Speaking at this year's meeting of the Great Lakes Booksellers Association, Joyce Merritt, executive director of the Friends of the Detroit Public Library, lamented that 47% of the residents of Detroit are functionally illiterate. The statement put into stark relief the role of GLBA members in getting children and parents to read and assist in local literacy programs.
Advocacy was a theme of the meeting, held September 27—29 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Mich. Donations collected at the three sessions of author signings went to the Summer Reading Programs of the Detroit Public Library. At the Friday awards lunch, children's winner Richard Peck gave a rousing speech about the importance of reading to children in this post-Columbine, post-9/11 world. At the Sunday morning plenary session, entitled "Voices at the Edge," E. David Schwartz, owner of Harry Schwartz Bookseller bookstores throughout Wisconsin, reflected on booksellers' and authors' roles as beacons for political and social debate. Schwartz appeared with Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground and now a professor at the University of Illinois, and activist poet Nikki Giovanni.
Jim Dana, executive director of GLBA, said that hosting the show in Detroit was an effort to find a location convenient to all members of the organization, which stretches across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. So far, so good: he reported 800 booksellers were registered, up from last year's 720. More than 260 exhibitors attended, and some 60 authors participated as well.
"It looked like there were more people, and there was a nice energy." Dana told PW. "People loved the facility—we have the option to return next year. If last year's was a hexed show, this year was really quite charmed." He believes that finding a consistent venue will be more cost-effective and easier on booksellers and vendors and will allow GLBA to "begin to generate more public exposure for authors, too."
Indeed, the media was present at the show in the form of Sleeping Bear Press author Devin Scillian, who moonlights as the news anchor for the local NBC affiliate in Detroit. He brought his camera crew with him to film his keynote speech at Friday's "moveable feast," and the segments were broadcast later that evening on the news. "Sometimes booksellers overlook how much media can come to a show and how it can benefit them," said Dana.
The exhibit floor was crowded and, as expected, booksellers were placing orders and picking up galleys. First time attendee Keith Arsenault of Avalon Publishing was impressed with "how many accounts I only knew as contacts in a database, and how many were not even on our radar screen."
Nevertheless, many booksellers expressed concern about the mixed economy and the threat of war with Iraq. Dave Kaverman, the new president of GLBA and owner of The Million Story Book Company in Fort Wayne, Ind., was wary of being too optimistic this holiday season. "The mixed economy and worries of a likely war with Iraq aren't likely to add to shoppers' feeling of security that frees them to spend with abandon," he said.
"I am as confused as I have ever been about what's in store for the holiday season," said Ernie Ford, owner of Fine Print Book Store in Greencastle, Ind. "Last year we expected to be down, and we were—but only slightly. We get conflicting signals: advertising seems to be coming back a little, and that's a good sign, but consumer confidence and the stock market are going down, and that's a bad sign. It's anyone's guess."
Liz Murphy, owner of The Learned Owl in Hudson, Ohio, brushed off any gloomy predictions, telling PW, "We've already started to get significantly busier... and people are already asking for Christmas gift wrapping. Despite what I see on the news every morning, I'm optimistic. I'm in the midst of trying to get all of Hudson's Main Street merchants to get together for a fall/holiday advertising campaign, which should remind people of how much fun our town is during the holidays."
Of all the titles coming out this season, booksellers seem most impressed by Robert Sabuda's new pop-up, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (S&S). "His intricate paper engineering never ceases to amaze me, and I love his return to the simplicity of white," said Martha Nelson, a children's bookselling consultant from Novi, Mich. "The shapes and movement make elegant statements." Liz Murphy called it "stunning."
Koen rep John Davis was amused by the reaction of some booksellers to his latest wares: the ever-more popular graphic novels. "One bookseller said she was nervous about the kinds of browsers she might attract by stocking them: 'You know, those kids with the big baggy pants.' I hope I was able to persuade her those baggy-pants-wearin' kids are a powerful customer base that she'd do well to court. Heaven forbid they'd hang out in the store, tell all their friends and, like, y'know, spend money."
Authors speaking at the show included local son Jeffrey Eugenides, who read from his new novel, Middlesex (FS&G), seeming nervous at the podium. Mark Winegardner, author of the epic novel of Cleveland, Crooked River Burning (Harcourt) and the recent story collection That's True of Everybody (Harcourt), argued that humility prevented booksellers from claiming the existence of any kind of "Midwestern literature." The author who left the strongest impression on conference attendees was Michael Perry, author of the memoir Population 485 (HarperCollins), who spoke movingly about small-town life in rural Wisconsin.
Nelson summed it up by saying that attending GLBA "is like spending time with a support group! I'm surrounded by people who understand and share a passion for books."
GLBA's Kaverman added, "For me it's a great opportunity to get re-energized by talking to other stores and learning about what they are doing, their challenges and responses, as well as hear some great authors and be reminded why we are doing what we are. It really relates to building the independent bookseller community in our part of the country. Knowing that there are all these other good people out there fighting the good fight as well is motivating."
