The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association annual meeting was a heartfelt, bittersweet, rousing occasion, marking changes in the leadership of NAIBA--the executive director and president, both of whom are wildly popular and have made the organization into a thriving one that has accomplished much.

This was the final NVNR show before longtime executive director Eileen Dengler's retirement and the last meeting at which Hannah Oliver Depp of Loyalty Bookstores, Washington, D.C., was president. Dengler is being succeeded by Liz Hottel--the two have been working together on the transition this year--and Depp is succeeded by Erin Matthews, the Last Word Bookstore, Mt. Airy, Md.

Both Dengler and Depp were cheered and received standing ovations. (The exuberance resulted in some amusing cheering competition with the SIBA annual meeting next door.)

Some signs of NAIBA's strength: total membership in the past year grew 10%, to 334; 13% of owners are BIPOC; there are 33 prospective bookstore owners; and the association has a 98% retention rate. NAIBA has a healthy bank balance that is down slightly from a year ago, in part because of temporarily having two executive directors and because last year's NVNR hotel bill hadn't been paid yet, making for a negative comparison. The association also expanded its scholarships and grant programs to attend NVNR.

NAIBA's new executive committee includes president Erin Matthews; vice-president Kirsten Hess, The End Bookstore, Allentown, Pa.; secretary Hillary Smith, Black Walnut Books, Glen Falls, N.Y., and treasurer Julia Fleischaker, Greedy Reads, Baltimore, Md.

Hannah Oliver Depp

New board members include Justin Moore, Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books, Philadelphia, Pa., and Emily Hutton of Simon & Schuster. Outgoing board members, who were thanked profusely for their service, are Holly Ruck from Macmillan and K. Kerimian, the Nonbinarian, Brooklyn, N.Y.

In her report, Depp described her involvement with NAIBA and how, under Eileen Dengler, the organization has done so much to address her concerns. "I love this industry so much, but I have a lot of questions," she said. "I have a lot of concerns, and I have some issues, like who gets to be in what rooms."

She recalled going to her first NAIBA conference in 2010 "to be on a panel about the Twitters." She didn't like being the only non-white person in the room, and was referred to Dengler, who "was not defensive" and said, "What do you want to do about it? Let's go." That phrase, Depp continued, has been "NAIBA for the last 15 years."

She added, "Bookselling has a long way to go, but it's come a long way... The more NAIBA grows, the more members we have, the more store models, the better off the entire body is."

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During the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Town Square Tuesday morning, executive director Linda-Marie Barrett offered a state of SIBA update. Membership now stands at 373 active members, with 78 new members joining in 2026 so far. This marks a 64% growth in membership from 2025, with a 98% member retention rate and "excellent member engagement," Barrett said. She attributed some of that engagement to SIBA's new website, which launched this year.

Barrett also touched on several of SIBA's programs, including the March Madness series, the Jumpstart for New Members education series, and the Lunch & Learn series. March Madness, Barrett said, "continues to be a success," with the organization expanding support to cover the cost of transportation. The Jumpstart series is a four-week virtual education series for new members, while Lunch & Learn involves educational lunches with various industry partners. The next session will include the Professional Bookseller School. 

SIBA board members: (l.-r.) Cristina Nossi (Books & Books), Bunnie Hilliard (Brave + Kind Bookshop), executive director Linda-Marie Barrett, Julia Davis (The Book Worm Bookstore), Dave Lucey (Page 158 Books), Melissa Taylor (E. Shaver, Booksellers), Krystle Dandridge (The Book Bar RVA), and Rayna Nielsen (Blue Cypress Books)

SIBA's finances, meanwhile, are "holding steady," said Barrett. While catalog revenue was less than expected, the organization "amped up" its outreach for publisher sponsors, who "came through for SIBA this year." Consequently, the association has been able to offer more sponsorships for both March Madness and New Voices New Rooms. More than 110 SIBA booksellers, representing more than 70 stores, attended NVNR this year.

SIBA board president Julia Davis (the Book Worm Bookstore, Powder Springs, Ga.) reported the board has been busy working on the organization's governance and structure. Historically the alliance has operated under the Carter model for nonprofits; the intention is to transition "out of Carter" in the near future. Davis noted the transition has been brought on by feedback from membership as well as shifts in the industry, and the intention is to make SIBA more inclusive and reflective of membership.

Lastly, Barrett mentioned some of the growing challenges that member stores have discussed with SIBA. Those include: the state of the economy and its impact on sales; financial stability and sustainability; developing additional revenue streams; the politically divisive culture; AI's impact on the industry and the environment; slower foot traffic and declining revenue per purchase; and a decline of visitors from outside of the U.S. impacting stores in tourist locations.

NAIBA executive director Eileen Dengler and SIBA executive director Linda-Marie Barrett flank incoming NAIBA executive director Liz Hottel

New Voices New Rooms, the well-run joint New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance conference, concludes today in Baltimore, Md., after several busy, busy days.

The program has included an awards dinner last night at which retiring NAIBA executive director Eileen Dengler was presented with the association's Legacy Award, a deeply emotional event as many friends and colleagues spoke about all that they cherish and will miss about her. Other highlights: tours of the Baltimore area's many striking bookstores, wide-ranging educational sessions, a busy trade show floor, many rep picks and author signings, some excellent parties and dinners and other social events. The mood has been energetic and positive. We'll have more reporting in Shelf Awareness over the next few days.

Booksellers and authors mixed and mingled Sunday evening prior to the early bird reception and literary trivia night.

Monday's horror panel, "No Place Like Home: Making Local Settings Terrifying," featured moderator Cristina Nosti (Books & Books), with authors Mathilda Zeller (It Looks Like You in the Dark, Tor Nightfire, Oct.), Maria Tureaud (Beneath, It Sleeps, Kensington, Jan. 2027), Katherine Daniel (When the Night Comes Knocking, Berkley, Oct.), and Gerardo Sámano Córdova (Imps!, Zando/Tin House, Feb. 2027).

"Making Spaces Safer" offered practical strategies and resources for preventing harassment and creating safer stores and events for staff and customers. Shawna Potter, author of Making Spaces Safer (AK Press), and Carolyn Godavitarne of Politics & Prose led the session.

Emma Wood (Main Street Reads, Summerville, S.C.) and Rachel A. Shelden, author of The Political Supreme Court (W. Hodding Carter III Books/U. of North Carolina Press; Oct.).

John Mutter, editor-in-chief of Shelf Awareness, signed copies of his forthcoming World War II thriller Fortune and Glass (Left Field Publishing, Oct. 6) for NAIBA's Eileen Dengler and Binc CEO Pam French.

Elizabeth M. Young (Commonplace Reader, Yardley, Pa.) and Daniella Mestyanek Young, author, with Amy Reed, of The Culting of America (Otterpine), during Monday's Indie Press Author Reception. 

Tails it was! Kim McNamara of Read It Again Bookstore, Suwanee, Ga., won Binc's Heads or Tails fundraiser and donated her $250 prize back to Binc. The fundraiser brought in more than $1,600. From l.: caller Kathy Ellen David; McNamara; Binc's Pam French; and expert coin tosser Kristianne Huntsberger of Shelf Awareness.

Tryst, a romance bookstore, hosted a grand opening celebration, which "saw lines out the door from the pink bookstore," on July 28 at 39 E. Main St. in Walla Walla, Wash., the Union-Bulletin reported, adding: "While small, the store is stocked with a broad range of subgenres including queer stories, paranormal pieces and everything in between."

"Since I was little, I thought that having a bookstore would be the perfect thing, the perfect job," said owner Jen Sharon, who has also worked as an independent proofreader and editor for fiction writing for the past four years, with a number of her clients writing romance. After seeing many romance-specific bookstores open in the Seattle area, Sharon and her husband, Jim, saw a niche they could fill in Walla Walla.

"The classifier of a romance novel is that it has a happily ever after ending," she said. "So, who doesn't need to feel happy and read happy endings in this world?... I want to carry what the people in town want to read."

Sharon envisions the bookstore as a gathering place, with customers able to participate in different book clubs with a cozy seating area. She plans to expand programming to hold author signings and book release parties.

After the grand opening, Sharon posted on social media: "I want to thank everyone who came out for Tryst's grand opening yesterday! I was blown away with how many people were ready and waiting for the doors to open!  That was a lot of people in my tiny store all at once, but we made it, and I hope you all enjoyed your visit. I already need to restock! And also thanks to everyone who suggested a favorite author or title. I'll be keeping a list."  

Berrett-Koehler Publishers has launched Montgomery Station Press, an imprint that "extends the full range of BK's editorial, design, production, marketing, and distribution capabilities to authors who invest in the publication of their books through a tiered service model," the company said. 

Books published through Montgomery Station Press are edited by senior BK editors, designed by BK's production staff and partners, and distributed nationally and internationally through Penguin Random House Publisher Services. They will be included in BK's Edelweiss catalog, represented for subsidiary rights, including at the Frankfurter Book Fair and the London Book Fair, and available in print, e-book, and audio formats. Authors choose from a Core Package, a Plus or Signature bundle, or à la carte services, and select between two royalty structures, according to the publisher.

"Every year, we read manuscripts from thoughtful authors who have the expertise and the audience to make a real contribution, and we simply cannot take them all on through traditional acquisition," Steve Piersanti, BK founder and publisher, said. "Montgomery Station Press is our way of bringing more of those voices to readers without lowering the standard of the work we put into the world."

Kristen Frantz, COO and senior v-p of marketing and sales at BK, commented: "Our sales team, production team, and marketing team have spent years building the infrastructure that supports BK authors, and Montgomery Station Press lets us extend that infrastructure to authors whose books deserve the same care. This is about capacity and access, and about bringing new voices into conversations that need them."

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, v-p of editorial at BK, added: "Authors today have varied needs and goals for their books, and it is right that publishers offer them a range of options in return. Montgomery Station Press is a curated book list that aligns with the mission of Berrett-Koehler."

The new imprint's initial titles will be Defining Intelligence: How to Partner with AI for Your Best Work Yet by Edwin Jansen, and When Trusted with More: Why the 6 Metrics that Built Your Career Won't Get You to the Top... and What Will by Azhar Syed.

Keigo Higashino, a bestselling Japanese mystery writer whose works were widely translated, died July 23, the New York Times reported. He was 68. Higashino published more than 100 titles, many of which were adapted into movies in his Japan and abroad. His final novel, Eternal Memory, is being published today by the Tokyo publishing house Bungeishunju.

Higashino was the first Japanese author to be nominated for an Edgar Award in the U.S. and a Dagger Award in Britain. His English-language breakthrough was a translation of The Devotion of Suspect X (2005), which was an Edgar Best Novel finalist in 2012, and later adapted into films in Japan, China, South Korea, and India. Newcomer (2009) was nominated for a 2019 Dagger.

His books, which have sold about 109 million copies in Japan--in addition to several co-written works--have been published in 41 countries and territories and translated into English, Chinese, Korean, and French, according to his Japanese publisher Kodansha. 

Higashino's characters "were often regular people such as schoolteachers, young children and pawnbrokers, who perpetrated or suffered acts of violence hidden by their mundane lives," the Times noted. 

"I always have a defense attorney, a prosecutor and a judge within me, and perhaps even a defendant," Higashino said about his detached writing style, which never allowed any single character to dominate the narrative, in a 2006 interview with the Mainichi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. "This mind-set prevents me from writing solely based on one side's perspective."

One of the earliest international film adaptations of his works was The Secret, a 2007 English-language French production starring David Duchovny that was a remake of a 1999 Japanese movie based on his novel.

Higashino graduated from Osaka Prefecture University (now Osaka Metropolitan University with a degree in electrical engineering, and worked for Denso, a Japanese manufacturer of automotive parts while writing in the evenings and on weekends, he told the Wall Street Journal in 2011. He decided to become a full-time writer in 1985 when his debut novel, After School, won the Edogawa Rampo Prize from the Mystery Writers of Japan. 

In 2023, the Japanese government awarded him the Medal with Purple Ribbon, an honor for individuals who have contributed to art and academia. The Times noted that in his acceptance remarks, he said he still aimed to entertain his readers and to encourage them to read: "The feeling is similar to climbing a mountain. I believe that if I just keep moving forward, I will eventually reach the top."

On her tour for the paperback release of A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis (One Signal/Atria), author Jeanne Carstensen (c.) visited Verbatim Books in San Diego, Calif. She discussed immigration, survival, and the human stories behind the headlines with (r.) Kate Morrissey, immigration reporter and Daylight San Diego co-founder, moderated by Marco Werman, host of The World and journalist-in-residence at UC San Diego. (photo: Jennifer De Poyen)

Square Books in Oxford, Miss., shared a bookshop weather update video: "POV: You're at the bookstore when book weather rolls in."

"Our annual 'Books on Books' display has returned, and it's overflowing with stories about stories, bookshops, book lovers, and the triumph of the written word," Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Tex., posted. "Stop in for a literary linger over this collection of bookish finds sure to make any reader's heart flutter."

Julie Coryell has been promoted to senior publicist, backlist, at Penguin Publishing Group.

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Shannon Huurman, has joined Abrams as a marketing assistant, digital & social media.

Tomorrow:
Tamron Hall repeat: Laura Berman, author of Crying Out Loud: A Path Through Grief into a Life Reimagined (The Open Field, $29, 9780593994450).

Brittany Snow (The Hunting Wives) has been added to the cast of the upcoming film The Housemaid's Secret, joining Sydney Sweeney, Kirsten Dunst, Michele Morrone, and Paul Anthony Kelly in the sequel to the $400-million-grossing blockbuster The Housemaid. Both films are based on Freida McFadden's novels. The Housemaid's Secret is set to open December 17, 2027.

Directed by Paul Feig, the production is from Hidden Pictures' Todd Lieberman; Pretty Dangerous Pictures' Laura Fischer and Feig; and Honey Trap's Sweeney. Lionsgate optioned McFadden's literary trilogy (as well as a short story) "early on, recognizing the potential for a female-driven feature franchise," Deadline noted. Screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine, who adapted the first book, will return for The Housemaid's Secret. 

Rohan Chhetri's translation from the Nepali of Parijat's Flowers of the Siris Tree has won the 2026 Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation, which "aims to cultivate a new generation of literary translators working with South Asian languages."

This year, the prize's theme was retranslations of works published after 1930, with the goal of bringing fresh life to modern classics from the South Asian canon. Excerpts of all five shortlisted works will be published by Words Without Borders. The winning book will be published by Open Letter Books in 2028.

photo: Craig Smith

Lynn Becker is the author of Monsters in the Briny, illustrated by Scott Brundage, and June Moon, illustrated by Nate Carvalho. When she's not writing picture books or children's book reviews for Shelf Awareness, you can find her hiking, gardening, or reading about monsters, witches, and ghosts (but not zombies). Ghost Town in the Mountains, illustrated by Roland Garrigue, was released by Sleeping Bear Press on June 15, 2026.

Handsell readers your book in 30 words or less:

A riff on "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" where two kids take a daring nighttime adventure into a Wild West ghost town and encounter spooky and hilarious surprises.

On your nightstand now:

All my Holly Black books live near my bedside table. I recently reread the Folk of the Air books and up soon are Book of Night and Thief of Night. I still need to read her Spiderwick Chronicles.

There's a heap that is Cinda Williams Chima's Shattered Realms series, Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar, and Travis Baldree's Brigands & Breadknives (Legends and Lattes #3). I just finished (but haven't reshelved) Oathbound by Tracy Deonn and The Secret of Lillian Velvet by Jaclyn Moriarty, and I'm in the middle of House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig.

Up next are A Scar Like a River by Lisa Graff and The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Only one? I have to go with my Grimms' Fairy Tales (Illustrated Junior Library) illustrated by Fritz Kredel--I spent so much time with this when I was a kid. It's probably where I got my love of magic and monsters.

Favorite book to read to a child:

Er, my own? I don't do much reading to kids anymore other than performing my own books at storytimes.

Your top five authors:

Holly Black--her take on Faerie is incredible; I'm so glad she's kept building on earlier works and expanding her kingdom.

Laini Taylor's writing is luminous! I got hooked with the Guardians of Dreamdark series, devoured Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I'm a huge fan of her Strange the Dreamer duology.

Kristin Cashore for Graceling and the other books in that series.

Charlotte Brontë for Jane Eyre. What can I say?

Jane Austen (might be cliché but still true) for multiple essential works.

J.R.R. Tolkien!

Hmm, that's six.

Plus, I'm lucky enough to know and work closely with some truly wonderful picture book creators, like Karen Jameson and Dianne White, who first encouraged me to write in rhyme, and too many others to list!

Your top five illustrators:

Sophie Blackall, Faith Ringgold, Maurice Sendak, Matt James, and Felicita Sala

Book you've faked reading:

Ulysses by James Joyce. I had no context for this novel in college--it flummoxed me, seemed unfathomable, and marked the beginning of the end of my plan to major in English. I moved to the film department.

Book you're an evangelist for:

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I love this book so much! It's smart, funny, and poignant. I've read it many times, own multiple copies, and whenever I see it at a book sale I buy it or recommend it to whoever's standing nearby.

Books you've bought for the cover:

I Know How to Draw an Owl by Hilary Horder Hippely and illustrated by Matt James; Sato the Rabbit: The Moon by Yuki Ainoya and translated by Michael Blaskowsky; and Ahoy! by Sophie Blackall.

Best book an adult handed to you when you were a child:

Stuart Little by E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams, was an early favorite for me. I got a copy that was much loved, then later got a second brand-new one for my birthday and was devastated when my mom gave the new one away--why shouldn't I have two?

Book that changed your life:

Gertie the Duck by Nicholas P. Georgiady and Louis G. Romano was the book I learned to read with, setting the course for my lifelong obsession with books.

Favorite line from a book:

I'm terrible at remembering quotes, also at finding the ones I've tried to save on sticky notes. The best I can do is, "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines" from Ludwig Bemelmans's Madeline. My daughter requested this book so often that she memorized it. Me, too.

Five books you'll never part with:

I've read the original trade paperback of I Capture the Castle so many times.

Grimms' Fairy Tales (Illustrated Junior Library): my "go to" comfort read as a kid and a wealth of stories to explore even now.

The Lord of the Rings books--while I vastly prefer my three-volume set, I do have a paperback three-in-one so I'm sure this counts as one choice. Been on this Mount Doom quest many, MANY times.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater--I have an advance reader copy and a hardcover and have also listened to the audio; I'll keep the ARC forever, what a great book!

My beautiful old copy of Japanese Fairy Tales by Lafcadio Hearn and others and illustrated by Ruth McCrea--completely worn but still magical.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and the audio is terrific, too.

I seriously cannot count, that's six again.

But whenever I've played this game before (as in "which books would you take to a desert island?"), I get 10 picks!

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Honestly, it's Monsters in the Briny again--the thrill I got from seeing my very first picture book with Scott Brundage's incredible illustrations is indescribable.

Best baby shower gift you ever received:

Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch written by Nancy Willard and illustrated by Diane Dillon and Leo Dillon. One of my friends was upset that the giver hadn't brought onesies or other "essential" baby gear, but those things are long gone and I still have the book, which was read many times to my kids. They're both avid readers now, perhaps thanks in part to that terrific baby shower gift!

Jillian Tamaki, illustrator of the Caldecott Honor- and Printz Honor-winning graphic novel This One Summer, presents readers with Young Cat, Old Cat, an engaging, visually beguiling picture book inspired by "an opinionated little gray cat named Gretel, who lived to be almost twenty-two years old."

On the opening page, a tiny gray and white "baby cat" mews. On the opposite page, the same kitten is one "hopeful cat" among many others as it reaches up for human attention. The kitty's chosen child drops down, eye to eye, to ask, "Be my cat?" And so their bonded lives begin as the "scaredy-cat" travels into the unknown, where it leaps out and lands in a new home as a "finally free cat!" The feline adventures abound as the kitten chases, climbs, pulls, yells, pounces, and grows--far too quickly. Time inevitably passes, and aging (while loafing, snoozing, and eventually wobbling) is unavoidable. Seemingly suddenly, the once-energetic furry becomes an "oh-so-tired cat" who needs lifting and carrying to visit the trees, blooms, and teasing squirrel outside. Eventually, a faraway wave of "goodbye, cat" sends the kitty high into the heavens. "Can you hear me, cat?" the child asks of a gray/blue night with sparkling stars forming a cat. The next illustration shows the celestial creature shrinking until a final double-page spread features a tiny gray and white "brand-new cat" saying hello with a tiny "mew."

Tamaki's spare narrative will likely cause sympathetic tears, particularly for cat-loving families with four-legged members. Of course, Tamaki's fanciful, magical ending may also be interpreted as a comforting rebirth to assuage devastating loss. Most striking is Tamaki's art, which gorgeously reveals even more of the plot than her unadorned, straightforward narrative. An author's note details her work in multilayered mixed mediums, which results in amplified complexity, transforming flat pages with notable depth and dimension. Kitty depictions are particularly dynamic, with needlepoint enhancements that highlight constant movement and development; the "growing cat" page almost feels animated as the kitten progresses to cathood in a single scene. When the "oh-so-tired cat" ventures outside, secure in human arms, surreal cat-head flowers present in a progressive downward wilt, hauntingly foreshadowing what's to come. The ethereal cat streaks across the firmament, virtually sparkling with embroidered stars. Young Cat, Old Cat proves to be a gift to readers and a lingering, celebratory homage to everlasting cat love, memorialized through inventive, exceptional illustrations. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Jillian Tamaki combines fabrics, acrylic inks, and embroidery to create a multilayered homage to the long life of a little gray cat in her poignant picture book Young Cat, Old Cat.