Monday, May 16, 2016
Phoenix Books, Vermont’s largest independent booksellers, operates stores in Essex, Rutland and downtown Burlington. Owners Michael DeSanto and Renee Reiner opened Phoenix’s Essex location in 2007; the Burlington store made its debut in 2012. Rutland’s Phoenix Books opened in 2015 as part of a downtown revitalization campaign.
Tags: books , bookstore , misty valley books , phoenix books , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 5, 2016
DeSanto and Reiner claim that 2015 was their best year on record — Burlington sales were up 14 percent — and they recently received another pretty feather in their cap: the 2015 Independent Spirit Award granted by the Book Publishers Representatives of New England.
Reached by telephone, DeSanto and Reiner expressed gratitude about their nomination while also condemning the continual expansion of Amazon.com. "[Amazon] sells everything except human beings on the internet, and I wouldn't put it past them to do that," said DeSanto. "In this sort of climate, to be recognized as a local independent bookstore is remarkable," Reiner added: "[It's] heartwarming, to say the least."
Publishers Weekly will name the Bookstore of the Year in late March. The winner will be featured in its April 18 publication and honored at BookExpo America in May.
Tags: phoenix books , publishers weekly , independent book sellers , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 7, 2015
“I had totally forgotten that I was nominated [by my publisher, University of New Mexico Press] for it, and had no expectation of being a finalist or a winner,” said Prentiss in a phone interview with Seven Days. “So to get an email out of the blue, letting me know that I was not only considered but had won — that was a complete shock. … a wonderful shock.”
The National Outdoor Book Awards annually recognize the best works in such categories as fiction and nonfiction outdoor literature, guidebooks and natural history literature. The awards are not accompanied by cash prizes, but the winning books will, in any subsequent editions, have their cover emblazoned with the NOBA medallion.
Tags: sean prentiss , finding abbey , edward abbey , national outdoor book award , environmentalism , writing , nature , monkeywrenching , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Hunter is talking about John and Jennifer Churchman's children's book, a volume coauthored by the Vermont couple and filled with stunning photo-illustrations by John. "Sweet Pea," you see, is an adorable sheep — is there any other kind? — and the self-published picture book has really struck a chord, even outside of rural Vermont.
The Churchmans' many Facebook followers were the first to fall in love with the true tale of the ailing lamb, removed from her "friends" to convalesce in the farmers' greenhouse; with the ministrations of Dr. Alison, a country vet; and, of course, with the happy ending that I will not reveal here. (B-a-a-a-ck off!) The farmer/storytellers decided to embark on a crowdfunding campaign to raise the capital to produce their first book. It was instantly successful, and preorders poured in.
The fan base escalated even more after Elizabeth Bluemle, co-owner of Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne and a contributor to Publishers Weekly's ShelfTalker blog, wrote a glowing review of The SheepOver in an October 2 post.
And then something else happened. Fast.
Tags: john churchman , brickhouse studios , lambs , children's books , picture books , photo-illustration , Little , Brown , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Kurin, whose free lecture is at 1 p.m. on Friday, October 2, holds the most excellent title of Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution, and therefore had unprecedented access to the items about which he wrote his book. It’s difficult to say if selecting 101 items from a collection of more than 138 million was an enviable task or a back-breaking one. Probably a little of both.
Tags: history , american history , norwich university , richard kurin , smithsonian , sullivan museum , northfield , Image , Web Only
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Among the subjects of McCadden's inventive poems are toy gorillas, crumbling beach houses and selfies. In Seven Days, reviewer Julia Shipley wrote about Plywood Silhouettes — which also received the 2013 New Issues Poetry Prize — "In a world where digital avatars and silky-voiced Siris compete for our hearts, McCadden explores with gentle humor and candor humans' complex relationships with one another." (Read the full review and a poem here. And find links to our reviews of the other nominated books here.)
Tags: book , words , poetry , poem , vermont college of fine arts , kerrin mccadden , landscape with plywood silhouettes , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 15, 2015
Have you self-published a book? Then there could be a place for you at the event, scheduled for Sunday, June 28, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., "to kick off the summer reading season." River Arts is still seeking authors who'd like to reserve limited space to promote their books for a $20 participation fee.
Tags: books , literature , writer , river arts , maglianero cafe , julia shipley , sundog poetry center , vermont vintage typewriter , sterling college , goddard college , vermont college of fine arts , hunger mountain , Image , Web Only
Friday, April 24, 2015
We can't review all those books in the paper. Not even all the good ones. Not even close.
But sometimes, if a book has potential, I dive in and read the first 50 pages. From those first 50 pages, you can learn a lot.
This new twice-monthly blog feature is a way to report on what I find. Because it's interesting to see what your neighbors are writing. And because sometimes a book that I don't choose to review may still be one you'd like to read.
Tags: words , literary , literature preferred by wild boar , alice eckles , james moore , pomosco , geek mountain state , reading , national poetry month , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
The prize is open to writing of several kinds — poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and children’s literature — and to works that take place in Vermont, is published by a Vermont press, or is written by a Vermont author. (Sorry, self-published authors: Your works are not eligible.) Any book published between January and December 2014 is eligible for the inaugural 2015 prize.
Nominations for the Vermont Book Award may be made either by local publishers or by a committee formed by members of the group Independent Booksellers of Vermont.
Though the judges for the award committee have not yet been named, VCFA asserts that the prize, awarded to a single book, will be given this summer. VCFA president Thomas Christopher Greene, the author of several novels, is confident that the school “will have no trouble identifying really good people from the very big Vermont literary community.”
Tags: books , book award , vermont book award , literature , vermont college of fine arts , vcfa , wind ridge books , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 19, 2015
The Downtown Rutland Association, in partnership with Green Mountain Power and other entities devoted to revitalizing the city's downtown, actively recruited Phoenix Books to set up shop in Rutland. "It was quite flattering," says Michael DeSanto, who co-owns Phoenix with his wife, Renée Reiner. "We've opened two bookstores in recent years, and nobody ever asked me to do it."
Though Phoenix has not yet chosen a new storefront location, DeSanto says the store will be located in the hub of Rutland's downtown, at or near the intersection of Center Street and Merchants Row. He hopes it will open by June 1.
Tags: books , bookstore , phoenix books , rutland , revitalization , green mountain power , Image , Web Only