Our 2023 Judges

Zoe Grams (she/her) is a writer, entrepreneur and communications strategist. Her current roles include principal of Zg Stories, an award-winning literary marketing agency, and co-founder and curator of Upstart & Crow Literary Arts Studio, a non-profit and bookstore supporting literature in translation and under-heard voices. Zoe was raised in Scotland, holds an MA in Philosophy from The University of Glasgow and is working towards an MSc in Politics and Communication at the London School of Economics. She now primarily lives on unceded Tla-o-qui-aht Ha-Hoothlee. 

James Crossley has been an independent bookseller and staunch advocate for small presses and international literature for more than twenty years, including a stint as a judge for the Best Translated Book Award. Until the end of 2023 he was the manager of Madison Books in Seattle, named by Publishers Weekly as one of the five best bookstores in the United States. He is now the founding owner of Leviathan Bookstore, set to open in St. Louis in 2024.

Paul Wilson lives in Colorado with his wife, two sons and lots of books. He also co-hosts The Mookse and the Gripes podcast. 

In two decades on bookstore frontlines, Amanda Qassar has worked with new, used, medical, technical, academic, occult, children’s and general books. Amanda is currently Marketing Coordinator at Warwick’s, the nation’s oldest continuously family-owned-and-operated bookstore, in La Jolla, California. Favorite genres include fantasy, speculative fiction, theory and criticism, science, nature, music and food writing, and books about books.

Lori Feathers is a freelance book critic and co-owner and founder of Interabang Books in Dallas, Texas, where she works as the store’s book buyer. She is the creator and co-host of the critically acclaimed books podcast, “Across the Pond” and the founder and Chair of the Republic of Consciousness Prize, US and Canada, a prize honoring the work of small publishers. Her work has been published in LitHub and many other publications, and she served as an elected board member of the National Book Critics Circle for six years.