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Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life will be promoted by indie booksellers during Independent Booksellers Week (28th June–5th July) after winning the IBW Book Award for 2014.
A panel of judges voted for the title, published by Black Swan, to win in the adult category, fending off competition from nine other contenders including Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch (Little, Brown) and Stephen Grosz’s The Examined Life (Vintage).
The award means that nearly 400 independent booksellers taking part in the UK will promote the book to their customers during IBW.
Atkinson (pictured) said: “I am absolutely delighted that Life After Life has won the IBW Book Award. Independent booksellers have been a vital part of supporting my books and creating essential word of mouth for all great writing. They are so knowledgeable . . . I am enormously grateful for all the work they continue to do.”
Flora & Ulysses by Kate Di Camillo, illustrated by K G Campbell (Walker Books), won the children’s fiction category, and A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld (Walker Books), came top of the children’s picture book contenders.
Davies said that indies were “the future” because they offered guidance “through the sea of books we don’t want to read to the ones we do, instead of just throwing us in without a float or a compass like the big sellers do.”
Two separate judging teams chose the winning titles: the first consisted of Patrick Neale (Jaffe & Neale), Sheila O’Reilly (Dulwich Books), Lisa Bywater (Foyles), Eithne Farry (book reviewer, Daily Mail and Sunday Express); and the second comprised Rachel Joyce (author), Neale, Katie Clapham (Storytellers Inc), Jenny Morris (ex-Lion & Unicorn Bookshop); Brough Girling (founder of Readathon) and Elen Caldecott (children’s author).
The judging panels were chaired by the BA’s head of membership services, Meryl Halls. She said: “They are all perfect titles for independent booksellers to be enthusiastic about and hand-sell.”
Indies are gearing up to hold a variety of competitions, promotions and events to lure customers into shops for IBW 2014, which takes place during Independent Retailer Month.
David Headley, owner of Goldsboro Books in central London, will be handing out 250 signed copies of Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm after running a “Strike it Lucky” dip throughout May. Customers who ordered the book from the Goldsboro Books website are in with a chance of receiving an invitation to buy a signed first edition of The Silkworm on 2nd July.
“As a thank you for the support of The Cuckoo’s Calling, J K Rowling signed 250 copies for us!” said Headley. “We also have Joe Abercrombie signing [books] and we are hosting his launch party on the 3rd July. Again we have 100 special numbered editions to give to the first 100 in the queue.”
Eleanor Davies of Lingham’s Bookshop in Heswell, The Wirral, is asking customers to take to Twitter to recommend their favourite book and explain why—she intends to create a table display of customers’ suggestions. “The winning recommendation will receive a Lingham’s gift voucher,” said Davies. “We find that customers want to know what other customers are reading and recommending.”