BTW News Briefs

Richard Blanco Named 2013 Inaugural Poet

Richard Blanco, a son of Cuban exiles, has been chosen by President Barack Obama to compose an original poem for the inaugural ceremony on January 21, according to the New York Times, which observed that, like the President, “Blanco has been on a quest for personal identity through the written word. He said his affinity for Mr. Obama springs from his own feeling of straddling different worlds; he is Latino and gay (and worked as a civil engineer while pursuing poetry). His poems are laden with longing for the sights and smells of the land his parents left behind.”

Addie Whisenant, the inaugural committee’s spokeswoman, said President Obama picked Blanco because the poet’s “deeply personal poems are rooted in the idea of what it means to be an American.”

Two of Blanco’s works have been published by the University of Pittsburgh Press as part of its Pitt Poetry Series: Looking for The Gulf Motel (2012) and City of a Hundred Fires (1998). A third, Directions to The Beach of the Dead (2005), is published by University of Arizona Press.

Macmillan Inks Arrangement With Entangled eBooks

Under a new distribution arrangement and joint venture agreement announced January 8, Macmillan will distribute Entangled Publishing’s new English-language e-books in all domestic and international markets and for all platforms where Macmillan does business. The agreement also includes additional resources and personnel from Macmillan to strengthen Entangled's infrastructure.

Entangled, which was founded to bridge the gap between traditional and indie publishing, has grown to 12 imprints with more than 350 authors.

In a separate agreement, St. Martin’s Press will launch a new joint venture imprint known as St. Martin’s/Entangled that will bring into print and publish a select number of Entangled's digital books.

Andrea Vuleta Takes Reins at SCIBA

On January 14, Andrea Vuleta will officially become the new executive director of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. Vuleta, who is a past president of SCIBA, is leaving her position as general manager of Mrs. Nelson’s Toy & Book Shop in La Verne, California, to assume the position previously held by Jennifer Bigelow.

SCIBA’s new mailing address will be:

3005 Rhodelia Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711

The office e-mail address is office@scibabooks.org. A new phone number will be available shortly.

2013 Charles Taylor Prize Shortlist Announced

Five authors have been named to the shortlist for the 2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, which recognizes excellence in Canadian nonfiction writing and emphasizes the development of the careers of the authors it celebrates.

 The finalists, chosen from 129 Canadian-authored nonfiction books submitted by 43 publishers from around the world, are:

• Carol Bishop-Gwyn (Toronto) for The Pursuit of Perfection: A Life of Celia Franca (Cormorant Books)
• Tim Cook (Ottawa) for Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King, and Canada’s World Wars, (Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Canada)
• Sandra Djwa (Vancouver) for Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
• Ross King (Woodstock, England) for Leonardo and The Last Supper (Bond Street Books, an imprint of Doubleday Canada)
• Andrew Preston (Cambridge, England) for Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy (Knopf Canada)

The winner of the $25,000 prize will be announced at a gala luncheon and awards ceremony in Toronto on Monday, March 4.

PNBA Names 2013 Award Winners

On Monday, January 7, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association announced the following winners of its 2013 book awards:

• Blasphemy, by Sherman Alexie (Grove/Atlantic)
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, by Jonathan Evison (Algonquin)
• The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey (Reagan Arthur Books)
• On the Spectrum of Possible Deaths, by Lucia Perillo (Copper Canyon Press)
• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (Knopf)
• Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson (Grove Press)