Two BAM Stores Get Color Espresso Book Machines - and - Poet is Antarctic Artist in Residence

Shelf Awareness

This month, Books-A-Million and On Demand Books will launch the first full-color Espresso Book Machines at BAM stores in South Portland, Maine, and Brookwood Village in Birmingham, Ala.
The machines have a catalogue of more than seven million titles and, of course, can be used for custom publishing and self-publishing.

"We are committed to assisting local authors as they work to get their written masterpieces off the ground," said Mary Gallagher, senior v-p of merchandising at BAM. "It is our hope that many of the new books found on the shelves at BAM will be printed and bound by this cutting-edge printing equipment."

Jynne Dilling Martin: Antarctic Artist in Residence

Congratulations to Jynne Dilling Martin, a poet and director of publicity at Riverhead Books, who has begun a six-week stint as artist-in-residence in Antarctica.

Fast Company said that Martin has "spent the majority of her life preparing for a trip to the icy continent. As a child in inner city Cleveland, she saved her allowance in a shoebox to use for an expedition to Antarctica. Years later, she overwhelmed a soil scientist studying there with her enthusiasm for the area while seated next to him at a wedding. He suggested that the renowned poet apply for the program. In 2010, she did and got the grant on her first try. 'I would've just applied for the rest of my life until I got it,' she said."
For the stay at the McMurdo Station, she brought special sunglasses to protect against 24-hour days of UV rays, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as, at the request of resident scientists, a set of darts. She plans, she said, to study the vernacular of the scientific experiments to inform her poetry.

She also wants to take pictures of penguins with some Penguin books. "It's a nice synergy that I work at Penguin and I'll be working with penguins," she said.