Katrina Bookstore casualties

From Publishers Weekly:

Susan Daigre’s Bookends Bookstore in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, Miss., run by Scott Naugle and Richard Daley, were destroyed irrevocably in the storm. “Both of those stores were completely flattened,” said Wanda Jewell, executive director of SEBA, indies’ southeastern regional association. “I’m told that there’s not even debris around. The place where both bookstores used to be now looks as if nothing were ever there.”

While the hurricane will probably not affect the upcoming SEBA convention in Winston-Salem, N.C. set for Sept. 16, Jewell said it put things in perspective. “One store in our area told me that their bookstore was untouched but that the owners’ kids had all lost their homes in the storm. When you hear stories of people losing family members, it makes our gathering so insignificant.” SEBA is hoping to raise money for some relief organizations and for affected bookstores.

On the publishing side, Joseph Billingsley, sales manager at Pelican Publishing, has contacted the Publishers Association of the South to report that he is safe in Shreveport. The Calhoun family, owners of the Gretna-based firm, have evacuated to Monroe, LA.

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