Authors 'Round the South

It’s a southern story. . .

He was known as Eli the Good, but he still had to Shiver when he saw The Secret World of Walter Anderson. “Scat!” he shooed the strange-looking cat, “A Good Mule is Hard to Find and there’s Hard Work to be done In The Sanctuary of Outcasts.”  It was The Most They Ever Had, but hey, You Can’t Drink All Day if You Don’t Start in the Morning. And Zeitoun always had A Quiet Belief in Angels to Help him resist that Devil’s Punchbowl. He was The Last Child to carry that Dead Weight down to the South of Broad, because The Lee Brothers might be Simple, Fresh Southern, but the Southern Farmer’s Market only made him dream more often of My New Orleans.

(Columbia, SC)—The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2010 SIBA Book Awards. These are the books from last year that Southern Indie Booksellers especially loved, the ones they most enjoyed putting into the hands of their customers with the earnest words “You’ve got to read this.”

Nineteen titles were chosen by bookseller vote out of a nominee list of over 100 books, in the categories of Children’s/YA, Nonfiction, Fiction and Cooking. The finalists represent what Southern Indie Booksellers feel  to be the best in southern literature of the year. And let’s face it—they are the people who would know!

The SIBA Book Awards were created, not just to recognize great Southern books, but to give southern readers an enviable list of books to enjoy, read, buy, and give as gifts.  As of this time, the SIBA Book Award remains one of the most far-reaching and high-profile awards for Southernliterature.

Finalists will be judged by a jury of SIBA booksellers. Winners will be announced in July during the week of Independence Day.  In September, in Daytona, FL, at the annual SIBA Trade Show, the winners and finalists will be recognized during the popular Writers’ Block Auction which raises money to promote the Awards and raise awareness of the importance of independent booksellers to the literary community.

For more information, visit sibaweb.com/siba-book-award.

2010 Finalists:

- A STARS Author | - A SIBA Okra Pick

Children’s & Young Adults

Eli the Good by Silas House (Candlewick)
Scat by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf)
Secret World of Walter Ander son by Hester Bass (Candlewick)
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)

Nonfiction

A Good Mule is Hard to Find by Kirk Neely (Hub City Writers Project)
Hard Work by Roy Williams (Algonquin)
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (Morrow)
Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg (Macadam/Cage)
You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning by Celia Rivenbark (St. Martins)
Zeitoun by David Eggers (McSweenys)

Fiction

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory (Overlook)
Dead Weight by Batt Humphreys (Joggling Board Press)
Devil's Punchbowl by Greg  Iles (Scribner)
The Help by Katheryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur)
South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan Talese)

Cooking

The Lee Brothers Simple Fresh Southern by Ted and Matt Lee (Clarkson Potter)
Southern Farmer's Market Cookbook by Holly Herrick (Gibbs Smith)
My New Orleans: The Cookbook by John Besh (Andrews McMeel)

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