The NEIBA Show Gazette
Lisa Poole (r.) and Sarah Goddin (center) of Quail Ridge Books came all the way up from North Carolina just for the HR Seminar. They are counting themselves lucky to be standing that close to my pal Vicky Titcomb (l.). Please note that I am well aware that this reveals what a lousy photographer I am.
Though on the surface one would think that the task at hand was simple and straightforward, I knew that giving a ShelfTalker account of the first day and a half of the New England Independent Booksellers Association trade show would represent a stern personal challenge for me. Apart from the fact that being opinionated about the proceedings would be rude, Diane, the supreme commander of ShelfTalker, had instructed me to take photos and I am a lousy and under-equipped photographer, particularly on the road as I don’t have a smartphone, just a tablet. Still, one of the big lessons we come to these gatherings to hear reinforced is the importance of stretching our personal barriers and trying new things, so voila.
My first event was the ABA-sponsored Human Resources seminar for owners and managers run by Professor John Sherlock, six hours spread out over two days. A short form of this seminar had been run at Winter Institute and received raves along with a consensus for something more in depth. We had all been asked to wear T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “I’m sitting next to someone who sucks at HR,” which we had all been provided with beforehand. As it turned out I was the only one who wore theirs, which was awkward. (Full disclosure: That didn’t really happen.) After that things got serious.
HR is as important as it is challenging for almost all of us bookstore owners. As one might expect the seminar was charged with interest, and resulted in a challenging To Do list. Apart from the laborious aspects of updating or producing HR files and manuals, we focused on two key operational elements: identifying and attracting the best talent available, and creating a culture of peak performance that augments the underlying mission and culture of our individual stores.
I’ll give you an example. My pal Emily Crowe from Odyssey Books mentioned that she was working on striking a balance between being a friend and a manager to her staff. Talk about a rude awakening for me. I thought that only pertained to being a parent. Hmmn. Why are all our natural impulses a bad idea when it comes to HR? Seriously though, a personal highlight was that while I was at that very seminar my Assistant Manager Karin Schott put out the DDG store newsletter which noted that while I was away she was not only working hard to get everything done but had created some striking new personnel policies, supposedly dictated by the store sheep, such as…
Not only was that funny, but it was on point and made me feel happy about the culture of the store. Take that, daunting HR responsibilities!Next up was the New England Book Awards Banquet which, from prior experience, I tend to think of as The Endless Dinner. This year, however, was much more compact. The reason for this was three-fold. First, the emcee, Dav Pilkey, had only three basic principles: brevity, self-deprecating humor, and a genuine and heartfelt appreciation for the power of a broad spectrum of reading materials to be available for the free selection of children.
I sat at the Norton table by courtesy of my great rep Suzette Ciancio. One of the fun things about Suzette is that she is a world-class hand gesticulator when she talks. Just consider the two photos below, one with and one without hand gesticulation.
Here is Suzette when she puts her hands down on the table. Notice the clarity of the image.
Here is Suzette speaking normally. No matter how good a photographer you are the image blurs.
Another reason for the brevity of the evening was that some of the recipients, such as Lois Lowry and Mary Oliver, were unable to attend, and simply sent lovely messages delivered by Karl Krueger and Margaret Raymo. Short and sweet in every sense of the term.
Atul Gawande, slightly out of breath but charming, addressing the banquet crowd. (Notice the clarity of the image, thanks to having been taken by Lorna Ruby of Wellesley Booksmith.)
Nonfiction award winner Atul Gawande literally ran into the room and delivered a great little speech concerning the overriding value of talking to the elderly about their wants and wishes on end of life issues. He then suddenly announced that he had to run back out of the room.
The other award winners and recognizees all gave very nice and reasonably sized speeches. Kudos to all involved. These deserving and sensible people were Marika McCoula, for Children’s Books, and Suzy Staubach on her retirement from bookselling after a rich and exceptional career. Phoenix Books spoke on receiving the Independent Spirit Award, and the gallant and exceptional winner of the Gilman Award, Biff Donovan, was a pleasure to hear from, as anyone might expect.
Finally, this year’s Children’s Breakfast was absolutely outstanding. Sara Pennypacker was there to talk about her forthcoming book Pax, which I am on record here affirming it to be completely sensational. Sara was particularly fervent on appreciating the role of independent booksellers in the literary ecosystem and actually offered to come to all of our houses on weekend mornings and cook pancakes for us. That will be nice. In the meantime she spoke movingly about the centrality of Pax in her career, and her hopes for giving the current generation of middle grade readers the opportunity to think about the costs of war in a way that they can carry forward.
Jack Gantos.
Marie Liu revealed that the central role of an evil character found in her Young Elite series is not a departure for her given her life-long tendency to depict the activities of darkness. We were treated to a very entertaining image of Wanted posters she had made as a child which depicted a tropical bird killer still on the loose, a pig who was turned into a belt, and the maiming of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Last up was the great Jack Gantos. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Jack at his table and found him to be exactly what he has been throughout his career both in and out of his books: entirely himself, pointed. and funny. There is irony there as his terrific new book, The Trouble in Me, deals with a pivotal moment in his ninth-grade self in which the person he was burned to the ground but, unlike the phoenix, he directed his transformation into becoming someone else as opposed to recreating himself. Jack truly put on a great a show, informative and funny in equal measure. All in all it was an outstanding start to the second day of the show.
And what happened after that, you ask? I finished up the HR session and then went back to my room and wrote this up. Talk about glamour, huzzah!