Hopelessly devoted to particular authors? At readaround.com you can see where their latest book tour will take them.

Overnight business in a New England town? See who’s reading in the bookstore down the street from your hotel.

Collect signed first editions? See who’ll be signing nearby this week, or what stores will let you order signed copies without attending the event.

Rainy vacation day? Take the kids to story hour at your local independent bookshop.

At readaround.com, anyone can find book-related events taking place throughout New England!

Readaround.com is a project of The New England Independent Booksellers Association. All booklovers are invited to learn more about NEIBA at NEIBA's website; booksellers are invited to join NEIBA.

New England Independent Booksellers Association
297 Broadway, #212
Arlington, MA 02474
Tel 781-316-8894
Fax 781-316-2605
Steve Fischer, Executive Director
Nan Sorenson, Asst. Executive Director
www.newenglandbooks.org

NEIBA Board of Directors

President Allan Schmid has enjoyed 26 years in the book business. Members may recall the days he plied New England as a sales rep for Merrimac Publisher's Circle and David R. Godine. Other posts included sales and marketing at a small textbook publisher, Independent School Press, and bookselling at Lauriat's Wellesley and Westwinds Bookshop, Duxbury, MA, for then-owner Bob Hale.

He purchased Books Etc. a small independent in the heart of Portland Maine's 'Old Port' 17 years ago. The store has seen a doubling of its space and the opening of a second, larger location in nearby Falmouth. Allan has served three terms on the Advisory Council and a term on the Maine Writers & Publisher's Alliance's Board. He has been Acting NEIBA President since July 14, 2004.

Vice President Penny McConnel has been in the business of selling books for 25 years. She worked for two bookstores before opening The Norwich Bookstore in 1994 with her business partner Liza Bernard. She was a very happy member of the Advisory Council from 2002 through 2004. She is a past member of the Vermont Public Radio Advisory Board.

When not selling books or reading Penny can be found in her garden, practicing the cello, spending time with her husband Jim or trying to learn Italian--not all at the same time. She has three grown sons and one grandson. Penny also spends a lot of time dreaming about how to get to a beach.

Treasurer Mitch Gaslin is a co-owner of Food for Thought Books, a non-profit, workers' collective bookstore in Amherst, MA. It is a general store specializing in progressive politics, as well as selling textbooks. Mitch has worked there since 1986. He is primarily responsible for accounts payable, textbook ordering and returns, and remainders.

In 1990, through a Bertelsmann Foundation grant, he worked three months at a bookstore in Germany. Mitch served on the Advisory Council from 2002 through 2004. Outside the store, Mitch does all the work he didn't finish while at work, as well as chauffeuring his son to ballet and theater rehearsals.

Clerk Kate Sullivan's first two jobs post college were in a bookstore and a bakery. When both offered full time work she went with bookselling and never looked back. She spent three years in a Boston bookstore, two years as a New England sales rep for Pocket Books and then moved to Washington DC to work for Ballantine.

Within a year, missing New England, she moved back. Fortunately Random House had recently started the Children's Books sales force. She has been selling for Random House for 18 years. When not reading and selling children's books Kate quilts, bakes (specialty: cheesecake) and works in her garden.

Immediate Past President Fran Keilty has been a bookseller since 1974. Fran and Michael Keilty purchased the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, CT, in 2003. Previously Fran was the Vice President of TPA Books, Inc., dba as Atticus Bookstore Cafés in Middletown and New Haven, CT, and Atticus Bookstore in Amherst, MA. Fran was President of NEIBA from 1997 to 1999.

She is currently President of the Independent Booksellers Consortium. She is a past member of her local Planning and Zoning Commission and a past member and past chairperson of her local Board of Education.