NAIBA Notables
NAIBA, or the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, has started a new program rightfully named the NAIBA Notables, which casts one worthy independent book a month in the limelight.
NAIBA executive director Eileen Dengler commented, “In a marketplace where books are sold everywhere, a little support each month on a very worthy title will remind publishers and consumers where the best books are sold.”
NAIBA plans to do just that, show readers which independent books are the best reads and where they can be found. The first few books featured will be chosen by the board to get the program started. However, in subsequent months booksellers and publishers will be able to nominate their own picks for the program. All books chosen must be very well written and have broad support from numerous publishers.
The books that are chosen will garner extra attention from NAIBA and will be featured in their “Notables” section in their stores and on their websites. If NAIBA’s plan goes accordingly, this will award some of those independent authors with the mainstream attention they deserve.
The first book, which will be featured May 12 is Richard Flanagan’s new novel, Wanting. The novel follows a young Aboriginal girl, Mathinna, who is adopted by Sir John Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane. The two are attempting to prove that “savages” can be civilized with much practice and determination. Following history, Sir John disappears while searching for the Northwest Passage and Lady Jane is left alone. Her only option is to turn to Charles Dickens for help.
As quoted on the official Wanting website, “WANTING is a haunting meditation on love, loss and the way life is finally determined never by reason, but only ever by wanting.”
As for why NAIBA chose this wonderful book to be their headline notable Lucy Kogler, a publisher from Talking Leaves in Buffalo commented about the novel, “Amazing. . . . I was utterly taken with [Flanagan’s] imagination, sense of politics and incredible ability to make me think about the title throughout the book.”
Keep an eye out for future NAIBA notables, as they surely will make for some good reading.
