Hundreds of bookstore staffers receive holiday bonuses from author James Patterson

NEW YORK (AP) — Staffers at Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama, San Francisco’s City Lights Books and The Nook in Cedar Falls, Iowa, are among 600 booksellers receiving $500 holiday bonuses from James Patterson, the bestselling novelist who has been awarding independent store employees since 2015.

“Booksellers save lives. Period,” Patterson said in a statement released Tuesday through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company. “I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and all their hard work this holiday season.”

The winners include 11 from Iowa: Amy Zmolek of Dog-Eared Books in Ames; Susan Schafer of The Book Shoppe in Boone; Nichole Crawford of Books and Bakery in Carroll; Brandon Conrad of The Nook in Cedar Falls; Bart Carithers of Next Page Books in Cedar Rapids; Darci Tracey of Prologue Books & Wine in Charles City; Joshua Signs of Storyhouse Bookpub in Des Moines; Sue Davis of River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque; CoriAnn Theroux of The Green Dragon Bookshop in Fort Dodge; Angela Forret of Sidekick Coffee & Books in University Heights; and Nana Burford of Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City.

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Patterson chose the winners from thousands of applications.

“We appreciate Mr. Patterson’s financial generosity as well as his generosity of spirit. We all continue to be awed by, and grateful for, Mr. Patterson’s continuing support of independent booksellers,” Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, said in a statement. “It means everything to have him recognize and reward the valuable role booksellers play in the industry.”

Along with his gifts to booksellers, Patterson has given millions of dollars to schools, libraries and literacy programs. In 2015, the National Book Foundation presented him an honorary National Book Award — the Literarian Award — for “outstanding service to the American literary community.”

Find a full list of the booksellers on the American Booksellers Association website.