Eileen Dengler, who will retire as executive director of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association in December, and as president of the Professional Booksellers School in 2027, is this year's recipient of the NAIBA Legacy Award.
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| Eileen Dengler | |
Dengler entered the bookselling world in 1984 to run the meetings & convention department at the American Booksellers Association. When ABA sold the convention to Reed, she worked for other organizations before returning to the book industry in 1999 to head NAIBA. In 2020, with the support of NAIBA, she incorporated the Professional Booksellers School.
"When I asked the NAIBA board who we were giving the Legacy Award to, and they said 'you,' I started to cry," Dengler said. "This award is a big hug from the booksellers I have served so faithfully for 30 years. Every day with the people of NAIBA has been an opportunity to collaborate and create programs, services, events, and experiences for our booksellers. There's no better work in the world." Her charity of choice is the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. She will accept the award during the New Voices New Rooms conference Awards Dinner on August 5.
NAIBA also revealed the winners of the 2026 NAIBA Book Awards, recognizing an author who was born or has lived in the region and/or a book whose story takes place in the region. The winners are:
Fiction: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Nonfiction: Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
Young Adult Literature: Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Middle Grade: The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner
Picture Book: If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone by Gideon Sterer