Friends, neat news: HAMMER HEAD is a finalist for the New...

Friends, neat news: HAMMER HEAD is a finalist for the New England Book Awards in non-fiction. What a group to be included in! What amazing company. Elizabeth Alexander (oh god, read The Light of the World if you haven’t), Atul Gawande, Rinker Buck, Richard Blanco. I’ve got the too-good-to-be-true feeling.

I’ve spent a bunch of time over the past four months since the book came out in independent bookstores doing readings. They’ve been like this extended family of cheerleaders for the book, this group I feel so hugely lucky and grateful to have had rooting for this thing. I get a little bashful and gulpy thinking about it. So it’s especially graitifying to be a finalist for an award put on by the New England Independent Booksellers Association. What a warm welcome indie bookstores all over New England gave me. Harvard Book Store, Porter Square Books, the Concord Bookshop, Newtonville Books, Sherman’s Books in Portland, Maine, Longfellow Books, the Maine Coast Bookstore, Water Street Bookstore, Norwich Bookstore up in Vermont (and even though they’re not in New England, I can’t help but mention and give a blog post equivalent of a hug to WORD in Brooklyn and the amazing Housing Works and McNally Jackson, as well as Charis Books in Atlanta, Avid Books in Athens). Each one of these place has its own fiery personality. Visit.