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Thursday | December 2, 2010 | Volume 1 | Issue 3

Book News
Austin and Santino Go on an Animal Adventure
Tips for the Perfect Christmas Gift
Lookout Books' First Selection is a Success

Author News
Sacred Christmas Music and Holiday Memories with Edie Hand
Donald Davis Comes to McIntyre's and Blair

Blair Insider News
Blair Employee Participates in Feed the City 2010
Fearrington House Country Inn Receives Top Honors from Conde Nast Traveler Readers
Jim Hunt Contest Winner Announced

BOOK NEWS

Austin and Santino Go on an Animal Adventure
If you are a fan of Project Runway, then you may have seen the Lifetime show On the Road with Austin and Santino, featuring Austin Scarlett and Santino Rice, two of the more flamboyant designers who competed on the show. On October 20, in Episode 13 entitled “Pawty” the two made a party gown for Nancy Brown to wear to her fourth annual fundraiser for Full Moon Farms. Full Moon Farms, located outside Black Mountain, N.C., is a refuge for “abused and refused” wolfdogs (wolf hybrids). The farm is featured in Blair’s forthcoming book, Animal Adventures in North Carolina by Jennifer Bean Bower, which is coming out in March 2011. Click here to see a preview of Austin and Santino’s makeover of Nancy Brown.
You can also watch a 10-minute documentary video about Full Moon Farms here.

Tips for the Perfect Christmas Gift
'Tis the season when everyone is trying to figure out what present to give those people who are hard to buy for. Here are a few suggestions:

For a person who likes golf, Cracking the Code by Paul Azinger and Dr. Ron Braund fills the bill. In this book, former Ryder Cup captain Azinger details how he adapted team-building techniques used by Navy SEALs to forge the 2008 Ryder Cup team. That team was the only American team to win the cup since 1999. Ebook editions are also available.

For women, Becoming Elizabeth Lawrence, edited by Emily Herring Wilson, reveals the letters written by famed gardener Elizabeth Lawrence to her friend and mentor Ann Preston Bridgers during the 1930s and 40s. The letters reveal a kinder, less hurried time when the strong bond of friendship was nurtured through the art of letter writing.

For the children on your list, When the Parkway Came by Anne Mitchell Whisnant and David Whisnant, arrives just in time to celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of America’s most beloved roadways—the Blue Ridge Parkway. The book blends historic and contemporary photographs of the parkway with a story about a young boy whose farm eventually becomes part of the parkway.

For a thought-provoking gift, photographer Bowman Gray IV has combined stunning color photographs of natural scenery with the words written by James Allen in 1902. In As a Man Thinketh, Allen’s text conveys his philosophy that it is up to the individual to form his own character and create his own happiness. The classic text combined with Gray’s photography make the ideal coffee-table gift book.

Lookout Books' First Selection is a Success
In January, the Publishing Laboratory at UNC-Wilmington will launch Lookout Books–the literary book imprint of the Department of Creative Writing. The imprint hopes to seek out emerging and historically underrepresented voices, as well as works by established writers overlooked by commercial houses. Their first publication, Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman, has already met the imprint’s criteria as Ann Patchett points out in the opening sentence of her introduction to the book: “To that great list of human mysteries which includes the construction of the pyramids and the persistent use of Styrofoam as a packing material let me add this one: why isn’t Edith Pearlman famous?” Patchett goes on to explain how she discovered Pearlman when she was the guest editor for Best American Short Stories in 2006. The book is already generating word-of-mouth interest and just received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. To read more about the book, the PW review, an excerpt from the book, and the complete Ann Patchett introduction, click here.

AUTHOR NEWS

Sacred Christmas Music and Holiday Memories with Edie Hand
Author Edie Hand will be busy with two holiday events and several signings during December. On Thursday, December 16, she will host the Sixth Annual Festival of Sacred Christmas Music, which will be held at Von Braun Concert Hall in Huntsville, Alabama. The event is sponsored by Keep Christmas Alive, a community-based effort to “reclaim, proclaim and celebrate Christmas the old-fashioned way.” For more about this event: see www.KeepChristmasAlive.org

During December, television stations and online sites throughout the world will carry a special holiday tribute to Country Music Hall of Famer Charley Pride and Grammy-winning songwriter Ben Peters. To view a trailer for the show and see a listing of where the show can be viewed, visit www.ediehandfoundation.org.
Edie has maintained a hectic schedule in 2010 with the publication of two new books she has coauthored: Women of True Grit with Tina Savas and ABC’s of Selling with Etiquette with Dale Brakhage.

Donald Davis Comes to McIntyre's and Blair
On Saturday, December 18 at 11 a.m., McIntyre's Books will host its 19th holiday storytelling with Donald Davis in The Fearrington Barn. Donald, who is one of the foremost storytellers in the country, has been featured at the World's Fair, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Storytelling Festival, and as guest host on NPR's "Good Evening.” Instead of admission, McIntyre’s ask that guests donate cans of food which will be given to Chatham County's CORA group (Chatham Outreach Alliance). For more information, call McIntyre’s Books at (919) 542-3030.

In March 2011, Blair will publish Donald’s first book in six years with Tales from a Free-Range Childhood, a collection of stories about growing up in the southern Appalachians. For more about Donald and his forthcoming books, click here. Read an excerpt from his new book here.

BLAIR INSIDER NEWS

Blair Employee Participates in Feed the City 2010
This Thanksgiving, Debbie Hampton (top left photo, center), the head of Blair’s production department, and her daughter Allison (bottom right photo) joined their church, a sister church, and a local business for their “Feed the City” project. Feed the City provides a hot meal for those less fortunate on Thanksgiving Day. They fed about 157 people and packaged up the leftovers for home deliveries. In describing her assessment of the day, Debbie remarked that she was grateful that her daughter “will have a different kind of Thanksgiving memory—a  visual reminder that everything we are given is a gift, even down to every bite of food. And that some of us don’t have to go look for it, or ask for it or even wonder where it will come from. The numbers of those who do are staggering. And I hope that memory will linger.”

Fearrington House Country Inn Receives Top Honors from Conde Nast Traveler Readers
Congratulations to our friends at Fearrington House Country Inn in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Nearly 26,000 readers of Conde Nast Traveler recently selected the inn as one of the top 60 hotels in the world. The hotel is part of Fearrington Village, which is also home to the 20-year-old independent bookstore, McIntyre’s Fine Books.

Jim Hunt Contest Winner Announced
Last month we asked you to send us an email telling us you voted in the mid-term elections to enter for a chance to win a copy of Jim Hunt: A Biography. Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks even more for voting!
The winner of their very own copy of Jim Hunt: A Biography is Crystal Joyce of Winston-Salem, NC! Congratulations Crystal, and thanks for voting!

This newsletter is published and distributed by:

John F. Blair, Publisher
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Winston-Salem, NC 27103
1-800-222-9796 | www.blairpub.com

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