Ticketed Authorless Events / Legacy and Succession Planning
A March Madness Event
March 9: novel. & Burke's Books team up in Memphis, TN
The team at novel will share their approach to ticketed authorless events. Recent successes include their Grown Up Book Fairs, Teddy Bear Sleepovers, and other themed events. Burke’s owners will discuss their work to preserve their store’s legacy and the considerations that come into play as they approach succession planning.
Novel manager Nicole Yasinsky said they chose their topic because they have been listening to their customers and working to provide different experiences. "In an era where we are seeing readers more excited than ever to celebrate books - we have been getting creative with our non-author events! While we still love hosting our favorite local and touring authors, we don't want our programming to be limited by our proximity to authors and their tours."
This is the second March Madness event that novel. and Burkes Books have done together. "Our industry is made up of the most brilliant and generous people, and we love gathering to share ideas," says Yaskinsky, "March Madness allows us to share some things that are working well for us, while also giving us time to hang and have an open-ended face-to-face chat with booksellers in our region about anything and everything."
At lunch, booksellers will meet Christine Hartman Derr and Marcus Wicker.
Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She’s a graduate from VCFA’s Writing for Children MFA program, where she was selected as a DEI Fellow and a Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellow. Her work includes themes on identity, belonging, and sharing the Cherokee language. Originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Christine lives in Tennessee with her spouse, children, and a rambunctious crew of lovable pets.
Marcus Wicker is the author of three books of poetry: Dear Mothership, Silencer, and Maybe the Saddest Thing, selected by D.A. Powell for the National Poetry Series. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, the Poetry Society of America’s Lyric Poetry Award, a Pushcart Prize, and Ruth Lilly Fellowship, as well as fellowships from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, The Fine Arts Work Center, and Cave Canem. Wicker’s poems have appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Oxford American, and Poetry Magazine. He is an Associate Professor and the Orgill Chair of English at the University of Memphis, where he teaches in the MFA program.
The Important Stuff:
If you want to make a trip of it: Apply for a Travel Scholarship
Hotels close to novel.:
Close to the bookstore in East Memphis there is a Hilton and a Marriott, Hyatt Place, Doubletree -- they're nothing fancy, but they get the job done. But also, if you are looking to get fancy - you can live it up at The Memphian in midtown on Overton Square (About 15 minutes away from the store) and there plenty of lovely hotels downtown (about 25 minutes away), including the historic Peabody Hotel.