2013 SIBA Book Award Winners

The Southern Independent Bookseller's Alliance, or SIBA, choses six books each year from the best in southern literature. One title is chosen from each category: Children's, Young Adult, Cooking, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. The titles are nominated by southern, independent booksellers (like me) and their customers (like you). While we are all reading globally, it is nice to have a regional minded award list compiled by the people who are at the forefront of localmindedness. The interest of SIBA stretches from Louisiana on up to North Carolina, but this year's seems to sit close to home for us! One of the winners, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by Louisiana's own William Joyce, is one of my favorite books. I am so thrilled to have this book on the SIBA list, while it was inspired by Hurricane Katrina it is a beautiful story for readers across the globe. I'm also excited to note that the winning book of poetry, though not written by a Louisiana native, was published by LSU Press. Southern literature has a deep and rich history and these authors (and many more) are a constant reminder that we will continue to build on that history.

Children's Winner

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce and Joe Bluhm (ills.)

The book that inspired the Academy Award-winning short film, from "New York Times"- bestselling author and beloved visionary Joyce. Stunningly brought to life, this book is a modern masterpiece, showing that in today's world of traditional books, eBooks, and apps, it's story that we truly celebrate.

Poetry Winner

Descent by Kathryn Stripling Byer 

Navigating the dangerous currents of family and race, Kathryn Stripling Byer s sixth poetry collection confronts the legacy of southern memory and landscape, where too often "it s safer to stay blind."

Cooking Winner 

The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Savannah landmark Back in the Day Bakery, here is a fabulously fun book filled with customers' favorite recipes and irresistible full-color photographs of food and behind-the-scenes bakery shots.

Fiction Winner

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash

In his phenomenal debut novel--a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small North Carolina town--Cash displays a remarkable talent for lyrical, powerfully emotional storytelling.

Nonfiction Winner

Stand Up That Mountain by Jay Erskine Leutze

The true story of an outdoorsman living alone in Western North Carolina who teams up with his neighbors and environmental lawyers to save a treasured mountain peak from the mining company.

Young Adult Winner

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now 11, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a cafe and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder.

SIBA's 2012 Book Award Winners

I wrote about the SIBA awards last year, and I am happy to announce that the time has come again. These are the six best books in southern literature. One title is chosen from each category: Children's, Young Adult, Cooking, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. The titles are nominated by southern, independent booksellers (like me) and their customers (like you).





Children’s Winner: Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond by Mary Quattlebaum
 
“A delightful riff on ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm’” -- Books Plus

Blurp. Croak. Quack. What is making those sounds? Come along with Jo MacDonald and learn about the wild creatures at the pond on her grandfather's farm. You'll find fish, frogs, ducks - and a few surprises.  Author Mary Quattlebaum engages little ones with rhythm, repetition, wordplay, and onomatopoeia and illustrator Laura Bryant charms them with lively watercolors of a pond community. And check out the outdoor activities and games in the back, sure to encourage young naturalists at home and school.


Cooking Winner: The New Southern Garden Cookbook by Sheri Castle 

“This book helped me make the most of my vegetable garden!” --Quarter Moon Books and Gifts

In The New Southern Garden Cookbook, well-known food writer Sheri Castle aims to make "what's in season" the answer to "what's for dinner?" This timely cookbook, with dishes for omnivores and vegetarians alike, celebrates and promotes the delicious, healthful homemade meals centered on the diverse array of seasonal fruits and vegetables grown in the South, and in most of the rest of the nation as well.

Fiction Winner: Iron House by John Hart

“I enjoyed Iron House because it had so much more to offer the reader than ‘whodunit.’  John Hart is southern mystery writing at its best.”  -- The Country Bookshop

A New York Times-bestselling author delivers his most devastating novel yet--the remarkable story of two orphaned brothers separated by violence at an early age. When a boy is brutally murdered in their orphanage, one brother runs and takes the blame with him. Twenty years later--a seasoned killer--he returns to North Carolina.

Nonfiction Winner:  Lions of the West by Robert Morgan

“I really appreciate Mr. Morgan's distinction that the historical figures through which he delves into the westward expansion weren't all ‘hero’, nor all ‘villain’, but usually a mixture of both.”  -- The Fountainhead Bookstore

From Thomas Jefferson's birth in 1743 to the California Gold rush in 1849, America's Manifest Destiny comes to life in Morgan 's skilled hands. Jefferson, a naturalist and visionary, dreamed that the U.S. would stretch across the continent. The account of how that dream became reality unfolds in the stories of Jefferson and nine other Americans whose adventurous spirits and lust for land pushed the westward boundaries.

Poetry Winner: Abandoned Quarry  by John Lane 

“Lane's poetry is rich with love of place and environment.”  --City Lights Bookstore

Abandoned Quarry is a collection of poems by one of the South's most admired environmental writers. The collection makes available for the first time under one cover poems from a dozen full collections and chapbooks. The poems range in subject matter through relationships, nature, improvisational pieces, and rants about the strangeness of the modern condition.

Young Adult Winner: Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact by A.J. Hartley

“Takes place in Atlanta Georgia, and incorporates fantasy along with the real struggles of being a teen in a new place, adjusting to a new school, and a new culture.” –Fountainhead Bookstore

Eleven-year-old Darwen Arkwright has spent his whole life in a tiny town in England. So when he is forced to move to Atlanta, Georgia, to live with his aunt, he knows things will be different - but what he finds there is beyond even his wildest imaginings!  Darwen discovers an enchanting world through the old mirror hanging in his closet - a world that holds as many dangers as it does wonders. Scrobblers on motorbikes with nets big enough to fit a human boy. Gnashers with no eyes, but monstrous mouths full of teeth. Flittercrakes with bat-like bodies and the faces of men! Along with his new friends Rich and Alexandra, Darwen becomes entangled in an adventure and a mystery that involves the safety of his entire school.