The Southern Independent Booksellers Association is preparing to hold its first ever “EUREKAsiba” on February 20 in Atlanta.
EUREKAsiba is the brainchild of SIBA executive director Wanda Jewell. “I see it as TED talks for booksellers," Jewell said. "I had a vision where booksellers gather for the day and have the opportunity to hear inspiring creative information along with data-based information and then have the time during the day to filter what they’ve heard along with other booksellers and then, hopefully, take something back that can make them better booksellers starting that very day."
The event’s highlights include: Sarah Benoit of JB Media Institute on “Take Your Social Media to the Next Level;” Brian Lampkin of Scuppernong Books on “The Strange Kindness of Booksellers;” Jill Hendrix of Fiction Addiction on “Is Profit a Dirty Word?;” Kim Wright, author, on “Does Place Still Matter? Three Ways to Write Southern Today;” and Radney Foster, song-writer and author on “The Dance with the Devil: Adversity and Creativity.”
Jewell hopes this will be the first of many Eureka regional events held throughout the country. For Jewell, the event "means a day for booksellers to have a 'eureka!' moment that makes what they’re doing for a living feel and actually be more than it was the day before."
EUREKAsiba, whose sponsors include publishers such as BQB Publishing, New American Library, Oxford American, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, St. Martin’s Press, and William Morrow, is open to all booksellers.
