For the first time, the Squire Summer Writing Workshops will include a Friday-night field trip.
This year’s Squire registrants will enjoy a visit to the Bookmarks independent bookstore in downtown Winston-Salem, where executive director Jamie Rogers Southern will lead a discussion on the contemporary book industry and how authors fit into it.
The field trip will take place after dinner on Friday evening, with Wake Forest University shuttle buses available to take registrants from campus to the bookstore.
Southern—who led the class “Basics of the Book Business, Part II” at the Network’s 2019 Spring Conference—became Executive Director of Bookmarks in 2021, after nine years as their Operations Director. She began her career in books at the Alabama Booksmith in her native Birmingham, AL, where she worked for more than 5 years as event organizer, buyer, and store manager. She moved to New York in 2007 to work for the American Booksellers Association as Education Coordinator; in addition to writing and leading education sessions for ABA, she was their coordinator for BookExpo America and Winter Institute in 2008. She is currently the board president for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.
“I’m glad we were able to arrange this opportunity for our registrants, who’ll have a chance to learn a whole lot about the book business. Jamie Rogers Southern is as brilliant when it comes to selling books as she is suspect when it comes to choosing life partners,” said NCWN Executive Director Ed Southern.
Registration for the Squire Summer Writing Workshops is open until noon on Thursday, July 6. This year’s Squire Workshops will be July 20 – 23 on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.