Winter Institute News

Here's an updated list of authors and illustrators appearing at next Thursday evening's Winter Institute Reception, an announcement of the panelists taking part in Friday's session "Independent Retailing in the U.S. Today," and news about a Spanish-Language Bookstore Focus Group.

Authors and Illustrators to Attend Thursday Evening Reception

For the more than 300 booksellers attending the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute next week, business will mix with pleasure. At the conclusion of the first day of educational programming on Thursday, January 26, booksellers can look forward to meeting some of their favorite authors at an evening reception. Scheduled to appear at the event to be held in the International Ballroom of the host hotel, the Long Beach Hilton, are:

• Robin Preiss Glasser (Fancy Nancy, HarperCollins)
• Hillary Carlip (Queen of the Oddballs, HarperCollins)
• Mary Castillo (Hot Tamara, Avon/HarperCollins)
• Anne Taylor Fleming, As If Love Were Enough (Hyperion)
• Jim Fergus (Wild Girl, Hyperion)
• Gerald McDermott (Creation, Dutton Juvenile/Penguin Young Readers Group)
• John H. Ritter (The Boy Who Saved Baseball, Puffin/Penguin Young Readers Group)
• Ben Ehrenriech (The Suitors, Counterpoint Press/Perseus)
• Sonia Nazario (Enrique's Journey, Random House)
• Ayelet Waldman (Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Doubleday/Random House)
• Lisa Yee (Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
• Joe Cepeda (The Golden Hamster Saga series, Scholastic)
• Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants, Algonquin Books/Workman)
• Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder, Algonquin Books/Workman)
• Mark Haskell Smith (Delicious, Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Atlantic)
• Jane Heller (An Ex to Grind, William Morrow/HarperCollins)
• Megan Crane (Everyone Else's Girl, Warner 5 Spot/Time Warner Book Group)
• Liza Palmer (Conversations With the Fat Girl, Warner 5 Spot/Time Warner Book Group)
• Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Time Warner Book Group)

Panel to Feature Some of California's Leading Independent Retailers

ABA recently announced the names of the independent retailers to be featured on the Friday afternoon panel "Independent Retailing in the U.S. Today." This session builds on the well-received presentation at last year's BookExpo America, which examined the challenges and opportunities facing booksellers and their Main Street colleagues.

Among the panelists who will participate in the discussion at the Winter Institute are Jeff Leopold of Standard 5 & 10 Ace, a one-stop variety store in San Francisco, which has been in business for over 50 years; Randy Kemner of The Wine Country, an acclaimed fine wine store in Long Beach; and Dora Herrera of Yuca's, a small, award-winning Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles. Herrera is also president of the Los Feliz Village Business Improvement District.

Spanish-Language Bookstore Focus Group to Hold Second Meeting

ABA is making the most of the Winter Institute's impressive gathering of booksellers and other industry professionals by scheduling several meetings, including those of the ABA Board of Directors and the Booksellers Advisory Council, in the days leading up to and immediately following the education program. Also on the schedule is the second meeting of the Spanish-Language Bookstore Focus Group, which first met in Miami in November to offer ABA input about the experiences and needs of independent booksellers serving Spanish-speaking communities.

The meeting's key findings were compiled for ABA in a report from Market Segment Research. The report noted that the participants in the first focus group encouraged ABA to continue the dialog that began in Miami.

Industry professionals interested in learning more about the Spanish-Language Bookstore Focus Group should contact Meg Smith, ABA's director of membership marketing, at [email protected] or (914) 591-2665, ext. 6641.

For more information about the Winter Institute program, and to register, visit BookWeb.org.