When we launched our very first ThingsAsian Press contest, we thought we were celebrating Tone Deaf in Bangkok. When the deadline for entries passed and we looked at the stores that had created displays, we realized we were celebrating something far larger than our book and our press.

The bookstores that entered our display contest define independent bookselling, each in its own way. Every one of them has been alive for at least thirty years in a business that sees bookstores come and go with heartbreaking regularity. Between the Elliott Bay Book Company, Old Harbor Books, and Women and Children First there exists 101 years of bookselling. Each of these stores has built a business based upon freedom of expression, nourishment of the human hunger for stories, and the recognition of the crucial importance of well-crafted words. Without them and the other bookstores that share their passion, the world would be a dark and lonely place.

To Women and Children First, Old Harbor Books, and the Elliott Bay Book Company— in celebration and appreciation of what you and other independent bookstores do– you have all won. We look forward to meeting each of you in Bangkok in 2010.