Women's National Book Association

Women's National Book Association Launches
New Network Membership:
WNBA Opens Chapter Membership to All

For Immediate Release:

Contact:
Susannah Greenberg, Public Relations, Women's National Book Association, 212-208-4629, publicity at bookbuzz.com
or
Sylvia Cross, Network Membership Chair, Women's National Book Association,
262-650-1414, scross at wirr.com

The Women's National Book Association, www.wnba-books.org, is pleased to announce a new membership category: Network Membership. If you live in a city without a WNBA chapter, you can join any of the eight chapters of the organization and are entitled to all rights and privileges of that chapter and national membership. WNBA has chapters in Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

"By launching the new network membership, WNBA creates an opportunity for all book lovers, no matter where they live, to join and enjoy online the many benefits of this active organization of professionals: lively panels on publishing topics with leading experts; informative newsletters and Web sites; networking; and more," says Sylvia Cross, Network Membership Chair for the Women's National Book Association.

Further information is available at: http://wnba-books.org/join/network.php

Benefits of Membership include:

Education

Connection

Through WNBA's National Newsletter The Bookwoman You Can:


On the Web:

The Women's National Book Association, which is about to celebrate its 90th anniversary, was established before women in America even had the right to vote. It is a broad based non profit organization with members across the country, three distinguished national awards, and a history of lively events in its eight chapter cities and elsewhere. As 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 book world.

The organization recently gave its 2006 WNBA Award to Perri Klass, M.D. for her many books and articles, and for her impact as a leader of Reach Out and Read, where she currently serves as its medical director and president. The ceremony was held December 3, 2006 at The New York Society Library.

WNBA created the Ann Heidbreder Eastman Grant, to provide funds for librarians who are interested in learning about the publishing process. In 2006 it went to Linda Moskovics, who manages the Allied Gardens/Benjamin Branch of the San Diego Public Library System.

WNBA established the Lucile Micheels Pannell Awards for booksellers who actively encourage children's and young people's interest in books. The awards are presented annually at a breakfast at BookExpoAmerica. The 2006 recipients were: Northshire Bookstore of Manchester Center, Vermont Children's Specialty Store and A Likely Story Children's Bookstore of Alexandria, Virginia.

Recent WNBA events have been covered in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, C-SPAN, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and more.

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Further information is available at:

http://wnba-books.org/join/network.php

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Contact: Susannah Greenberg, Public Relations, Women's National Book Association, 212-208-4629, publicity at bookbuzz.com
or
Sylvia Cross, Network Membership Chair, Women's National Book Association,
262-650-1414, scross at wirr.com

Women's National Book Association, Inc. P.O. Box 237, FDR Station, New York, NY 10150. Phone and fax: 212 208 4629
http://www.wnba-books.org


WNBA Announces Children's Bookseller Award Nominees

CONTACT INFORMATION
Mary Grey James, Pannell Chair
615-213-5362
mary.james at ingrambook.com

The Women's National Book Association is proud to announce the nominees for this year's WNBA Pannell Award. Established in 1981 to honor Lucile Micheels Pannell, a model bookwoman 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 the Award to two bookstores (one general and one children's bookstore) at BookExpo America 2007 in New York on June lst.

Each recipient will receive a check for $1,000 and a framed piece of original art by a children's book illustrator. For the first time, the Award will be sponsored also by Penguin Young Readers Group, a leading publisher of books for young people.

The nominees represent a mix of well-established stores, as well as relatively new stores, located in diverse sections of the country:

Children's Specialty Stores:

General Stores:

The jury of five book industry professionals will select the Award winners based on the store's demonstration of creativity, responsiveness to community needs, passion and a genuine understanding of books for young people and their readers.

The Women's National Book Association, founded in 1917, is a national organization of women and men who work with and value books. WNBA, an all-volunteer organization, exists to promote reading and to support the role of women in the community of the book. To learn more about the organization and the Pannell Award, visit their web page at www.wnba-books.org.


GLOBE EDITORIAL

Doctor's order: a book

November 20, 2006

THE WNBA is giving out an award next month to a one-time Boston doctor -- but don't think basketball, think books.

It's the Women's National Book Association, founded in 1917 by 15 women booksellers who had been denied membership in the all-male Bookseller's League. That year, women couldn't vote, but they were writing. Edith Wharton published the novel "Summer." Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott won the Pulitzer Prize for their biography about their mother, Julia Ward Howe.

Today, the association has grown to "promote reading and to support the role of women in the community of the book." That includes granting an award to a woman who earns at least part of her income from books or related arts and whose work goes beyond the "responsibilities of her profession."

This year's winner is Dr. Perri Klass, who worked at Boston Medical Center before moving in September to New York University, where she is a professor of pediatrics and journalism. Klass is a pediatrician and a prolific writer of fiction, essays, and books. She joins an august group: Past awards have gone to Rachel Carson, Pearl Buck, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Co-written with her mother, Sheila Solomon Klass, Perri Klass's recent book is a double memoir, two women writing from different views about shared lifetimes. The mouthful of a title is "Every Mother Is a Daughter: The Neverending Quest for Success, Inner Peace, and a Really Clean Kitchen (Recipes and Knitting Patterns Included)."

"We're talking to each other, and we're talking to you," the readers, Klass said in an interview. It's a blend of history, emotion, and convergent and clashing memories.

What helps put Klass's effort beyond the call of duty is her work with Reach Out and Read, a national organization that distributes children's books through the offices of pediatricians and family doctors. It's the right thing to do, and it's fun, Klass says, explaining how children's eyes light up when they get a book, and how the book can make it easier to do the basic medical work of assessing children's development, speech, and their interactions with parents. There is, Klass says, a "practical, concrete pleasure" in seeing a new book go home with a child.

Born in 1989 at what was then Boston City Hospital, Reach Out and Read is now in 3,100 sites. In its 2006 fiscal year, the organization gave away 4.3 million books to 2.6 million children. The organization uses federal funding, private donations, and in some cases state funds. In 2000, Massachusetts was the first state to invest in the program.

Congratulations are due to Klass. But this award is also a nod of gratitude for the great power of books.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.


WNBA Announces 2006 Children's Bookseller Award Winners


Contact information:
Name: Eileen Hanning, WNBA Pannell Chair
Phone: 703-998-8541
Fax: 703-998-8818
Email: eidh@yahoo.com
Date: May 8, 2006

The Women's National Book Association is proud to announce the winners of this year's Lucile Micheels Pannell Award. This year's Award for a general bookstore goes to Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont. The winner in the children's specialty category is A Likely Story Children's Bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia. The Awards will be presented at BookExpo America in Washington, D.C. at the Children's Book and Author Breakfast on Friday, May 19. The breakfast is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association-Children's Book Council Joint Committee, the Association of Booksellers for Children, and BookExpo America. Each winner will receive a check for $1000 and a framed piece of original art created by a children's book illustrator. This year's art was contributed by artists Marla Frazee and Graeme Base. In addition to the Award winners, the jury selected Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona for an honorable mention in the general store category.

The Pannell Award was established in 1981, and first given in 1983, to honor Ms. Pannell, a model bookwoman and children's bookseller. The Award recognizes retail bookstores who excel at creatively bringing books and children together and inspiring children's interest in books and reading. After six weeks of deliberation, the jury of five book industry professionals selected Northshire and A Likely Story as the winners based on creativity, responsiveness to community needs, passion, and understanding of children's books and young readers.

"The winners this year are both well-established stores–Northshire is 30 years old and A Likely Story is more than 20–but both have re-invented themselves over time to respond to the changing needs and interests of their communities," explained Eileen Hanning, WNBA Pannell Award Chair. "The stores that won this year were chosen because their day-to-day practices are truly dedicated to the needs of young readers and their families. In addition, both stores take handselling so seriously they have training materials or programs to cultivate this essential art."

"Children's booksellers attending BEA this year have a wonderful opportunity to visit one of the winning stores. A Likely Story is less than nine miles from the Washington Convention Center, and only two blocks from the King Street Metro Station," added Hanning. "I hope they'll take a break from prowling the exhibit hall and go see A Likely Story for themselves!"

This is the second Pannell Award for A Likely Story. It won for the first time in 1988. The jury found this store to be a model of energy, enthusiasm and business sense. With a staff of just seven people (and one dog), A Likely Story conducts seven story times a week, including a Chapter By Chapter story time, distinct story times for children under and over two, and foreign language and musical story times. They conduct summer camps for readers of all ages and interests, snow day specials, and family nights. One juror remarked, "Their energy and enthusiasm are amazing. I am impressed by how much they have created that is mostly done with an expenditure of time and hard work."

After twenty years under the same owners, A Likely Story changed hands in 2004. Careful market analysis, revitalizing relationships with schools and community groups, and a marketing strategy based on a large volume of high-quality children's book-themed events for families keep this little store going strong.

In the general store category, Northshire Bookstore impressed the jury with their store-wide commitment to all readers, not just the grown-up ones. Indeed, both the physical layout of their children's section–occupying the entire sunlit second floor of the store–and the warm and enthusiastic welcome teens receive in the store's café–to meet, study, or hang out–demonstrate how much Northshire values young readers. Their regular programming includes after-school programs where children can explore a topic in depth, grandparents' night (created to help these special book buyers feel more confident choosing books for the children in their lives), and ongoing crafts, story times, book groups, and poetry slams.

Northshire puts the same passion and effort into the buying, staffing, marketing, merchandising, and graphics for its children's section as they do for the rest of the store. The value they place on even the youngest of their customers shines through in their business practices. "Northshire is the gold standard for how general bookstores should treat their sections for young people. Every aspect is given such careful thought and total commitment–no wonder they are the byword for bookselling excellence in our industry" exclaimed one Pannell juror.

Like Northshire, Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, is also 30 years old. The jury awarded Changing Hands an honorable mention for their especially distinctive work with teen readers and with the Phoenix Zoo, as well as for their remarkably community-minded philosophy.

This year's Pannell Award jury consisted of:
Jill Bailey, Penguin Group USA and DK Books for Young Readers
Geoffrey Hughes, Harcourt Trade Publishers
Anne Irish, Children's Bookselling Consultuant
Ellen Myrick, North-South Books
Jason Wells, Abrams Books for Young Readers/Amulet Books

The Women's National Book Association, founded in 1917, is a national organization of women and men who work with and value books. WNBA, an all-volunteer organization, exists to promote reading and to support the role of women in the community of the book. To learn more about the organization, visit their web site at www.wnba-books.org.



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