Bookmarks in Winston-Salem has announced that its executive director is stepping down in January.
Jamie Rogers Southern has spent 15 years with the organization, first as operations director. She was appointed to the executive role in 2021.
Southern is credited with expanding the Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors, which is now the largest in the Carolinas, drawing more than 30,000 attendees.
In a press release, Southern said Bookmarks has a “strong foundation and an exciting future.”
“Bookmarks has become so much more than a bookstore or a festival. It’s a community built around books, curiosity and connection,” Southern said in the release. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the past 15 years, and deeply grateful to the staff, board, volunteers, partners and readers who have made it possible."
The organization’s Board of Directors will begin the search for its next leader in the coming weeks.