This year’s New England Independent Booksellers Association regional trade show, held in Providence, R.I., from October 6–8, brought together new and veteran booksellers, gearing up for what they predict will be a strong holiday season. In a response to requests for “more nuts and bolts information and numbers,” said Steve Fischer, NEIBA’s executive director, programming at this year’s show offered a keynote from Kristen McLean at Nielsen, sharing data on who’s reading and buying books these days. Insight into the business behind publishing was provided by George Gibson at Bloomsbury, who even addressed—in an off-the-record session—minimum wage increases across the region.

Along with an eagerness from bookseller members for figures and stats, attendees brought a buoyant mood. Laura Cummings of White Birch Books in Conway, N.H., said that it had been “just crazy busy this summer,” attributing more foot traffic in the store to more general foot traffic in the town. Her store is “definitely a car trip” for visitors, but she presumed that lower gas prices accounted for the increase in tourism. “The weather has been incredible, and we stayed much busier this September,” she added.

Chelsea Cook of Sherman’s Book and Stationery in Portland, Me., called business “brisk,” adding that she thinks it's been buoyed by a strong Buy Local movement in her area. Sarah Gelvin of Bookstore Plus in White Plains, N.Y., said that she was seeing huge sales in her store thanks largely to the art supply selection—about one third of the store. She called called the situation “a perfect storm” with the coloring books trend. Many of the booksellers in attendance thought that a strong first three quarters for sales pointed to a big forthcoming holiday season.

Children’s book author-illustrator Dav Pilkey acted as master of ceremonies for the New England Book Awards dinner, which honored Mary Oliver for her book of poems Blue Horses in the fiction category, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande in the nonfiction category, and the graphic novel Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCoola with illustrations by Emily Carroll in the children’s category. Lois Lowry was given the President’s Award, which was accepted by HMH’s Margaret Raymo.

In his acceptance speech at the dinner Gawande, a Boston-based surgeon, thanked New England booksellers, noting his was “a book I never thought would do as well as it had: a book about death, at Christmas.” He also shared an anecdote about taking potential cover designs to his local independent, Newtonville Books in Newton, Mass., seeking the owners' advice.

The evening also honored two beloved regional sales reps who had announced their retirements this year, Tony Giordano of New England Book Sales, and Nanci McCrackin, an independent commission sales rep. The retirement of Suzy Staubach, a beloved poet, potter, and longtime bookseller at UConn Co-Op in Storrs, Conn., was also recognized. Biff Donovan, sales rep for Penguin Random House, was recognized as this year’s sales rep of the year with the Saul Gilman Award. And the Independent Spirit Award recognized Vermont chain (now with three locations) Phoenix Books.

Looking ahead to titles they were eager to share with the coming holiday crowds, booksellers expressed enthusiasm for Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, as well as Patti Smith’s M Train. Elizabeth Strout spoke at the author breakfast Thursday morning in support of her new title My Name Is Lucy Barton, which elicited much excitement from retailers in attendance, as well as Sonia Manzano’s memoir for younger readers, Becoming Maria. B.A. Shapiro (author of Boston-set The Art Forger, about the Gardner heist) signed copies of her latest, The Muralist, drawing long lines of eager would-be handsellers.

Many titles also drew in booksellers on Thursday’s exhibit day, including Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. Penguin sales rep Michael Kindness was talking it up, touting it as “the next sci-fi novel for people who don’t read sci-fi.” Kindness compared Giants to Emily St. John Mandel’s recent hit, Station Eleven. At the Macmillan table, the galley to grab was The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith, which drew comparisons to The Goldfinch, a handselling favorite for those that swarmed the table.

Josh Christie, acting NEIBA treasurer, shared the positive news that the organization is "in the black" for the second year in a row. The board also said member bookstores were reporting that, heading into the fourth quarter, sales are up over last year.

Next year’s conference will be held September 20–22, 2016, in Providence.