Fall Regionals
cheese and wine reception at TJC Gallery, followed by an addi-
tional reception at Hub City Bookshop. Two nights later, Hub
City Press invites showgoers to a party with local books and
booze, along with local bands. For those looking for quiet time,
a quiet room is open each day of the show for yoga, meditation,
and reading. There’s also a Milk & Cookies Pajama Silent
Reading Gathering on Friday night.
● While many shows are author-centric, SIBA has found a way
to be even more intensely focused on authors by featuring as
many as 130 adult and children’s writers from small presses,
university presses, and major houses. Diversity in books,
authors, and presses has long been
a key feature of SIBA’s program-
ming. “I try to take all the authors
that get pitched to me,” says exec-
utive director Wanda Jewell. That
may be, but she also finds unique
ways to juxtapose them. A session
on Herstory Comes Alive features
the daughters of Jackie Robinson
and George Wallace in conversa-
tion: Sharon Robinson (Child of
the Dream, Scholastic Press) and Peggy Wallace Kennedy (The
Broken Road, Bloomsbury). It will be moderated by Katheryn
Russell-Brown (A Voice Named Aretha, Bloomsbury Children)
and livestreamed on Facebook.● Groups of authors are key to a number of events, including
the First 180 Days Party, for those with books due out in the
first half of 2020, such as Marie Therese Anne Fowler (A Good
Neighborhood, St. Martin’s), Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Just like
Me, Knopf BFYR), and Tom Threadgill (Collision of Lies,
Revell). Parapalooza on late Saturday afternoon gives book-
sellers a chance to hear a single paragraph read by authors, suchSharon
RobinsonPeggy
Wallace
KennedyRon
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