Six hundred booksellers at independent bookstores — from the Strand in New York to City Lights in San Francisco — will receive $500 holiday bonuses from author James Patterson. Among the recipients are employees at 21 Bay Area bookstores.
The awardees were nominated by store owners, customers, managers, peers, community members and others.
“Booksellers save lives. Period,” Patterson said in a statement released Tuesday through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company. “I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and all their hard work this holiday season.”
One of the world’s most popular and prolific writers, Patterson has given millions of dollars to booksellers, librarians and teachers. In October, he awarded $200 bonuses to over 200 librarians and library workers, including three from the Bay Area: Andrew Carlos of Santa Clara University, Elizabeth Snow of Sequoia High School in Redwood City, and Celina Tirona of John Daly Public Library in Daly City.
Patterson has even co-authored a tribute book, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, which Little, Brown and Company released in April.
