People

When Jean McGean, the long-time book buyer for Sam Weller's Zion Book Store in Salt Lake City, died recently, colleagues throughout the industry mourned her passing. McGean was a favorite among publishers' representatives, including the author of this piece, Bruce Roberts, who called on her for many years representing regional book wholesalers. Roberts is currently an account manager for Books West, a regional wholesaler in Boulder, Colorado.

New York is Book Country (NYIBC) has announced that the organization's founder and president, Linda C. Exman, will be stepping down at the end of this year. The person tapped to lead the organization, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2003, is Courtney Muller. According to NYIBC, Muller will work together with Exman through the end of this year, when she will take over the organization's leadership with Exman's assistance through its anniversary.

Two independent bookstores in the Detroit, Michigan, area were recently treated to a visit from the 2002 Newbery Medal winner, children's author Linda Sue Park. Dressed in a traditional Korean gown, Park talked about her writing, answered questions, and autographed copies of her books at Halfway Down the Stairs Children's Book Shop in Rochester, on Friday, June 28, and the next day at Book Beat in Oak Park. Park won the Newbery, which is awarded annually by the American Library Association, for her novel A Single Shard.

Linda Ramsdell, owner of the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, is hanging up her bookseller’s hat for a few days and donning both author escort and limo driver’s caps to add a new dimension to New England handselling. The author Ramsdell will escort, from June 30 to July 3, is Michael Crummey (Book Sense 76 Pick River Thieves, Houghton Mifflin), and the limo is her Subaru Impreza.

On June 21, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) announced the election of three new Board members. Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books, Coral Gables, Florida; Matt Miller of The Tattered Cover, Denver; and Wendy Strothman, executive vice president of Houghton Mifflin, have joined the ABFFE Board. Each will serve a three-year term.

New volunteer booksellers have joined in key ABA activities, on both the Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC) and the ABA Nominating Committee. The booksellers were appointed by incoming ABA President Ann Christophersen of Chicago’s Women & Children First, and the appointments were unanimously approved by the ABA Board at its recent May meeting. The members of the 2003 Nominating Committee are:

Selection Comes One Week After GMA Book Club Taps 76 Pick

The following profile of independent bookselling in Chicago, and of ABA’s new president, Ann Christophersen of Women & Children First, originally appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. By Lee Copeland Ann Christophersen has been battling a turf war with Borders for the last two years. The bookselling giant wants to open a 20,000-square-foot store in Uptown, about a mile from her Andersonville shop -- Women & Children First Bookstore.

By Kenneth Corrigan