IBPA award

Lost in Lexicon has won a Benjamin Franklin Award for interior design! Interior design refers to the layout of the book, the choice of font, the spacing, the way the text wraps around the illustrations, and everything else that gives the inside of the book a certain "look." The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) gave out the awards, which are quite prestigious, at a reception in the Javits Center in New York City tonight, on the eve of Book Expo America. Each category had three finalists, and I was happy just to have my book among those three. To have a self-published book judged by a jury of independent publishers to be of finalist quality sounded like tribute enough. Besides, I'd had good news today already: my daughter Sabrina, who graduated from Tufts yesterday, got two job offers as a research assistant in her chosen field today.

But then the announcer called out that the winner was Lost in Lexicon, and I made my way, half-stunned, up to the podium to the accompaniment of harp music. I thanked Lexicon's wonderful designer, Jeanne Abboud, and picked up a heavy box with an inscribed glass plaque inside.

As readers of this blog know, Lost in Lexicon has been acquired by Scarletta Press, which is publishing a second edition (with a new cover but luckily no change to the award-winning interior design) in August. Scarletta's publisher was delighted with the award, and after the ceremony took a team of us out for Greek dinner and champagne. A fitting end to a great day.