SCIBA: Southern California Bookseller Awards (2005,2009)

SCIBA Winners 2009
Winners of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association awards, which "reflect Southern California culture or lifestyle, with authors/illustrators living within the SCIBA region," are:

Nonfiction: Susan Campoy for Celebrating with Julienne
Fiction: Lisa See for Shanghai Girls
T. Jefferson Parker Mystery: Debra Ginsberg for The Grift
Children's Picture Book: David Shannon for Too Many Toys
Children's Novel: Michael Grant for Hunger -- added Gone (#1 in series)
Glenn Goldman Art & Architecture Book: Patrick Ecclesine for Faces of Sunset Boulevard and Annie Leibovitz for Annie Leibovitz at Work
The winners were honored at the SCIBA authors feast and trade show on Saturday (10/24/09) in Los Angeles.

2005:
At last Saturday's (10/15/05) lively Authors Feast in Long Beach, Calif., attended by 275 people, the winners of the Southern California Bookseller Awards were all on hand and included several popular local writers with national audiences.

Fiction:

Lisa See, who had told several people beforehand that she wouldn't win, said that the honor capped a day of firsts for her. Her husband had let her drive his car; she had given a talk in a church; and she won an award--for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Random House).

Mystery:

T. Jefferson Parker, who noted that he has lived in Los Angeles County, Orange County and now San Diego County, as he works his way down the coast, said that in his mysteries, he has tried to capture something of the essence of Southern California. The recognition by booksellers of California Girl (Morrow) he took as a happy acknowledgement that he had succeeded.

Nonfiction:

A man with roots in the area as deep as they get, Ernest Marquez, who won for his memoir, Santa Monica Beach (Angel City Press), said that in the early nineteenth century, his great-grandfathers owned much of what is present-day Santa Monica. Laughing, he added, "Now 160 years later, I can't even go on it."

Children's Books:

Noting that he had taken much of Alice the Fairy (Blue Sky/Scholastic) from his daughter--half the storyline and even the title--David Shannon wondered if when she turned 18, she might sue him.