'Wanting' Kicks Off New NAIBA Program

By Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 5/4/2009 7:53:00 AM

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association is launching NAIBA Notables, which singles out a book a month, with Tasmanian novelist and screenwriter Richard Flanagan’s Wanting (Atlantic Monthly Press, May 12) about an Aboriginal girl, explorer Sir John Franklin and novelist Charles Dickens.

However, there’s nothing wanting in their selection, which was the unanimous decision of the board, and fits the program’s purpose to highlight the quality of the books available at independent bookstores. “In a marketplace where books are sold everywhere,” stated NAIBA executive director Eileen Dengler in announcing Wanting as the first Notable, “a little support each month on a very worthy title will remind publishers and consumers where the best books are sold.” NAIBA bookstores will feature Notables in their stores and on their Web sites.

Although the first few Notables will be chosen by the board, booksellers and publishers can recommend new hardcovers and paperbacks for the program. There is no regional interest requirement. Rather all Notables must be well written and have the support of a number of booksellers throughout the New Atlantic area.

For NAIBA v-p Lucy Kogler of Talking Leaves in Buffalo, Wanting readily fit the profile of a NAIBA Notable. She calls the novel, “Amazing. . . . I was utterly taken with [Flanagan’s] imagination, sense of politics and incredible ability to make me think about the title throughout the book.”