be placed inside the book. ABA staff will then collect the books and set up the room up for the event.

Prior to the event, those who are planning to participate are asked to report the title they are planning to bring to the swap by completing this form.