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WNBA Announces Bookseller Award Nominees

The Women’s National Book Association is proud to announce the nominees for the 2010 WNBA Pannell Award. Established in 1981 to honor Lucile Micheels Pannell, a model book woman and children’s bookseller, the Pannell Award recognizes retail bookstores that excel at inspiring the interest of young people in books and reading. WNBA will present this year’s award to two bookstores—one general and one children’s specialty store—at BookExpoAmerica in New York.

Each recipient will receive a check for $1,000 and a framed piece of original art by a children’s book illustrator. In addition to the WNBA, the award is sponsored by Penguin Young Readers Group, a leading publisher of books for young people. This year’s nominees represent a wide range of stores from all over the country ...

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The Women's National Book Association ...

wants to know about bookstores in the United States that excel at inspiring interest in reading, as well as creatively bringing books and young people together. They will present the annual WNBA Pannell Award to two bookstores--one a general bookstore and one a children's speciality bookstore--at the 2010 BookExpo America. Each recipient will receive a check for $1,000 and a framed piece of original art by a noted children's book illustrator. Nominated stores have the option of making their submissions to the Pannell jury electronically or by sending hard copy materials by mail.

To nominate your favorite bookstore (even your own!) that works within the community to instill the love of reading in young people, please provide the following:

1) Name of store

2) Address and phone number of the store

3) Contact person at the store, including email address (most important!)

4) A brief reason (just a sentence or two) of why you believe the store is deserving of this award

5) Your name and affiliation to the nominated store.

Please send your nomination to mgjames@eastwestliteraryagency.com. Deadline for nominations is Jan. 15, 2010.

The Pannell Award was established in 1981 by WNBA, a century-old national organization of women and men who work to promote reading and to support the role of women in the book community.

National Reading Group Month Announces the 2009 Great Group Reads

NEW YORK — September 24, 2009 — The National Reading Group Month Selection Committee has chosen nine books, eight novels and one memoir, as this year’s Great Group Reads. The books are:

Appassionata by Eva Hoffman (Other Press)
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (Other Press)
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James (Avon A)
The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey (Harper Perennial)
Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz (Voice)
While I’m Falling by Laura Moriarty (Hyperion)
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Picador)
Cost by Roxana Robinson (Picador)
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie (Picador)

These titles were selected on the basis of their appeal to reading groups for whom they are bound to open up lively conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics, from the intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural and world issues. The Committee also ... (read more)

Welcome

Welcome to the original WNBA - the Women's National Book Association, established in 1917, before women in America even had the right to vote. WNBA is a vibrant national organization. There are chapters with individual Active Members in nine cities, individual Network Members across the country, numerous corporate Sustaining Members, and chapter Honorary Members in the world of books and beyond. WNBA is a broad-based non-profit organization with some 800 members across the country, three distinguished national awards, and a history of lively events in chapter cities and elsewhere.

Mission

The Women's National Book Association is a national organization of women and men who work with and value books. WNBA exists to promote reading and to support the role of women in the community of the book.

Purpose

The purposes of WNBA are educational and charitable. WNBA came into being to inform book women about matters relevant to themselves and the book world so that these women could inform and help one another.

That's what we still do, through actions such as these:

• bring together women and men who are active in the world of books
• educate and inform the public about the need to create, produce, distribute, and use books
• respond to requests for information about books and the allied arts and generate and support projects that help to disseminate such information
• serve as a catalyst for all in the book community who wish to work together, and
• promote recognition of women's achievements in the book industry.