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MIBA Spring Road Trip May 12 &13th
Spring Road Trip 2025
Practice hope with fellow booksellers, industry partners, & authors!
Sunday, May 11, 2025
at 7:00 PM (CDT)
to Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM (CDT)
Mineral Point, Wisconsin
MIBA Spring Road Trip May 12 &13th
A gathering of indie booksellers, industry partners, and authors.
Join us in learning about and celebrating creativity, caretaking, community, and skilling-up for a liberatory way of being and living in the Midwest.
Our Spring Road Trip is a partnership with
Republic of Letters, The Book Kitchen, and Shake Rag Alley
The Connection Celebration is sponsored by:
Overview
In collaboration with Republic of Letters, The Book Kitchen, and Shake Rag Alley, MIBA is thrilled to invite you to Spring Road Trip 2025 in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Mineral Point is a historic small town nestled in the beautiful rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin, known for its rich mining heritage, proud LGBTQ+ history, and vibrant arts community. The town is celebrated for its thriving arts scene, with over two dozen galleries and artist studios that draw visitors year round, blending historic charm with a contemporary creative spirit.
Our Spring Road Trip is a unique opportunity to network between booksellers, industry staff, and authors in an intimate setting while enjoying the uniqueness of Mineral Point. Attendees will experience author talks, rep picks, idea-sharing, education sessions, inspiration, and peer-to-peer support for booksellers and for industry professionals.
Who should attend?
- Booksellers of all roles in the store and of all experience levels - Owners, managers, and frontline; new and veteran. There will be something for everyone.
- Industry partners - We will have idea-sharing and educational sessions for and with industry partners, not just booksellers. We are working closely with our industry partners to co-create education, title discovery opportunities, and author visits. A full slate of sponsorship and author placement opportunities is posted, but please don't hesitate to be in touch with ideas.
Where are we meeting?
We'll be gathering at a few locations in the community, all within walking distance of each other, and transportation will be available for those needing accommodation:
- Shake Rag Alley's Lind Pavillion
- 18 Shake Rag St.
Mineral Point, WI 53565
- 18 Shake Rag St.
- The Republic of Letters and The Book Kitchen
- 152 High St
Mineral Point, WI 53565
- 152 High St
Which authors are attending?
Watch this space!!
Lodging
Mineral Point has a variety of lodging from a chain hotel to inns, to bed and breakfast options to camping! Please check them out here.
- Please note, we decided against booking a hotel block because the pricing was better via individual booking online and we want to make this trip as accessible as possible for all. At the time of this writing, many rooms are available at the Quality Inn during the Spring Road Trip.
- Many of the rentals are within walking distance of Shake Rag Alley, Republic of Letters, and The Book Kitchen
Agenda
| May 11 | |
| 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM |
Bring Your Own Book Book Club
Join us at the American Wine Project for a fun meet and greet to share what we're reading! 802 Ridge Street Mineral Point, WI 53565 |
| May 12 | |
| 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM |
Registration
Meet us at Shake Rag Alley's Lind Pavilion to get checked in, grab your badge, and find a comfy spot! The folks at Shake Rag Alley consider their space a public park, so feel free to wander around the grounds, take in the spring smells and sights, and relax until we kick off! 411 Commerce Street Mineral Point, WI 53565 |
| 10:30 AM - 10:45 AM |
Opening Remarks
The Road Trip begins! We'll start the gathering with gratitude at Shake Rag Alley's Lind Pavilion, give any necessary updates, and share info about the venue. Casey Brown of the Ho-Chunk Nation will share opening remarks. 411 Commerce Street Mineral Point, WI 53565 |
| 10:45 AM - 11:30 AM |
Midwest Book Award Winners and 2025 Finalists Announcement
Shane Mullen will chat with previous Midwest Book Award winning authors: Susan Campbell: Paper Valley - 2024 Tricia Quinnies aka Audrey Lyndon: Artful Bargain - 2024 Stacey Kaufman-Potter: Relatively Complicated - 2024 David Benjamin: They Shot Kennedy - 2021 The panel concludes with 2025 Book Award finalists announcements! |
| 11:30 AM - 11:45 AM | Break Have a chat, grab a refreshment, take a walk, close your eyes, whatever you need! |
| 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM |
Rep Picks Lunch
Featuring: BrocheAroe Fabian and Sophie Juhlin: Sourcebooks Victoria Rydberg-Narnia: Feet Wet Writing David Mallmann: W.W. Norton & Co. Amy Rath: Unsung Voices David Underwood: Penguin Random House Heather MacMillan: Indigo Maiden |
| 12:45 PM - 1:15 PM |
Keynote Kickoff
Featuring: Jane Hamilton with The Phoebe Variations from Zibby Publishing and JR Dawson with The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World from Tor Books |
| 1:15 PM - 1:30 PM | Break Have a chat, grab a refreshment, take a walk, close your eyes, whatever you need! |
| 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Keynote Author Signing and Rep Tabling Get those galleys, get some autographs, get with reps about their lists! |
| 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM |
Break and Transition to the Book Kitchen
Half of our group will be transitioning to the Book Kitchen for the 2:45pm cooking class with Stephanie Hansen. The other group will be on a break! Your group assignment will be with your badge. The distance from the Lind Pavilion to the Book Kitchen is 0.2 miles, partly uphill. Transportation by car is available. |
| 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM |
Cooking with Stephanie Hansen and Casey Brown Presentation
At the Book Kitchen: cooking demo by Stephanie Hansen from True North Cabin Cookbook Volume Two (Minnesota Historical Society Press). With samples! At the Lind Pavilion: Casey Brown of the Ho-Chunk Nation will speak about his tribe, oral history and the written word, and more. Attendees will be put in 1 of 2 groups who will alternate sessions. |
| 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM |
Ideas That Work
Carrie Koepke will lead booksellers through Ideas That Work, followed by breakout sessions to go deeper. The topics include: "Bookstore Experiences" Cost cutting/Revenue generating Pre-order campaigns Ideas that didn't work and their lessons In addition, Jennifer Allen will lead Industry Professionals through Ideas That Work. |
| 5:30 PM - 9:00 PM |
Downtown Art Walk and Opening Night Party
Sponsored by Little Creek Press! We begin at the Republic of Letters, get our art gallery tour instructions, walk about town, then return to the bookshop and kitchen for appetizers, drinks, and camaraderie. For those who are able to enjoy it... think cheese! The distance from the Lind Pavilion to Republic of Letters is 0.2 miles, partly uphill. Transportation by car is available. |
| May 13 | |
| 9:30 AM - 9:45 AM |
MIBA Bookseller of the Year Announcement
We're back at the Lind Pavilion for day two. Let's celebrate and honor 2025's Bookseller of the Year! 411 Commerce Street Mineral Point, WI 53565 |
| 9:45 AM - 10:30 AM |
The Wisconsin Whey
Barbara Cerda and Valeria Cerda will moderate a discussion about a unique collaboration between a bookstore, a book kitchen, a publisher, and an author. Featuring: Kristin Mitchell: owner of Little Creek Press Leslie Damaso: co-owner of the Republic of Letters Keith Burrows: co-owner of the Republic of Letters Nicole Bujewski: owner of The Book Kitchen |
| 10:30 AM - 10:45 AM | Break Have a chat, grab a refreshment, take a walk, close your eyes, whatever you need! |
| 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM |
Mini-Education Round Robin
Attendees in pre-assigned groups will visit each table for mini-ed sessions for lasting 10-minutes. Topics: How to sell games and puzzles How to sell Tarot and other witchy stuff How to sell manga and graphic novels How to merch and sell sidelines Learn about partnering with Little Free Library Tips and Tricks for offsite selling Learn about Withfriends |
| 12:15 PM - 1:00 PM |
Rep Picks Lunch
Featuring: Jennifer Allen: Fuji Associates Lanora Jennings: Princeton University Press Andy Belmas: Wisconsin Historical Society Press Riley Jay Davis: Minnesota Historical Society Press Sarah Phillips: Scholastic |
| 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM | Arts, Crafts, and Education Featuring Our Food Grows, from The Collective Book Studio, author Sarah M. White will discuss the book's Educator Guide and Librarian/Bookseller Guide. Illustrator Tessa Gibbs will talk about her art style and show everyone how to do paper collage with supplies they provide. |
| 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM | Break Have a chat, grab a refreshment, take a walk, close your eyes, whatever you need! |
| 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM |
Connection Celebration
Featuring: Daniel Faas - The Granger Railroads of Wisconsin from Arcadia Andrew DeYoung -Stay Away from Him from Sourcebooks Ron Rindo - Life, and Death, and Giants from St. Martin's Press Rita Woods - The Edge of Yesterday from Tor Publishing Matt Goldman - The Murder Show from Tor Publishing Jeffrey Brown - Hulk Teach from Scholastic Ann Bausum - White Lies from Macmillan Linda Skeers - Women Who Dared, Volume 2 from Sourcebooks |
| 3:45 PM - 4:15 PM |
Closing Keynote
Featuring: Jay Coles with Your Final Moments from Scholastic Press |
| 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Connection Celebration and Keynote Author Signing and Rep Tabling Get those galleys, get some autographs, get with reps about their lists! |
| 5:00 PM - 5:00 PM | End of Spring Road Trip 2025 Thank you for being with us and please get home safely! |
