In the fiscal year ended April 29, consolidated sales at Barnes & Noble Education rose 3.7%, to $1.87 billion, and net income was $5.4 million, compared to $84,000 in the same period a year earlier.

At Barnes & Noble College stores open at least a year, sales fell 3%, "driven by the enrollment declines at community colleges, increased consumer purchases directly with publishers and other online providers, and overall unfavorable retail trends."

In February, B&N Education completed the purchase of MBS Textbook Exchange, the used college textbook wholesaler and contract operator of virtual bookstores and bookstore system provider. In the two months following the purchase, MBS results were added to B&N Education, including sales of $34.1 million, of which $14.1 million was from its wholesale business, and $20 million from direct sales.

As a result of the purchase, B&N Education now operates 1,481 physical and virtual bookstores, including 712 MBS stores, and serves more than six million students enrolled in higher education and K-12 schools.

Barnes & Noble College opened 38 new stores, with estimated annual sales of $118 million, bringing the total stores operated to 769 locations. The company has contracts to open 23 new stores with estimated annual sales of $50 million in fiscal 2018.

MBS opened 80 virtual stores with estimated annual sales of $17 million in fiscal 2017 and has contracts to open 46 virtual stores with estimated annual sales of $8 million in fiscal 2018.

Max J. Roberts, CEO of Barnes & Noble Education, commented: "Our complete end-to-end platform makes us the ideal partner for schools as they seek to meet student success and close the affordability and accessibility gap for students with increasingly personalized learning solutions. Our strong market position continues to be built with new business wins, textbook sales and rentals, analytic platform adoptions and OER content adoptions."

Jamie Raab (photo: Herman Estevez)

Jamie Raab and Deb Futter, who left Grand Central Publishing at the end of January, are forming Celadon Books, a new imprint, at Macmillan, the New York Times reported. Raab will be president and publisher of Celadon; Futter will be senior v-p and co-publisher. The pair will join Macmillan in September.

Celadon will publish 20-25 books a year, both fiction and nonfiction. Raab said she wants to find "idea-driven narratives and nonfiction books, and works about politics." Futter wants to publish novels that "straddle the line between commercial and literary, and cited Noah Hawley's thriller Before the Fall as an example," the Times wrote.

Raab was president and publisher of Grand Central, part of the Hachette Book Group. She spent 30 years at Grand Central and its predecessor, Warner Books. Futter was v-p and editor-in-chief of hardcovers for Grand Central and publisher of Twelve. She had joined Grand Central in 2007.

photo: Michael Lionstar

George Andreou, a v-p and senior editor at Knopf, has been appointed director of the Harvard University Press, effective at the beginning of September. He succeeds William P. Sisler, who announced in January that he was retiring at the end of the academic year after nearly 27 years as director.

Andreou has edited a range of fiction and nonfiction, including works by Nobel laureates V.S. Naipaul, Orhan Pamuk and James D. Watson; U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor; and Pulitzer Prize-winning poets John Ashbery and Peter Balakian.

In 1994, Andreou co-founded Vintage Español, an imprint dedicated to publishing select works of fiction and nonfiction in Spanish for the U.S. market. Among authors he published were Junot Díaz, Rosario Ferré and Cristina García. He has been on the faculty of the Writers’ Institute at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York since 2012.

Andreou earned an A.B. from Harvard College in 1987 in English and American literature and language. After joining Knopf in 1990 as an editorial assistant, he worked his way up the ranks and was appointed to his current role in 2005.

Provost Alan Garber commented: "The press is a leader in the world of academic publishing, and Andreou's outstanding record in trade publishing, broad understanding of the industry, and previous work with many distinguished authors made him a clear choice to steer this treasured institution into the future."

Libro.fm, the digital audiobook platform for independent bookstores, is now also offering digital audiobooks through Hudson and Hudson Booksellers, which have locations in 83 airports and other transportation centers across the country and offer a wide selection of books. Hudson Group also has relationships with some independent bookstores, having brought some into airports, notably Vroman's, Pasadena, Calif., Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, Colo.; and Bookworks of Albuquerque, N.M.

The Hudson audiobooks will be available at libro.fm/Hudson.

"The partnership now gives travelers access to more than 70,000 audiobooks to enjoy hands and eyes free while traveling by plane or train," said Stephanie Ballien, director of marketing at libro.fm.

Irina Ratushinskaya, the Soviet poet and dissident who, in 1983, was sentenced to seven years' forced labor for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda"; was among the last political prisoners of the Brezhnev era; and was among the first to be released under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, died July 5, the Washington Post reported. She was 63.

Ratushinskaya's imprisonment "nearly killed her, but resulted in an acclaimed memoir, Grey Is the Color of Hope (1988), and more than 250 poems that bore witness to an undiminished optimism," the Post noted, adding that she "wrote her poems on bars of soap, using the burned ends of matchsticks. When the poem was finished and Ms. Ratushinskaya had memorized its text, she hid her creation by washing it away." Her other books include In the Beginning; Dance with a Shadow; Fictions and Lies; and Wind of the Journey. 

Author and poet Victoria Redel read from her new novel, Before Everything (Viking), at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, Calif., on Tuesday night. Redel was in conversation with Seth Greenland, author of I Regret Everything (Europa Editions).

Author Patti Callahan Henry (The Bookshop at Water's End) shared "some of my favorite bookshop memories and the stores to which those memories are attached" with Signature, noting that bookstores "at their very best are sanctuaries, which means they are both sacred and also safe. Choosing a favorite bookshop is much like choosing a favorite child; it's not possible, as each has their own charm and flavor. Ah, but what is possible is choosing my favorite memories that are attached to bookshops."

Her picks included FoxTale Book Shoppe in Atlanta, Ga. ("often feels that FoxTale and I grew up together in this bookshop landscape"), Page and Palette in Fairhope, Ala. ("a mainstay and anchor in the community"), Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham, Ala. ("does what all lovely bookshops should do--create community"), Litchfield Books in Pawleys Island, S.C. ("changed the book tour world with their Movable Feast luncheons for authors") and Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C. ("a place of peace where book lovers come to rest and to read").

Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco's book buyer, has chosen Kiss Carlo: A Novel by Adriana Trigiani (Harper, $27.99, 9780062319227) as her pick of the month for July. In Costco Connection, which goes to many of the warehouse club's members, she wrote:

"I look forward to every new book by Adriana Trigiani. She is not only delightful in person, but her books are a joy to read. That includes her latest novel, Kiss Carlo, this month's book buyer's pick.

"The sweeping multigenerational story effortlessly transports readers from Italy to the streets of South Philly to New York City, while the characters explore the ties that bind, tradition, wanting more from life, Shakespeare and much more. As they examine what they want for themselves, they also celebrate love, hope and family.

"Best of all? Trigiani tells this story with her trademark wit and joie de vivre."

At Kensington:

Lulu Martinez has been promoted to communications manager, fiction & lead suspense. She has been at Kensington for two years, and previously was a publicist.

Claire Hill has been promoted to associate communications manager, thrillers and Dafina. Previously she was a communications assistant.

Samantha McVeigh is joining the company as communications materials assistant.

Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship by Michelle Kuo (Random House).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, July 15
2:30 p.m. Louis Uchitelle, author of Making It: Why Manufacturing Still Matters (The New Press, $24.95, 9781595588975). (Re-airs Sunday at 7:45 a.m.)

6 p.m. Leigh Montville, author of Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. the United States of America, 1966-1971 (Doubleday, $30, 9780385536059). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:30 a.m.)

7 p.m. Garry Kasparov, author of Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins (PublicAffairs, $28, 9781610397865). (Re-airs Monday at 4:30 a.m.)

8:15 p.m. Zeynep Tufekci, author of Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest (Yale University Press, $26, 9780300215120). (Re-airs Sunday at 2:15 p.m.)

9:15 p.m. Jason Riley, author of False Black Power? (Templeton Press, $12.95, 9781599475189). (Re-airs Sunday at 1:40 p.m.)

10 p.m. Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need (Haymarket, $16.95, 9781608468904). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m. and Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)

11 p.m. Graham Allison, author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28, 9780544935273). (Re-airs Sunday at 4 p.m.)

Sunday, July 16
12:30 a.m. Deepak Singh, author of How May I Help You?: An Immigrant's Journey from MBA to Minimum Wage (University of California Press, $24.95, 9780520293311), at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass. (Re-airs Sunday at 6:30 p.m.)

5:15 a.m. Kevin Young, author of Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News (Graywolf, $30, 9781555977917), at BookExpo.

1 p.m. Brenda Stevenson, author of What Is Slavery? (Polity, $19.99, 9780745671512). (Re-airs Monday at 1 a.m.)

7 p.m. Geoffrey West, author of Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies (Penguin Press, $30, 9781594205583), at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Wash.

11:15 p.m. James Stavridis, author of Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans (Penguin Press, $28, 9780735220591).

David Olusoga won the £2,000 (about $2,575) English PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, which celebrates "the best nonfiction on a historical subject in any period up to and including the 1960s," for Black and British: A Forgotten History, the Bookseller reported. The title was also shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize, longlisted for the Orwell Prize and was accompanied by a four-part BBC Two television series in 2016.

Chair of judges Jean Seaton called the winning book "a wonderful read, but it won because it was so surprising. It discovers unexpected stories of black people in Britain, but it is as much about the ebb and flow of how the British have made that story (sometimes negatively, sometimes positively) part of the national narrative.... Above all, this story--sometimes shaming and chilling, but equally inspiring and strange--is told with a great calm and curiosity. The tone invites us all to reflect and become part of the reassessment. It is a tremendous achievement."

photo: Tom Meyer

On August 29, St. Martin's Press will publish The Hidden Light of Northern Fires, the debut historical novel from Daren Wang, a founder and the executive director of the AJC Decatur Book Festival. Set in Town Line, N.Y., Hidden Light is based on historical figure Mary Willis, an outspoken abolitionist who lived in a small Northern town close to the Canadian border that voted to secede from the Union in 1861. Mary has turned her family's farm into a stop on the Underground Railroad, and after an escaped slave named Joe Bell collapses in her father's barn, Mary decides to risk everything to help Joe Bell get to Canada.

To write The Hidden Light of Northern Fires, Wang drew on pieces of overlooked history surprisingly linked with his own life. The project began about 10 years ago, when he first started researching his childhood home of Town Line.

"On a lark, I did a google search of my old street address," recalled Wang, whose family lived on a property in Town Line that contained a renovated barn and a main house with some unusual features, including the remains of a tunnel in the basement and a large brass bell hanging in the attic. What turned up in that google search was an oral history written by a member of the Willis family telling the stories of Mary Willis and a brother who joined the Union Army during the Civil War. Wang said he was stunned to find out that the renovated barn in which he had lived as a child had once been a stop on the Underground Railroad.

"Growing up there I had never heard the name Willis," said Wang. "I never knew any of that when I was there."

Mary Willis Webster

For the next few years, researching Town Line's history and the history of the Willis family became a hobby bordering on a "bizarre obsession" for Wang. He learned that Mary Willis's father Nathan Willis had in fact founded Town Line, that Mary turned her family's farm into an Underground Railroad station after returning home from studying at Alfred University, and, incredibly, that after voting to leave the Union in 1861, Town Line did not officially rejoin it until 1946. Along the way he found a host of fascinating historical sources, including tax records from the 1850s detailing exactly what was being raised and grown on the Willis farm, a train schedule indicating that Abraham Lincoln's funeral train passed through Town Line, and "thousands of years worth of Indian artifacts" dug up around Town Line over the years.

"I was also kind of exploring the greater history of western New York, which is largely ignored but really fascinating," he remarked. "I just became really enraptured in the history of this place I grew up in, which I thought was the most boring place in the world while I grew up there."

At first, the idea of writing a book was "far too intimidating" for Wang to seriously consider, though he continued to collect information. He recounted how he would go out drinking with various writer friends during that span and try to convince them that they should write the book. His pitches were never quite successful, however, and after about three years of research Wang resolved to write it himself.

The Willis House and Barn

"I settled down and said, somebody's got to do this," Wang explained. Although he had never considered himself to be a writer, he felt he had to do it, not just because he had done so much research but because "nobody knows the landscape and the place like I do."

Writing The Hidden Light of Northern Fires took Wang around seven years. He said that he often aspired to the kind of language used by Charles Frazier, a friend of his, in his Civil War novel Cold Mountain, adding that he in fact wrote about 300-400 words of Hidden Light on the same desk on which Frazier wrote Cold Mountain. Wang also noted that though he grew up in the North, about 15 minutes from Canada, he's been "pretty steeped in Southern writers for thirty years now."

"They're talking about me as a Southern writer. Most of my tour is in the South," mused Wang. "I guess that in the end, the idea of landscape and how that works and plays [in the novel] feels more Southern than Northern."

To promote and celebrate the launch of The Hidden Light of Northern Fires, Wang is going on an ambitious and unusual book tour. Between his work with the Decatur Book Festival and an earlier career in public radio, he has met and befriended many authors over the years. Wang thought of the book tour as a chance to hit the road and reconnect with old friends. He had the idea, inspired in part by Jim Atkinson's travelogue and bar guide The View from Nowhere, to embark on a bourbon tour. At each stop he will meet up with a local author or two to experience both their favorite local watering hole and favorite bourbon cocktail, and Wang will blog about his quest for the perfect bourbon cocktail on the website The Bitter Southerner. The focus on bourbon cocktails, he explained, comes from the fact that through cocktails, as opposed to straight bourbon, one can get a much stronger idea of personality and a greater sense of place.

All told, Wang will make more than 50 stops on the Hidden Light tour, with more than 30 of them at bookstores. Given his background of working with bookstores and authors, St. Martin's Press let him handle scheduling the tour. "They were expecting maybe five-to-ten dates," Wang said, laughing. --Alex Mutter

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, July 18:

The Late Show by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $28, 9780316225984) follows a female LAPD detective working the late shift in Hollywood.

A Distant View of Everything: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $25.95, 9780307908940) is the 11th book featuring Isabel Dalhousie.

The Captain's Daughter: A Novel by Meg Mitchell Moore (Doubleday, $25.95, 9780385541251) follows a woman returning to her hometown in coastal Maine.

Collared by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur, $26.99, 9781250055354) is the 15th animal mystery with Andy Carpenter.

Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency by Joshua Green (Penguin Press, $27, 9780735225022) investigates the role of Steve Bannon in Trump's campaign.

Putin: His Downfall and Russia's Coming Crash by Richard Lourie (Thomas Dunne, $26.99, 9780312538088) looks at the future of Russia under Putin's rule.

Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts by Ryan Holiday (Portfolio, $26, 9780143109013) explores successful long-term marketing.

The Ends of the World by Maggie Hall (Putnam, $17.99, 9780399166525) is the conclusion to the YA series Conspiracy of Us in which Avery West learns whether her fate is to be savior or destroyer.

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana (Razorbill, $18.99, 9781595148582) is a romantic coming-of-age YA novel rooted in Indian folklore.

Paperbacks:
Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home by Nicole J. Georges (Mariner, $17.95, 9780544577831) is a graphic memoir about a difficult dog.

Justice League Vol. 3: Timeless (Rebirth) by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin (DC Comics, $16.99, 9781401271121).

Order to Kill: A Novel (A Mitch Rapp Novel) by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Pocket, $9.99, 9781476783499).

Pretend We Are Lovely: A Novel by Noley Reid (Tin House, $15.95, 9781941040669).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
The Marsh King's Daughter: A Novel by Karen Dionne (Putnam, $26, 9780735213005). "After a childhood in the wilds of Northern Michigan, where her rugged, brutal father was the center of her world, Helena has made a new life with a family who doesn't know her past. Now she and her father are hunting each other and Helena must use all the skills he taught her to survive. Fascinating, dark, and disturbing, The Marsh King's Daughter is a psychological thriller most compelling in its rich descriptions of the survivalist training of a very tough little girl." --Patty Mullins, Oblong Books and Music, Millerton, N.Y.

Do Not Become Alarmed: A Novel by Maile Meloy (Riverhead, $27, 9780735216525). "All parents have had those moments when something happens and you think, 'This is it. The moment my life changes.' This is the story of two families that face the unimaginable: they lose their children in a foreign country. The tale alternates between characters, with each fully realized and fully drawn. Maile Meloy explores what happens to each family: the relationship between the wives, who are cousins and have been close since childhood, and between the children who are missing. The writing is incredible, and the story is such that you can't put it down. A satisfying read that makes you wonder about how you would react in the same situation." --Kym Havens, An Unlikely Story, Plainville, Mass.

Paperback
Lily and the Octopus: A Novel by Steven Rowley (Simon & Schuster, $16, 9781501126239). "Lily and the Octopus is a profound book about all the important things in life--love, how to let go, how important it is to live in the moment, and how one big love can lead to another. And Lily, dear Lily, is at the center--a smart, movie-loving dog who would never pass up the chance at some good ice cream, tofurkey dinner, or beaming her unconditional love at her human companion, Ted. Told with humor, compassion, and a quirky sense of life's possibilities, Lily and the Octopus will hold you by the heart long after the final page is turned." --Pam Cady, University Book Store, Seattle, Wash.

For Ages 4 to 8
Hattie & Hudson by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick, $16.99, 9780763665456). "A heartwarming tale of a brave, intrepid girl and her friendly neighborhood lake creature! Hattie loves nothing more than paddling her canoe around the lake near her house. While exploring one day, Hattie happens upon a curious creature who shares her love of the water. Unfortunately, the rest of her town is convinced the creature is actually a monster. Can Hattie change their hearts and minds? Told through Chris Van Dusen's signature lively illustrations, Hattie & Hudson is a delightful summer read full of wonder and heart." --Bill Grace, Buttonwood Books & Toys, Cohasset, Mass.

For Ages 9 to 12
This Would Make a Good Story Someday by Dana Alison Levy (Delacorte, $16.99, 9781101938171). "I absolutely loved this book. It is rich with thoughtfulness while still being a fun, engaging read. Sara's cross-country train trip with her family is bound to be chaotic when you factor in two moms, an activist older sister and her recycling-enthusiast boyfriend, and a little sister who cannot be contained. This entertaining story also touches on serious issues of our age: environmentalism, racism, class issues, and what it means to really make a difference. As usual, Levy does not talk down to her audience, but makes tough stuff relatable and digestible in context. Seriously, don't miss this." --Shoshana Smith, The Reading Bug, San Carlos, Calif.

For Teen Readers
Be True to Me by Adele Griffin (Algonquin, $18.95, 9781616206758). "Adele Griffin knows how to do flawed characters in an authentic way, as she shows with the alternating narrators of Be True to Me--petty, privileged Jean and rough, impulsive Fritz. The young women are spending another summer in Sunken Haven, a place where the elite gather for lazy days, drunken nights, and party traditions. Between them is Gil, a surprise addition to the close-knit community and a handsome, young rising star at his uncle's law firm. If you like stories of summertime, blossoming love, secrets, and betrayal, this is for you. But beware: Adele Griffin's tales come with a darker edge to all the glitter of a perfect private island." --Danielle Borsch, Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, Calif.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Don't be put off by the fairly argumentative title of Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True. This fascinating book is not in any sense a polemic for the superiority of the Buddhist spiritual worldview over that of other faiths. Instead, it's a well-informed and thoughtful seeker's methodical and sometimes skeptical investigation of key aspects of Buddhist thought and practice--specifically meditation and mindfulness--and the value of those practices when illuminated by the insights of modern psychology and neuroscience.

Wright (journalist, scholar and author of Nonzero and The Evolution of God) first seriously encountered meditation at a one-week silent retreat in 2003, at the Insight Meditation Society, the center founded by well-known American Buddhists and meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield. Since that time he's become a faithful practitioner, convinced of meditation's value as a "tool for examining our stories carefully, from the ground up, so that we can, if we choose, separate truth from fabrication."

With that practice at its heart, the focus of Why Buddhism Is True is on what Wright calls Buddhism's "naturalistic" elements, rather than its "more exotically metaphysical parts," like reincarnation, but by no means does he duck complexity when considering core tenets of Buddhist belief. For that reason, when tackling Buddhist concepts of the human mind and subjects like not-self (a phenomenon he advises beginning meditators not to take too seriously) and emptiness, Wright's book can be a deep dive. As he recognizes, "if you don't like paradox, maybe Eastern philosophy isn't for you."

Wright is at his most engaging and accessible when he's recounting his personal encounters with mindfulness practice, much in the manner of ABC News reporter and meditation evangelist Dan Harris's memoir, 10% Happier. While this book is much more than a meditation "how-to" manual, Wright does offer practical advice to novice meditators. His description of some of his more challenging meditation experiences, like the one involving a snoring fellow meditator, display his dry wit.

Whether it's a deluge of smartphone apps, enthusiastic celebrity testimonials or the embrace by corporate leaders eager to improve employee productivity and satisfaction, meditation and mindfulness unquestionably are hot today. Robert Wright isn't interested in jumping on any of these bandwagons. Rather, in a style that's serious without being sober, he makes a persuasive case for his belief that "Buddhism's diagnosis of the human predicament is fundamentally correct, and its prescription is deeply valid and urgently important." Regardless of their own religious or spiritual roots, many open-minded readers who accompany him on this journey will find themselves agreeing with him. --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: Journalist and scholar Robert Wright offers a useful introduction to the practice of meditation and mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition.