Three Rootstock Books Win New York Book Festival Awards!

The New York Book Festival contest announced its 2025 winners, and three Rootstock books earned accolades! Circle of Sawdust by Rob Mermin won the highest honor in the category of biography/autobiography. Honorable mentions were awarded to Conversations with My Mother (general fiction) and Leadership Bites (general nonfiction). Congratulations to Mermin, Ronald-Stéphane Gilbert, and Ian J. McCoog!

In the award-winning Circle of Sawdust: A Circus Memoir of Mud, Myth, Mirth, Mayhem and Magic, the founder of Circus Smirkus Rob Mermin writes with humor and passion about the precarious life of a creative artist, the ups and downs of taking risks, and the idealistic struggle to hold onto a dream.

Conversations with My Mother: A Novel of Dementia on the Maine Coast examines two siblings attempts to cope with the deepening decline of their Francophone mother who struggles with dementia as her small town succumbs to real-estate development.

In Leadership Bites: An Approachable Handbook for Emerging Leaders, McCoog traces the history of leadership theory beginning in the 1880s up to the modern day, while pairing theory with inspirational, eclectic, and sometimes personal short stories spanning the worlds of psychology, sports, education, and contemporary culture.

Visit the website to see the full list of winners.