Bookseller Necia “Nicky” Salan has passed away. She was 77 years old.
Salan founded two important children’s booksellers groups: the Association of Booksellers for Children (they merged with the American Bookseller’s Association in 2010) and the Northern California Children’s Booksellers Association. In 1976, Salan opened Cover to Cover Booksellers in San Francisco’s Castro district. She stayed with the store until 2000.
Here’s more from her obituary: “Even before the bookstore opened, initially on Clement Street and later on 24th Street in Noe Valley, Nicky was known as the Book Fair Lady, providing books to hundreds of school fund-raising events and befriending many elementary school teachers. She soon became a nationally recognized expert on literature for children and youth. She was proud to count among her closest friends many of her devoted staff as well as publishers’ book representatives.”