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Thursday | November 3, 2011 | Volume 2 | Issue 2

Blair News
“Neil Gaiman Presents” Selects The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break

Distributed Publisher News
Edith Pearlman is Finalist for National Book Award
Nancy Welsh interviewed by Wall Street Journal
Emily Smith interviewed by Ploughshares
Giving Back Featured in Charlotte Magazine
North Carolina Society of Historians Hands Out Awards

Blair Insider News
Blair Welcomes New Staff

Edith Pearlman is Finalist for National Book Award

Edith Pearlman’s Binocular Vision, which is a publication of Lookout Books—an imprint of the Publishing Laboratory of UNC Wilmington--is one of the five finalists for the 2011 National Book Award in fiction. The winner will be announced on November 16.
In her glowing introduction to this short story collection, author Ann Patchett said Binocular Vision should be the book “with which Edith Pearlman casts off her secret-handshake status and takes up her rightful position as a national treasure. Put her stories beside those of John Updike and Alice Munro. That’s where they belong.”
In her front page review in the New York Times Book Review, Roxanna Roberts called this book “an excellent introduction to a writer who should not need one. Maybe from now on everyone will know of Edith Pearlman."
Earlier this year, Pearlman was awarded the PEN/Malamud Award. With this kind of recognition, let’s hope everyone becomes an Edith Pearlman fan.

Read more about the National Book Awards here.

Read more about Ms. Pearlsman's PEN/Malamud Award here.

Photo of Ann Patchett and Edith Pearlman is courtesy of 2011 Southern Festival of Books.

Emily Smith Interviewed by Ploughshares

Laura van den Berg of Ploughshares Literary Magazine recently featured a long interview with Emily Smith, director of the Publishing Laboratory at UNC Wilmington and one of the founders of Lookout Books. The interview describes the unique relationship the press has in which the university’s students benefit from an apprenticeship program in publishing which works in conjunction with the school’s literary journal, Ecotone. The journal combines its editorial strengths with the laboratory’s design and production capabilities, thus enabling the magazine to highlight its best authors and foster its relationships with them while also offering the laboratory the chance to grow into a first-class boutique literary press.

Read the article here.

“Neil Gaiman Presents” Selects The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break

Internationally best-selling author and screenwriter Neil Gaiman has curated and produced his own line of handpicked books, never before available in unabridged audio, for “Neil Gaiman Presents.” This line of audiobooks will be available through Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) at ACX.com, which acts as an online audiobook rights marketplace, an audiobook production platform pairing rights holders with professional voice talent, and an online sales system. This new website allows any professionally published book, new or old, to become a professionally produced audiobook.

Listen to Neil Gaiman discuss his decision to include The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, on Audible.com.

Learn more about "Neil Gaiman Presents," about Neil using ACX, and about Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) here and here.

Nancy Welsh interviewed by Wall Street Journal

Nancy Welsh, founder of Builders of Hope, which rescues teardown housing and renovates it in place or physically moves the structures, creating new neighborhoods wholly comprised of recycled homes, was recently a guest on the Wall Street Journal’s “Lunch Break.” In the new book, Builders of Hope: a Social Entrepreneur’s Solution for Rebuilding America that was written by Wanda Urbanska, Welsh chronicles the story of how the organization evolved and details her timely, environmentally sustainable, and economically feasible solution for rebuilding America.

Listen to the interview here.

Giving Back Featured in Charlotte Magazine

Valaida Fullwood was recently interviewed by Charlotte Magazine about her new book, Giving Back: A Tribute to Generations of African American Philanthropists. In her book, Fullwood uses vignettes and personal reflections along with Charles W. Thomas Jr.’s arresting photographs to chronicle the African American philanthropy experience.

Read the inteview here.

North Carolina Society of Historians Hands Out Awards

The North Carolina Society of Historians, which was organized in 1941 for the purpose of collecting and preserving North Carolina history, traditions, and folklore, recently gave out its annual awards.
Blair’s own Stoneman’s Raid, 1865 by Chris J. Hartley along with Ann Greenleaf Wirtz’s The Henderson County Curb Market (Parkway Publishers) were recipients of the Willie Parker Peace Prize, which “recognizes valuable contributions toward collection, preservation, and perpetuation of North Carolina history.”
Carolyn Guy’s novel, Autumn Bends the Rebel Tree (Canterbury House Publishing) was one of the recipients of the Clark Cox Historical Fiction Award, and Mama’s Wreaths by Julia Taylor Ebel (also Canterbury House) was one of the winners of the Paul Green Multimedia Award.

Blair Welcomes New Staff

Melissa James and Katie Saintsing have recently joined Blair’s staff.

Melissa James (left) is our new sales associate and is already a great addition to Blair's sales and marketing team. Melissa owns her own freelance design company, MrsToast Graphic Design, and has experience in bookselling and event planning. Melissa now oversees Blair's website, among numerous other sales and design related responsibilities. Melissa can be reached at james@blairpub.com.

Katie Saintsing (right) originally filled Blair's fall 2011 internship position and immediately showed strong editorial skills and proved to be a valuable member of Blair's acquisitions committee. She officially joined Blair as an editorial assistant last month, and helps review manuscript submissions, proofreads, develops press kits, and writes jacket copy. She is also a member of our sales and marketing team. Katie can be reached at saintsing@blairpub.com.

Welcome Melissa and Katie!