The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance held their annual trade show in Mobile, Alabama over the weekend, and Nashville-based Turner Publishing teamed up with Vermont’s Chelsea Green for a “Fire and Brimstone Barbecue.” Turner president/publisher Todd Bottorff and Chelsea Green sales director Peg O’Donnell posed with authors Frank Durham and Diane Wilson. (We don’t know how hot the BBQ sauce was; we presume the “fire and brimstone” thing came about because of the subject matter of the books—Wilson’s memoir deals with growing up in a “holy roller” church in Texas, while Durham’s novels starts in central Louisiana and then turns out to have, you should pardon the expression, honest-to-God biblical overtones.)
PW reporter Kevin Howell filed a report on the weekend’s highlights, including a brief quote from Bottorff, who is publishing Durham’s novel, Cain’s Version, as the launch title for a new imprint specializing in Southern fiction, about the advantages of regional shows like SIBA—”a great place to meet independent booksellers who may not make the trip to BEA.”