GREAT LAKES INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION
Directory
Board of Directors, Staff & Committee Assignments
Updated October, 2024
Directory
Board of Directors, Staff & Committee Assignments
Updated October, 2024
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February spikener bio
February moved to the Chicagoland area from Boston, MA in 2023. She studied English and Psychology at Wellesley College, and is currently a candidate for her Master's in Fine Arts from Randolph College. After managing a student-led cooperative for several years as well as beginning her professional career as an English teacher, February is now a bookseller at RoscoeBooks, and is eager to continue building a career grounded in her lifelong love of reading. Everything you need to know about February can be summarized by the two books that changed her life: Beloved by Toni Morrison and Soft Science by Franny Choi. |
President
Alyson Turner Source Booksellers 4240 Cass Ave UNIT 105 Detroit, MI 48201 (313) 832-1155 Committees: Education, Evaluation, Executive, Heartland Steering Committee, HPI, Michigan BookHop VICE President 2022-2024 First Term 2020-2022 Second Term 2022-2024 Third Term 2024-2026 |
Vice President
Gary Lovely Two Dollar Radio HQ 1124 Parsons Ave Columbus OH, 43206 (614) 725-1505 Committees: Education, Evaluation, Executive, Nominating, Publisher Outreach, Voice of the Heartland First Term: 2021-2023 Second Term: 2023-2025 gary lovely bio
Gary Lovely is co-owner of the bookstore Two Dollar Radio HQ and the founder of Harpoon Books, an indie publishing company based in Columbus, Ohio. Gary has been working in books for nearly 16 years across 5 bookstores and 2 publishing houses. He has been a judge for the National Book Awards for Translated Literature, The Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation, & The James Thurber Prize for American Humor. Gary is the current Vice President of the Great Lakes Booksellers Association. You can find his writing scattered about the New York Times, Literary Hub, Buzzfeed Books, and more. |
Secretary
Nina Barrett Bookends & Beginnings 1712 Sherman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201 (224) 999-7722 Committees: Education, Evaluation, Publisher Outreach First Term: 2022-2024 Second Term: 2024-2026 Nina Barrett bio
Nina Barrett is the owner and founder of Bookends & Beginnings bookstore in Evanston, IL. She is also the author of four books, including most recently The Leopold and Loeb Files: An Intimate Look at One of America’s Most Infamous Crimes. Her articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Nation, the Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. She also trained as a professional chef, and her food reporting for Chicago’s NPR station WBEZ earned her the James Beard Award for Best Radio Show two years running, in 2012 and 2013. |
Treasurer
Zach Matelski McLean & Eakin 307 E Lake St, Petoskey, MI 49770 (231) 347-1180 Committees: Education, Evaluation, Executive, Finance, Nominating Committee, Publisher Outreach, Voice of the Heartland First Term: 2023-2025 Second Term: 2025-2027 ZACH MATELSKI BIO
Zach Matelski is the Operations manager at McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan. He started bookselling in 2008 right after highschool. Since then he has graduated with a degree in International Relations, spent two years in Thailand, moved to Portland, Oregon. All before coming back to the bookselling world in 2017. You may have seen him at Heartland Fall forum talking loudly about Dragons. |
Maxwell Gregory
Madison Street Books 1127 West Madison Street Chicago, IL 60607 (312) 929-4140 Committees: Education First Term: 2023-2025 Second Term: 2025-2027 MAXWELL GREGORY BIO
Maxwell Gregory started her bookselling career at The Lake Forest Book Store, in Lake Forest, Illinois with owner Sue Boucher in 2006 and became the store manager in 2013. She served on the Indies Introduce 2020 Spring/Summer Debut Adult Author Panel. For the past four years she has been a part of both the ABRAMS Dinner Party and the Ten Speed Ambassador Program promoting and reviewing the publisher's cookbooks. In 2021, Maxwell joined A Mighty Blaze as an Author Liaison and Scheduling Producer for author and investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan's weekly mystery/thriller segment, Crime Time. She currently is affiliated with Madison Street Books in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago as a virtual bookseller and consultant. She lives in the suburbs of Chicago. |
Harriett Logan
Loganberry Books Cleveland, OH Committees: Education First Term: 2024-2026 Second Term: 2026-2028 HARRIETT LOGAN BIO
Harriett Logan founded Loganberry Books in an historic neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio in 1994. What started as a niche used bookstore grew into a large general bookstore featuring over 150,000 new, used and rare books, plus cards, crafts and tchotchkes. The shop is known for its stately and luxurious ambience, which is actually an old auto garage that once sold Nash Motors. Harriett mourns her feline friend Otis, who charmed customers for over a decade. |
Joanna Englert
Louisville, KY Committees: Education First Term: 2024-2026 Second Term: 2026-2028 JOANNA ENGLERT BIO
Joanna Englert is the senior marketing and publicity director at Sarabande Books, an independent publisher of poetry, short fiction, and essay based in Louisville, KY. Prior to her 7+ years in publishing, Joanna worked as a fundraiser and grant writer for a number of arts and education organizations including Louisville Ballet, and she also taught Rhet/Comp at the University of Louisville. A poet, Joanna is the 2024 recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Kentucky Arts Council, and she was a 2023 Artist in Residence at the Kentucky Foundation for Women. |
Laura Kendall
Second Flight Books & Main Street Books, Lafayette, IN Committees: TBD First Term: 2025-2027 Second Term: 2027-2029 Laura Kendall BIO
Laura Kendall is the founder and owner of Second Flight Books as well as the current owner of Main Street Books, both in Lafayette, Indiana. She has an MFA from Butler University where she was the nonfiction editor for Booth, a literary journal. Her work has been published in Creative Nonfiction, Waxwing Journal, Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. Before owning a bookshop she was a top subject matter expert for Indiana Medicaid Eligibility. Her mom is a retired librarian, so working with books seems like destiny! |
Kay Farmer
Libro.FM Michigan Committees: TBD First Term: 2025-2027 Second Term: 2027-2029 Kay farmer BIO
Kay Farmer is the Senior Director of Customer Experience at Libro.fm and co-host of the Libro.fm podcast. She is also the co-founder and poetry editor of Your Impossible Voice, a nonprofit literary journal started in San Francisco. Outside of her work in literature and customer experience, Kay enjoys making fiber art, maintaining her crossword puzzle streak, and having meaningful conversations with her cat. |
Additional Committees and Assignments
Michigan BookHop Committee
The Michigan BookHop Committee is a volunteer-driven group under the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association as of 2025, dedicated to organizing the annual MI BookHop. This statewide celebration of independent bookstores begins on Independent Bookstore Day and runs through Mother’s Day weekend. Founded in 2023 by Laura Harvey of Adventure Ink, the BookHop encourages exploration of Michigan’s independent bookstores through a fun Bingo Card challenge. Participating stores and Hoppers help foster community and celebrate the joy of local bookshops. The committee oversees event coordination, outreach, and promotion to grow this exciting initiative year after year.
Committee Members:
Michigan BookHop Committee
The Michigan BookHop Committee is a volunteer-driven group under the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association as of 2025, dedicated to organizing the annual MI BookHop. This statewide celebration of independent bookstores begins on Independent Bookstore Day and runs through Mother’s Day weekend. Founded in 2023 by Laura Harvey of Adventure Ink, the BookHop encourages exploration of Michigan’s independent bookstores through a fun Bingo Card challenge. Participating stores and Hoppers help foster community and celebrate the joy of local bookshops. The committee oversees event coordination, outreach, and promotion to grow this exciting initiative year after year.
Committee Members: