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| Mark Laframboise | |
Respected bookseller Mark Laframboise, who was a longtime book buyer at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., died earlier this week at age 60. In an e-mail tribute announcing his death "with enormous sadness," P&P's co-owners Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine wrote: "Mark was the best book buyer any independent bookstore could hope for. Not only did he know books; he knew P&P's customers, who gravitated to him because his passion for literature was infectious. Mark also was greatly appreciated by local authors, whose careers he championed and whose works he celebrated. And he was widely respected throughout the publishing industry, having built relationships over many years with booksellers and buyers at other stores, regional reps, editors and top brass at the major publishing houses.... Mark's voracious reading habits and literary expertise made him the go-to guy at P&P for queries about books."
Among his many accomplishments in the book trade, Laframboise was selected as a judge for the 2019 National Book Awards and served as president of the board of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association.
Recruited by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade, P&P's founders, Laframboise arrived in Washington from Colorado nearly 25 years ago. He started at P&P as a bookseller but within a short time began to help with buying.
Graham and Muscatine noted that "one of our first acts as new owners 11 years ago was to promote Mark to chief book buyer. Today, it is hard to imagine the fiction room without Mark at his desk, eager to share his impressions of a new novel (he read two a week), his favorite new recipe, or the latest sports news, from football to women's softball to college hoops to his hometown Chicago teams. It is hard to imagine not seeing Mark hunched at his computer, with a publisher rep at his side, going through his buys for the next season. It is hard to imagine the floor without Mark bantering with a longtime customer or racing to find a mystery, collection of poetry, or new release for someone visiting the store for the first time.
"It's hard to imagine P&P without Mark. We valued his advice, his friendship, and his insatiable appetite for books. His passing leaves a huge hole in our hearts and in the life of P&P.
The comments section under P&P's Facebook post about Laframboise's death is filled with expressions of sorrow as well as memories from friends and colleagues.
In an e-mail, Eileen Dengler, executive director of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, shared P&P's tribute with members, adding: "Mark served as a NAIBA board member from 2007 to 2018, and as President from 2014 to 2016. We will all remember his unmatched knowledge of books and authors, his wide range of interests, and his willingness to be present and available for anything the booksellers and staff at NAIBA needed. Our hearts are broken at the loss of such a wonderful person and beloved bookseller."