The inaugural Black Bookstore Day was held this past Saturday, August 29. "Y'all showed up and showed out!" founder Latasha Eley Kelly, owner of Left on Read in Wichita, Kan., and a member of the Black Bookstore Coalition, posted online yesterday. (See more comments from participating stores below.)

Black Bookstore Day was created to "recognize the history, cultural significance, and continued impact of Black-owned bookstores while honoring those whose work has made space for Black literature, ideas, culture, and community across generations."

Stores could participate by "hosting an event, sharing a bookstore's history, featuring Black literature, offering special programming, and encouraging community members to support Black-owned bookstores." 

Ahead of the celebration, the City of Wichita officially recognized Black Bookstore Day with a proclamation emphasizing "the history and impact of Black-owned bookstores and the role these spaces have played in preserving Black stories, creating community, and making room for ideas, learning, connection, and resistance." 

Kelly noted: "For us, receiving this recognition carries particular significance as Wichita transplants. The city has its own history of Black bookstore ownership, and that history helped shape what felt possible when Left on Read opened its doors. We're especially grateful to Dr. Maaskelah Thomas and Mr. Curtis Whitten, whose work as Black bookstore owners in Wichita helped pave the way for what exists today."

Among the booksellers sharing their #BlackBookstoreDay experiences and observations on social media were: 

MahoganyBooks' third store, in Glenarden, Md., at Woodmore Towne Centre, opened this weekend.

MahoganyBooks, Oxon Hill, Md.: "We are filled with pure joy that our MahoganyBooks is part of this historic day. Today is our grand opening and in all the last minute preparing, and organizing, this week, we still wanted to ensure we shed light on Black Bookstore Day and the powerful way so many Black-owned bookstores are being celebrated in a truly intentional way. Grateful for you and your powerful work, LaTasha @blackbookstore.day." 

Bliss Books & Wine, Kansas City, Mo.: "TODAY'S THE DAY! Black Bookstore Day is HERE, and Bliss is ready to celebrate with you! Come spend your Saturday with us at Kansas City's only Black-owned bookstore and help us celebrate Black books, Black business & Black joy."

Obodo Serendipity Books, Stratford, Conn.: "Being an entrepreneur is NOWHERE near like having a 'summer job.' It's Friday, and I am reflecting a bit! We hope you will join us tomorrow for BLACK-OWNED BOOKSTORE DAY! Did you know of the 3,000+ independent bookstores across the U.S. about 8% (less than 300 bookstores) are owned by black people? August is also NATIONAL BLACK OWNED BUSINESS MONTH!"

Da Book Joint, Chicago, Ill.: "We've been RESTOCKING at Da Book Joint!... Whether you're looking for something to read, something cute to add to your bookish collection, or a little something to gift somebody you love, we've got you. Black Bookstore Day is a pretty good excuse to come see us, but honestly... you never need an excuse to support a Black-owned bookstore."

Solid State Books, Washington, D.C.: "Happy Black Bookstore Day, DC! We're honored to be part of a long legacy of spaces where folks can gather, learn, and build community, and are so grateful for this village here in Chocolate City. Huge shoutout to all of you who support us today and always! We love y'all."

Second Chapter Bookstore, Buffalo, N.Y.: "Did you know that today is Black Bookstore Day? Your support is crucial to businesses like ours. In a world of profit over people, and greed over collective impact, we choose community and literacy at Second Chapter Bookstore."

Loyalty Books, Washington, D.C.: "First ever Black Bookstore Day. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us or shopped the sale online! We had a magical day... and lots of spreading the love for our favorite Black books. We're already dreaming of next year's @blackbookstore.day!"

Big Bad Bookstore, Bellingham, Wash.: "Today is #blackbookstoreday2026 and it's the perfect time to share our why. At #bigbadbookstore we honor and celebrate Black history and futures every day. We are proudly Black owned and stand true to our values in the face of hate and oppression. We believe that all #blacklivesmatter! As one of a handful of Black owned bookstores in Washington, we know how important a story is and are proud to share our story with you."

Yesterday, Left on Read posted: "Yesterday, we celebrated the inaugural Black Bookstore Day with bookstores and book lovers across the country, and y’all showed up and showed out.

"Shoutout to every participating bookstore and organization, and to the customers, vendors, authors, family members, and friends who helped bring this vision to life. Black Bookstore Day happened because people believed in it, shared it, supported it, and came together to make it a true community celebration.... This was the first Black Bookstore Day, and it will not be the last. We made it, y’all. Celebrate August 29. Support year-round. Black Bookstore Day 2027 coming soon."

Wijaya House, a BIPOC-owned bookstore and flower shop in Tempe, Ariz., will open a second location, in Tucson, Ariz., this coming Saturday, September 5, 12News reported. 

Wijaya House in Tempe, Ariz.

The Tucson location will share a space  at 2516 N. Campbell Ave. with the coffee shop Cartel Roasting Co. Events at the Tucson store will include flower arranging workshops, soapmaking classes, writing group meetings, poetry evenings, live music, book bedazzling, themed book swaps, book clubs, and more. 

The original Wijaya House, located at 1706 E. Warner Rd. in Tempe, is celebrating its third anniversary next month. It carries a curated selection of books for all ages, along with flower arrangements, jewelry, candles, totes, and more. 

Owner Melati Parker opened the store after leaving a 25-year career in healthcare IT. When she started writing business plans, Parker told IndieBound earlier this year, she realized that a bookstore would likely not be tenable on its own. "When I added florals to the bookshop business plan, my forecasts started to look a little less like fiction."

Parker described the store's vibe as "small and cozy and stuffed with rotating collections of titles worth reading." Given that the store is in an area that does not get much foot traffic, Parker has emphasized classes, workshops, and other events since the beginning. Offerings range from flower arranging and calligraphy to book binding and even rolling the perfect joint. Customers can also rent out the space for their own events.

Wijaya House Tempe will be hosting a celebration on Saturday, September 12, honoring "all of you, the light bringers in our lives, the dream makers, the ones who support us in a sea of choices."

The Ohio Reader, a pop-up bookstore with an emphasis on titles about Ohio or by Ohio authors, made its debut in northeast Ohio late last month, the Gazette News reported.

Owner and author Sandy Mitchell Pavick, whose books include a number of local Ohio history books, brings 50-100 titles to each pop-up appearance, with the offerings curated to "match the geography and demographic of each event." 

There are titles for all ages, with fiction and nonfiction represented, and the "common thread" connecting them all is Ohio, Pavick said. She was inspired to start the pop-up after doing signings for her own books and hearing questions from readers about other aspects of Ohio history.

"Ohio has such a rich history," Pavick told the Gazette News. "I think it's important for new residents as well as life-long residents to connect with stories of the past and with different voices that emerge from our little corner of the world."

Appearances have included stops at the Wine and Walleye Festival in Ashtabula, Ohio, Light Up the Park in Madison, Ohio, and most recently the Austinburg Country Days festival in Austinburg, Ohio. Future appearances include stops at wineries, breweries, and more.

The pop-up has been well-received so far, Pavick said: "The demise of readers has been greatly exaggerated!"

British mystery author Lesley Grant-Adamson, who "gave up her staff job as a feature writer at the Guardian to concentrate full-time on writing murder mysteries, produced 15 novels, many short stories and a variety of nonfiction books," died July 29, the Guardian reported. She was 83. P.D. James wrote of her: "She knows how to create an atmosphere of unease and incipient horror."

Grant-Adamson's first book, Patterns in the Dust (1985), was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasey award for first crime novels. She drew upon her newspaper background for her first five novels, which feature gossip columnist Rain Morgan solving crimes.

She also wrote two other series, one featuring American con man Jim Rush and the other private detective Laura Flynn. Her stand-alone novels include Threatening Eye (1988), The Dangerous Edge (1993), Lipstick and Lies (1998), and Undertow (1999).

She began her career as a reporter for the Coventry Evening Telegraph, while her boyfriend and future husband, Andrew Grant-Adamson, worked as a journalist in Leamington Spa. She later got a job as a subeditor with the Mid-Herts Advertiser, then as a sub on the features pages of the Guardian, before becoming one of the newspaper's feature writers. 

In 1980, she left to write novels. The Guardian noted that her short stories "have been read on BBC Radio, and appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her renown as a crime writer led to commissions from Hodder for books on the writing of crime fiction."

She taught at the Arvon Foundation and at the Ty Newydd writing center in Wales. After fellowships with the Royal Literary Fund, she taught a City University evening class in writing crime fiction and also held posts at Homerton College and Newnham College, at the University of Cambridge (2001-03).

Grant-Adamson's nonfiction works include A Season in Spain (1995, with Andrew Grant-Adamson), Writing Crime and Suspense Fiction (1996), and Teach Yourself Writing Crime Fiction (2003).

Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City hosted author John R. DaSilva for a book talk and signing to celebrate the release of Shingle Style Houses (Schiffer Publishing). The well-attended event featured DaSilva (holding the mic) in conversation with (from l.) moderator Kyle Hoepner, and architects Michael O. McClung and Thomas A. Kligerman. Their presentation offered insight into the history and conventions of shingle-style architecture, followed by a q&a. The book's foreword writer, Mark Wright, and introduction writer, Bret Morgan, were also in attendance.

"The world lost a good one yesterday. Dolly was classy, brilliant, generous, and her appeal crossed so many cultural divides," Rooted Books & Gifts in Grand Island, Neb., posted, along with a pic of the shop's sidewalk art tribute to "Queen Dolly Parton," using her own words: "You can never get enough books into the hands of enough children."

Caitlin Meyer has been promoted to director of publicity at Beacon Press. She joined the publisher in 2008 as a publicist and has risen through the department, most recently co-managing the team with former director of communications Pamela MacColl, who is retiring today. Before joining Beacon, Meyer began her career as an advertising copywriter and later served as a communications and PR manager at the education nonprofit Facing History and Ourselves.

Beacon Press associate publisher and director of sales & marketing Sanj Kharbanda said, "Over the past 18 years, Caitlin has worked on many of Beacon's most impactful and bestselling books, helping authors navigate a rapidly changing media landscape while always keeping their work at the center. She is a passionate advocate for our books, a trusted partner to our authors, and a leader who inspires by example. I'm thrilled to see her step into this role and excited for the future of Beacon's publicity program under her leadership."

Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love, and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy by Dr. Galit Atlas (Avid Reader Press/S&S).

Today:
CBS Mornings: Angela Duckworth, author of Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best (Scribner, $30, 9781668005941).

Good Morning America: Katherine Rundell, author of The Neverfear (Knopf Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593809945).

Fresh Air: Annie Lowrey, author of The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time--And How to Fix It (Ecco, $32, 9780063442559).

Late Night with Seth Meyers repeat: Mike Schur and Joe Posnanski, authors of Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love (Dutton, $35, 9798217045112). 

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Barbara "Babs" Costello, author of Homemaking with Babs: Tips and Tricks for Making a House a Home (Clarkson Potter, $38, 9780593797921).

The View repeat: Timothy White, author of Life Through My Lens (Storyteller Media, $29.99, 9781969905018).

Tamron Hall repeat: Kim Polinder, author of Why We Fight: A Transformative Road Map to Healing Conflict in Any Relationship (HarperOne, $28.99, 9780063437692).

Paramount Primal, the studio’s new genre label led by J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, has acquired rights to Nick Cutter's 2014 horror novel The Troop, with Chris Basler writing the film adaptation, Deadline reported. Lyrical Media (Onslaught, The Young People) is set to produce the movie. Tracy Rosenblum oversees for Paramount Primal.
 
Nick Cutter is the pseudonym for author Craig Davidson (Rust and Bone, The Saturday Night Ghost Club). The Troop, which won the James Herbert Award for Horror Writing, "follows a troop of boys who, while on their annual scout camping trip, encounter an intruder who unleashes something far more terrifying than any campfire ghost story. As fear spreads, a brutal struggle for survival begins, turning the boys against the infected... and each other," Deadline noted.

The longlist has been selected for the $5,000 2027 Crook's Corner Book Prize, recognizing "the best debut novel set in the American South." The winner will be announced in January. 

The longlist:

The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik by Denise Smith Cline (Regal House Publishing)
God Is Harder on Girls by Ella Dodson (Chapel Hill Press)
If the Dead Belong Here by Carson Faust (Viking)
Leaving Edgefield: Carrie Butler's Story by Carolyn W. Hooker (Evening Post Books)
The Fantasies of Future Things by Doug Jones (Simon & Schuster)
Junah at the End of the World by Dan Leach (Hub City Press)
This Here Is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry (W. W. Norton)
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster)
The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster)

Anna Hayes, Crook's Corner Book Prize founder, said, "This year's debut novels represent the evolving landscape of Southern literature, bringing fresh perspectives, distinctive voices and compelling stories to our literary tradition. From historical fiction to contemporary stories of family, identity and belonging, this year's longlist demonstrates that Southern fiction remains as vital and diverse as ever."

Naturalist Priyanka Kumar's luminous third book, The Grassland Queen, details her patient pursuit of the long-billed curlew, alongside which she shares musings about her own journey as a parent. Curlews, like many other shorebirds, are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, climate change, and the challenges of coexisting alongside humans. As Kumar (Conversations with Birds) and her family track the curlews across the Great Plains of North America, she takes notes on their habits and migration patterns, observes the dynamics of mated pairs raising chicks, and meditates on why she is drawn to these singular birds.

Kumar takes readers deep into the grassland habitat, detailing its landforms, plants, and animals, including prickly poppies, meadowlarks, turkey vultures, and prairie dogs. She recounts several road trips in the company of her husband and their two daughters, both of whom eventually become keen curlew spotters. Kumar gives names to several mated pairs of curlews and their chicks, who reappear throughout the narrative. She acknowledges that while anthropomorphizing animals can be limiting, it can also be helpful to draw parallels between the behavior of human and avian parents. Following one family in particular--a pair she names Numenius and Crescent, along with their chick Numi--allows Kumar to illustrate the curlew's life cycle and the challenges faced during a typical breeding and migration season.

Much of The Grassland Queen is concerned with climate change, which, Kumar acknowledges, "has introduced serious disruptions into our planetary story." She tracks the effects of rising temperatures, shifting vegetation, and increased human development on curlews, as well as other species that have evolved to feed on particular plants and insects and migrate at specific times. Although she is focused on the curlew, Kumar notes that these birds' lives are "inextricably entwined" with those of other grassland species, and the forces that endanger curlews are also dangerous to other creatures. The dedicated care and insightful attention of Kumar's observations, accompanied by her hand-drawn illustrations, make a compelling case for the curlew's distinct relevance: "When I am in the presence of curlews," she writes, "I am in the presence of the marvelous. I experience wonder." Kumar's attention expands to take in the curlew's entire fragile, beautiful grassland ecosystem, reminding readers that "what looks like emptiness can be rich with tessellated meaning." Along the way, she meets fellow birders, park rangers, and others who share her passion--and her earnest concern--for the fate of curlews and their land.

Keenly observed and shimmering with detail, The Grassland Queen highlights the quiet beauty and profound significance of a bird--and an ecosystem--too often overlooked by humans. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Naturalist Priyanka Kumar celebrates the wonder and significance of long-billed curlews and their grassland ecosystem in her luminous, keenly observed third book.