Ann Patchett
On a recent trip to Nashville, my wife and I stopped in to Parnassus Books to say hello. I used to call on them when I was a publisher's rep and Linda-Marie, being the executive director of SIBA , wanted to say hello to a member store. Little did we know that Ann Patchett would happen to be there signing copies of her books. She was delightful and graciously agreed to my interview for Advance Reading Copy . In November, 2011, Ann opened Parnassus Books with her business partner Karen Hayes. She has since become a spokesperson for independent booksellers, championing books and bookstores on NPR, The Colbert Report (including the series finale ), Oprah's Super Soul Sunday , The Martha Stewart Show, and The CBS Early Show , among many others. Along with James Patterson, she was the honorary chair of World Book Night . In 2012 she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100