Powell’s Top Fives for 2012

Powell’s has been so supportive of my new small press.

I’ve always loved Powell’s Books in Portland. In fact, I moved here, sight unseen, in 2001, after reading about Powell’s and figuring a place with a giant independent bookstore surely would be a good place for a writer to live.

Turns out that’s true.

Our Jan. 7 reading earned us a prominent spot on the events shelf at Powell’s.

I found my people here in Portland–my writing community, which is really more like a writing family. And Powell’s more than lives up to its stellar reputation. It’s a place to linger, to browse, to breathe deep while surrounded by other people’s words, to luxuriate among the stacks, to seek treasures, to find bargains, to open one’s mind to new stories.

In the past few months, since launching Brave on the Page, I’ve seen Powell’s from another perspective. The staff has been extremely supportive of Forest Avenue Press, carrying our book in two locations and even inviting us to have an event in the legendary Pearl Room. Powell’s Hawthorne named us a staff pick. Matt Love named Brave on the Page his Book of the Year on the Powell’s On Oregon Blog. We’ve been on the Powell’s small press bestseller list for a few weeks (or maybe more–I didn’t know about the list until recently!). And we print our books upstairs in the Purple Room at Powell’s through the Espresso Book Machine.

Last week, we received another exciting honor. Brave on the Page was named one of the Powell’s Staff Top Fives for 2012.

“Every December, we ask our coworkers to share their top five favorite books of the previous year,” the Powell’s website explains. “And every year the responses remind us what an eclectic, passionate, and interesting group of readers we work with. This year was no exception.”

I am so grateful to staffer Gigi Little for putting Brave on the Page in a spotlight that’ll shine bright and lovely all year on the Powell’s website under the “Staff Picks” category. Check out the Top Fives page to see all the lists and Gigi’s sweet writeup about why she chose Brave on the Page.