Puget Sound Book Festival launches August 6 in Port Orchard, Washington. “Think of it as the biggest boozy book fair, but make it all ages and put it on a gorgeous farm in the stunning Washington sunshine,” says founder Briana Ryan, owner of PNBA member store Wicked Words in the PNBA’s newsletter. The festival will feature over a dozen vendors, including several bookstores that will host and support participating authors. Participating bookstores include:

-Wicked Words, Poulsbo
-Neverending Bookshop, Edmonds
-Away With Words, Poulsbo
-Ballast Books, Bremerton
-Salmonberry Books, Port Orchard
-Invitation Bookshop, Gig Harbor
-Find The Path Books, Port Orchard

The Puget Sound Book Festival takes place Sunday, Aug 6, at the Yoked Farmhouse & Brewery, 525 SW Pine Rd SW, Port Orchard, WA. Yoked’s calendar says they’ll be celebrating Beer, Bagels & Books with some specials at the event.

Literary Arts is seeking “Cover to Cover” program ideas for their annual Portland Book Festival. Think outside of the cover, suggests the organizers:

“We are looking for an eclectic mix of fun and engaging programs across the city. While events fall “under the umbrella” of PBF and should have a literary or storytelling connection, they don’t need to be explicitly book readings. Multi-author readings will be considered, but as PBF already features authors in conversation, think of this as an invitation to go outside the possibilities of a traditional reading. Become the author of your own PBF Cover to Cover event featuring your presenters, in the venue you bring, and with support from PBF.”

Events serve to engage the entire city. BIPOC presenters and businesses are encouraged to apply. Events must match these guidelines:

• PBF Cover to Cover events must take place Monday, October 30 to Sunday, November 5, 2023. 
• PBF Cover to Cover proposal submissions will close August 31. Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis; please submit early for best consideration. Proposals will be approved, and primary contacts notified, by September 8.
• Priority will be given to free programming, although ticketed events will be considered.
• PBF Cover to Cover events cannot be fundraisers or ask for donations.
• Events must not take place during Portland Book Festival hours, Saturday, November 4, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Events will be required to feature provided PBF and/or PBF Cover to Cover logos or marks on all promotional and marketing platforms, share information and how to attend with their audience, and distribute/display other possible PBF communications (posters, PBF Cover to Cover materials, etc.).
• PBF Cover to Cover Partners will be required to read and agree to Literary Arts’ Terms and Conditions.

To find out more, check the Literary Arts website for submission guidelines at literary-arts.org/portland-book-festival-cover-to-cover.

The Portland Book Festival takes place in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, November 4. Cover to Cover events will take place throughout the city prior to the festival.

The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Tradeshow will be held in Oregon this year. Registration for exhibitors is now open. Organizers say that the schedule is built to keep booksellers on the exhibition floor and interacting with publishers, reps, and others.

PNBA’s Tradeshow takes place Sept. 19-21 at Holiday Inn on the Columbia River, Portland, Oregon (formerly Red Lion on the River).

TUESDAY, Sept 19:

• Vendor set-up, 12:00 – 4:30 pm

• The Big Pitch Rep Picks, 12:20 – 4:20 pm (No competing programming!)

• Explore the Floor, exhibits opening and reception, 4:30 to 7:00 pm

WEDNESDAY, Sept 20:

• Vendor set-up, 7:00 – 9:30 am

• Exhibit Hall open for business, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

• Vendor tear-down and move out, 4:30 – 7:00 pm

THURSDAY, Sept 21:

• Education Day (no exhibits)

PNBA will promote exhibitor profiles on the official Tradeshow Exhibitor page for every company booking a table or booth on the show floor.

Exhibitors will also receive listing for any author appearing in their home space during the first night Explore the Floor reception. Details and sign-ups for those spots will be released soon, along with the full show Call for Authors.

For pricing and more information, see pnba.org/venregform.html.

The Seattle Art Book Fair celebrates independent publishing, book design, and books-as-art. The free event features local, national, and international artists, designers, and organizations. This year’s Seattle Art Book Fair takes place May 6 and 7 at Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, with more than 65 exhibitors.

Multiple talks will be offered on Saturday and Sunday aimed at creators of art books, zines, and other limited run books. Saturday opens with a discussion of how the the risograph printer can be used for the animation process and share a short screening of risograph animation work. Look for talks on Colonial “zines,” community collaboration and engagement in publishing, and more.

Partners in Print will offer opportunities to engage in letterpress poster printing on Saturday. Visitors can also tour Site/Archive/Cite, an augmented reality art intervention based on the National Archives at Seattle that interrogates the relationship of archive to place and public.

For a full schedule of activities, check seattleartbookfair.org/programs.

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association is staging a Spring Pop Up for members and publishers. The event takes place April 12 and 13 in Eugene, Oregon. The two days of programming for booksellers includes presentations by publishers and authors on upcoming 2023 titles.

Publisher Promo Opportunities at the Pop-Up

PNBA offers the following promotional opportunities for publishers. Publishers do not have to be in attendance to participate in these:

Stuff-Its

Send a sellsheet and PNBA will stuff it in the book bags to be handed out to booksellers attending the Authors On The Map evening event, April 12. 50 single-sheet flyers will be stuffed for $75. Sign up HERE!

Galley Grab

A table dedicated to publisher giveaways at Authors on the Map. Send 25 to 30 copies. The cost is $125 per title. Sign-up HERE!

A complete overview of the event is available at PNBA.org.

To celebrate their tenth anniversary, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art has started a new unrestricted award of $15,000 for artists in the Puget Sound region. In its inaugural year, four BRAVA Awards (BIMA Recognizes Achievement in the Visual Arts) will be awarded.

The four categories for 2023 will be emerging artist, artist’s book artist, Native American and First Nations artist, and children’s book illustrator. Applications are now being taken for all four categories.

Each of the four BRAVA awardees will receive an unrestricted award of $15,000. In addition to the cash prize, the recipient of each award receives recognition from BIMA, invitations to participate in events related to the awards, and an invitation to serve on the review panel for the next biennial award.

Online submissions will be accepted via CaFÉ through May 1, 2023. Artists may submit up to 12 images, and one (1) video, with a maximum of 12 works total. Applicants will be notified of the selected award winners by August 1, 2023. Awards will be presented in person at a special awards event on Saturday, September 23, 2023. For further information including fees, see biartmuseum.org/brava-awards-process.

PubWest provides three days of networking and education at Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, February 1-3, . The conference will pair with The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI)’s Book Manufacturing Mastered conference. Attendees from both groups will hear from experts in printing, marketing, accessibility, sales, and consumer outreach.

The Publishers Association of the West (PubWest) is a national trade organization of publishers and of associated publishing-related members. PubWest is dedicated to offering professional education, providing publishing-related benefits, creating opportunities for our members and associate members to do business, speaking as an advocate for members, recognizing outstanding achievement in publishing, and providing a forum for networking. In 2023, PubWest is offering free memberships for one year to Black Americans/Canadians in the publishing industry. Learn more at pubwest.org.

One of largest literary conventions is happening in Seattle on March 8-11. With the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference happening downtown, the Seattle City of Literature and Common AREA Maintenance are compiling a list of offsite events that Seattle-area organizations are hosting. They plan to print an event guide and a map to distribute across the city.

If you have an event that would be appropriate for the guide, email the organizers at info@seattlecityoflit.org by January 27. Be sure to include all event information: name of event, date, time, location, and website for more information.

Oregon Humanities announced recently that they will award $25,000 in funding to enable rural and rural-adjacent Oregon libraries to create and host events in their own communities. Consider This Mini Grants of up to $2,000 per event are available to Oregon libraries who want to create and host events centered on the theme of “People, Place, and Power.”

“Grantees are welcome to interpret this theme and develop topics that are relevant to their communities. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, community care, collective power, and civic engagement in rural areas. Libraries, including branches, located in (or adjacent to and serving) rural or frontier zip codes that have annual operating budgets of less than $1.5 million are eligible,” according to the organization’s website.

Applications are due by January 6, 2023. To learn more, visit oregonhumanities.org.

Scenic photo of Oregon by David Mark from Pixabay

Independent Book Publishers Association’s new CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet will be introducing herself to IBPA members during the IBPA Member Roundtable on December 15 at 10am PT. With her past experiences in publishing at HarperCollins, Ingram Content Group, and Workman Publishing, Fleck-Nisbet is ready to answer questions about content and acquisitions; working in the indie publishing space; and much more. After the opening Q&A session, attendees will be split into various breakout rooms to network with other IBPA members.

The IBPA Publishing University celebrates IBPA’s 40th anniversary in 2023. The organization is again offering one member from each Regional Publishers Association a scholarship to the conference, which is a savings of $500 for current IBPA members and $600 for non-members! The deadline to apply is December 31. Here are more details.

The 2023 IBPA Publishing University will be held held May 4-6 in Corornado, California. The conference features an agenda designed to meet the unique needs of small publishers with in-depth learning sessions, powerful keynote speakers, lively networking events, and an industry awards gala.