The American Booksellers Association has released shortlists in seven categories for the 2026 Indies Choice Book Awards. The ABA relaunched the program, which had been on hiatus since 2019, earlier this year. Indie booksellers from ABA member independent bookstores will be voting until March 25, with winners to be named April 8. Winning titles from each category will receive $2,000.

Titles featured on the Indie Next List, the Kids' Indie Next List, and Indies Introduce are eligible for the awards. Winners will be selected in each of the following categories: adult fiction, adult nonfiction, picture book, middle grade, young adult, debut adult, and debut children's. The winning author and/or illustrator in each category receives $2,000.

"The Indies Choice Book Awards are a celebration of what makes independent bookstores so vital to the literary ecosystem," said ABA CEO Allison Hill. "These awards are voted on entirely by independent booksellers--people who read widely, recommend passionately, and engage with readers and authors every day. By drawing from titles featured on the ABA's Indie Next List, Kids' Indie Next List, and Indies Introduce book recommendations, these awards reflect a year of thoughtful curation, deep enthusiasm, and books we can't stop talking about. The Indies Choice Book Awards are a celebration and the best way for readers to find their next favorite book."

"We stand in 2026 at a moment when climate is no longer dominating the global agenda," said Rachel Martin, global director of sustainability at Elsevier, during the London Book Fair earlier this week.

Martin moderated a panel discussion on climate action and publishing that featured Lisa Faratro, director of environment and sustainability at CPI Group, a major European printing company; Èmilie Hames, sustainability and compliance production manager at Penguin Random House UK; and Mary Glenn, chief of United Nations Publications.

The discussion, which notably was the only panel focused on climate change and sustainability at this year's book fair, comes at a time when public discourse is focused on AI, geopolitical conflicts, and economic concerns, while countries such as the U.S. and U.K. are "retreating" from active climate leadership. Martin contrasted the current moment with the previous decade, which saw, among other developments, the launch of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals as well as the SDG Publishers Compact. Where there was once a "flurry" of net-zero commitments and science-based targets, Martin said, climate risk is being "acknowledged but not prioritized" and dangerously close to becoming "background noise."

"We have to ask ourselves, what is our responsibility?" Martin continued. "How do we sustain a credible, evidence-based, data-driven approach to climate action, and how do we ensure that the long-term planetary stability isn't sidelined amongst these AI and geopolitical changes?"

Hames reported that while there has been "positive progress" over the last few years, there is still a "good way to go." In particular, there's been a lot of "good movement" around calculating carbon impact, with PRH specifically and the "wider supply chain" doing a lot of work to "quantify our carbon" and climate impact. Work continues in many areas, including trying to obtain better data at every level of the supply chain, and she noted that lately, publishers have gone from shouting about their climate efforts publicly to trying to embed sustainability "in our day-to-day processes."

Asked about the common perception that there is a "trade off" between profitability and sustainability, Hames pointed out that at the end of the day, "our books are physical." Those physical books are "intrinsically linked to natural resources," and publishers have an "innate responsibility to engage with the wider climate issue" and make sure they are "doing everything we can" to reduce publishing's impact.

Regarding some of PRH's own efforts, Hames said the company has an internal target of reducing its absolute emissions by 50% by 2030.

Glenn discussed how, with misinformation and disinformation posing major threats to "every aspect of our lives," publishers can play a "key role" in content and information integrity. They can help build a society that can handle disruptions and is less vulnerable to manipulation, while also helping reinforce trust in institutions. Glenn advocated for more robust fact-checking on the part of publishers, saying they should no longer "sit back and let authors do their thing." 

She also touched on things like prizes for children's books related to sustainability and book clubs focusing on climate-related titles. While these are commercial ventures and of course help sell books, they do have broader value. "It encourages everything that we want to build," she said.

Faratro remarked that increasingly, authors are impacting the choices publishers make when it comes to printing, especially if the book is related to climate. They want to be more involved in what materials are chosen and why, particularly if the book is being published in the climate category. They want to make sure the "book itself, the product," is saying something about sustainability. 

Asked about the work CPI did related to recent E.U. regulations around deforestation, Faratro said it led to increased collaboration throughout the industry and communication across sectors like printing and paper that was "quite powerful." It gave CPI insight into "our suppliers' supply chain" that the company previously lacked. That information sheds light not only on carbon but also on legality, deforestation, and labor practices. CPI also found that previously, they'd been relying on things like Forest Stewardship Council certification "maybe too much." Those certifications have gaps, and the company now requests "much more information" from its suppliers.

On the subject of paper alternatives, Faratro said there has been progress in some sectors, particularly the packaging sector, but not as much with paper. She emphasized that people "tend to forget" that the paper industry exists as essentially a byproduct of the furniture and housebuilding industries, and while there are alternative materials for making pulp other than wood, those alternatives do not have the necessary scale to replace "something as versatile as trees." She suggested the industry focus on things like sustainable forestry practices rather than a "wholesale move" away from paper. 

During the session's q&a portion, the panelists expressed disappointment that the book fair had only a single panel on sustainability this year, when in years past there had been an entire sustainability hub on the show floor. "I'm hoping that next year there's more space," said Faratro. --Alex Mutter

The upcoming German Bookshop Award ceremony next week at the Leipzig Book Fair has been canceled "after a controversial decision by the country's minister of state for culture to remove three left-wing candidates from consideration," dpa (via Yahoo News) reported. Minister Wolfram Weimer vetoed the nominated bookshops due to what were termed "findings relevant to the protection of the constitution." 

The awards are given to about 100 independent bookshops, with prize money ranging from €7,000 (about $8,060) to €25,000 (about $28,795). The event cancellation does not affect the distribution of prize money and certificates to the winners. 

The German Bookshop Award (Deutscher Buchhandlungspreis) honors booksellers who "offer wide literary range of books in stock or cultural event programs, which follow innovative business models or are committed to promoting reading and literature," the European & International Booksellers Federation's Newsflash reported. Nominations put forward by the jury are usually approved by the Minister of Culture and Media. Börsenblatt reported the award jury has distanced itself from the minister's intervention.

The three excluded bookshops are Rote Straße in Göttingen; Golden Shop in Bremen; and Buchladen zur schwankenden Weltkugel in Berlin, which are suing Weimer, the Berliner reported.

In a statement released after the minister's decision, the EIBF said it "strongly supports the German Booksellers and Publisher Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels) in condemning the exclusion of three bookshops from the German Bookshop Award. This decision, made without transparency or due process, undermines the award's integrity and threatens the fundamental values of our industry.... 

"Exclusions based on political assumptions--without evidence--threaten these fundamental values. Booksellers serve the public by making a wide spectrum of ideas, perspectives, and debates accessible.... Recognition of a bookshop's cultural achievements should never depend on the possible political orientation of its product range. Therefore, EIBF urges the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media to review his decision and reinstate the prize laureates immediately, or provide clear, verifiable evidence for the exclusion."

EIBF president Fabian Paagman commented: "Booksellers serve the public by making a wide spectrum of ideas, perspectives and debates accessible. Through their freedom to curate and offer diverse catalogues, they contribute to a pluralistic cultural landscape and to a well-informed, intellectually curious society. Such openness to ideas and debate is one of the essential foundations of a healthy democratic culture. The presence of particular titles in a bookshop must therefore be understood as part of this broader mission of providing access to knowledge, debate and literature."

The International Publishers Association stated: "The IPA supports the European and International Booksellers Federation, and our member, the German Booksellers and Publishers Association. It is with great surprise and disappointment that, in a country so committed to freedom of expression as Germany, we see three bookstores excluded from consideration on the basis of a procedure designed to protect against terrorism but with no detailed justification which would allow them to contest such allegations. We join calls to the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media to review this decision."

--- 

NielsenIQ BookData and Media Control, which provides charts data for Germany, will publish official BookTok Charts for the U.K., in partnership with TikTok, the Bookseller reported. Media Control "will combine two key 'success' factors of the modern book market into one single official ranking: verified retail sales data collected by NielsenIQ BookData and the engagement from the #BookTok community."

Based on a combined dataset, the official Top 20 #BookTok Charts UK will be compiled, resulting in a "transparent, market-relevant ranking, produced monthly, that reflects both actual purchasing power and the dynamic influence of the BookTok community," the companies said.

Andre Breedt, managing director at NielsenIQ BookData, commented: "#BookTok has had a significant influence on the book market. By bringing the #BookTok charts to the UK, our data foundation ensures that these trends can be assessed transparently and reliably, based on real sales figures."

The Story House Bookstore, Springfield, Mo., will host its long-awaited grand opening celebration tomorrow, March 14. The store is located at 1150 E. Walnut St., the former site of Pagination Bookshop, which closed last November after the sale of its building. 

Within days of the closing announcement, however, news broke that the space would remain a bookstore under a new name and ownership. It is now operated by Michael Bruner, a recently retired professor of verbal art, and his sister Penny Scroggs, an interior designer and artist. The building, once the home of the late Springfield artist Pinky Marx, is owned by her grandson, Arthur Marx. 

"The last three months have flown by, and we are finally gearing up for our GRAND OPENING next Saturday!" the Story House posted on Instagram. "Come see our new cafe lounge and enjoy a range of activities throughout the day."
  
The Story House sells a variety of books and showcases paintings from Pinky Marx and local artists, the Standard News reported, adding that the shop "aims to build community and provide a cozy, homey setting for readers, artists and art lovers alike." 

The bookstore is expanding and will soon feature a 15-seat coffee shop and additional reading rooms on the second story. The coffee shop will replace the science fiction and fantasy room, which has been moved to the second floor.

"We're here to build community and make sure that people are able to have a good time," Bruner said.

The Wicked Press, a bookstore and coffee shop, will open by the end of the month at 948 Sullivan Ave. in South Windsor, Conn. The Journal Inquirer reported that for the past year and a half, owner Alyssa Smith "would pack her small SUV with a tent, tables, books, and 'bookish merch' and travel miles to some 40 farmers markets and vendor fairs where she'd set up her pop-up bookshop.... Now she has found a stationary home."

The Wicked Press will offer its own branded coffee, which comes from California wholesale roaster Temecula Coffee Roasters, along with fresh pastries from New York's Rockland Bakery. The shop will also serve teas, dirty sodas and lemonade.

"We'll have some really fun drinks that will be related to loving books," said Smith, a Suffield resident who added that she isn't daunted by small independent and big chain bookstores closing in recent years: "We're not just a bookstore, and we're not just a coffee shop, we're both, but we're also a place for community. That is really a big drive there, is to have a place that feels like you want to come here and be here."

Although she plans to continue doing pop-ups, having the bricks-and-mortar book and coffee shop was always the ultimate goal. She said her traveling bookstore was a challenge: "We'd haul all the merch--books and candles and bookmarks, all those things. We'd haul it in the car and unload and reload every time." 

All that driving was ultimately worth it, however, because meeting customers was a learning experience, and she discovered what resonated with readers.

Smith said the idea of a coffee shop-bookstore has long been a dream of hers, "because I have always been a big coffee drinker and lover, and I'm a big reader, and I wanted a space that could come together, and include tea in that as well, because there's a lot of tea lovers in my life."

She added that she wants to create a community space "that feels very cozy in here--there's a lot of dark colors, kind of like a dark academia set-up.... We want people to stay, want people to curl up and read a book while they're here, meet their friends here."

Bookseller Jewell Stoddard, former co-owner of Cheshire Cat Children’s Books in Washington, D.C., and a senior staff member at D.C.'s Politics & Prose Bookstore, died March 10. She was 92.

Jewell Stoddard

Stoddard grew up in South Carolina, where she developed a love of the woods and of books, her obituary noted, adding that "she insisted on leaving home for Washington, D.C., so she could attend a racially integrated college, American University. Teased for her southern accent, she lost it post haste." She graduated with a B.A. in English Literature.

In 1968, Stoddard began teaching third and fourth grades at Green Acres School, and in 1977 she and three Green Acres colleagues founded Cheshire Cat Children's Books, on Connecticut Avenue south of Chevy Chase Circle. Noting that "book industry experts told the partners a bookstore could not succeed selling children’s books alone," Stoddard's obituary said "the store thrived and became a fixture in Washington, D.C." 

Stoddard ran the Cheshire Cat for 22 years before closing and moving her book operation to Politics and Prose. She served on several children’s literature award committees, including for the Caldecott and Newbery Awards. Stoddard joined Politics & Prose as children's buyer in 1999, and worked there until her retirement at 80.  

"I don't think we can ever become an integrated society until we have diverse books," she told Shelf Awareness in a 2014 interview. "If children grow up not knowing how others live, not knowing how others are, what their joys are, how can they know what the world is really like? It's critical."

In a tribute, veteran P&P booksellers Ron Tucker and Maria Salvadore wrote, in part: "While many of you may not have known her, Jewell was a force to be reckoned with. She had a lasting impact on the children and teens [C&T] section here at P&P, and on children's bookselling throughout the country. After closing the renowned Cheshire Cat Bookstore (up the street from P&P), one of the first children's only independents in the country, she joined Politics and Prose in 1999. Under Jewell's leadership, and with the encouragement and support of then-owners Barbara and Carla, C&T not only expanded, but upped its game, especially in terms of the depth, diversity and direction of the collection. She gets credit for laying the foundation for so much of what we do today in C&T here at P&P.

"One of my favorite memories of Jewell is an annual event that she brought here from Cheshire Cat. Every spring Jewell would venture into various pastures in the area, and in her own backyard I suspect, to gather large milkweed leaves laden with monarch butterfly eggs on the underside of the leaves. She then would place the leaves in a large container in the middle of C&T, with a netting cover. Within a few days, those eggs hatched caterpillars, which promptly devoured the milkweed (and which Jewell would replenish). After a week or two, the caterpillars would form chrysalises (I hope I got that plural right), which Jewell would attach to the branches of a makeshift tree that she would set up, also in the middle of the room. Children and adults alike would delight in watching the monarch begin to emerge from the chrysalis. It was fascinating to watch the fully emerged monarch spread open its wings to dry them, which could take hours, in preparation for flight."

Keir Graff (l.) and Linda Joffe Hull (r.), who write as Linda Keir, celebrated the release of their new thriller, I Did Not Kill My Husband (Blackstone Publishing), at Exile in Bookville, Chicago, Ill., with co-owner Javier Ramirez.

"March is Women's History Month! Check out our window and store displays for some excellent reads this month," Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Ky., posted on Facebook earlier this week. "Today also marks International Women's Day. We are proud to be women-owned and women-managed."

"Luck is finding the perfect book." That was the sidewalk chalkboard message in front of Columbus Bound Bookshop in Columbus, Ga., which got an early start on St. Patrick's Day celebrations with a promise: "The rainbow ends at the bookshop!"

Ingram Academic & Professional has added two new publishers:

It will provide print distribution and sales representation for University of Notre Dame Press titles in the U.S., Canada, and globally, effective July 1. In addition, Ingram will manage the press's e-book sales.

The University of Notre Dame Press publishes widely in fields that reflect the academic strengths of the University of Notre Dame, including religion, philosophy, political science, American history, medieval studies, and Latin American studies.

---

Ingram Academic & Professional will provide print distribution for McGill-Queen's University Press in the U.S., effective May 1.

McGill-Queen's University Press, one of Canada's most respected scholarly publishers, is a joint venture of McGill University in Montreal, Que., and Queen's University, Kingston, Ont. The press publishes scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, with strengths in political science, global studies, history, philosophy, art history, film, culture, and Indigenous studies.

Julia Young has joined Kensington Publishing as community manager, influencer & fan engagement. She was formerly events manager at Four Seasons Books, Shepherdstown, W.Va., where she led the store's influencer program and strategic author and reader engagement initiatives. Earlier she was director of membership and marketing for the Shenandoah Arts Council in Winchester, Va.

Ten-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar winning songwriter Billie Eilish "is in advanced talks to make her acting movie debut" as Esther Greenwood in an adaptation of Sylvia Plath's classic novel, The Bell Jar," Deadline reported. 

Oscar winner Sarah Polley (Women Talking, Away From Her, Alias Grace) is attached to direct and write the script for the film, which Focus Features is closing a deal to back and distribute in the U.S.

The Bell Jar is being produced by Joy Gorman Wettels (Little House on the Prairie, 13 Reasons Why), Plan B Entertainment, and StudioCanal. Gorman Wettels "originated the project through her company Joy Coalition, packaging the project with Eilish and Polley and partnering with Plan B and StudioCanal ahead of Focus boarding," Deadline noted.

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) has released shortlists for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing and Carnegie Medal for Illustrating. The winners, who each receive a gold medal and a £5,000 (about $6,675) Colin Mears Award cash prize, will be named June 23 at a live and streamed ceremony in London.

Carnegie Medal for Writing
Ghostlines by Katya Balen 
Not Going to Plan by Tia Fisher 
Popcorn by Rob Harrell 
The Boy I Love by William Hussey 
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Tim Miller 
Wolf Siren by Beth O'Brien 
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds
Birdie by J.P. Rose 

Carnegie Medal for Illustration
The Playdate by Clara Dackenberg, written by Uje Brandelius, translated by Nichola Smalley 
The Endless Sea by Linh Dao, written by Chi Thai 
Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel, illustrated & adapted by Aimée de Jongh, written by William Golding 
The Sleeper Train by Baljinder Kaur, written by Mick Jackson 
Wildful by Kengo Kurimoto 
Freedom Braids by Oboh Moses, written by Monique Duncan 
The Paper Bridge by Seng Soun Ratanavanh, written by Joelle Veyrenc, translated by Katy Lockwood-Holmes 
Wiggling Words by Kate Rolfe 

Winners of the Shadowers' Choice Medals--voted for and awarded by the children and young people who shadow the medals--will also be presented at the ceremony. They will receive a medal and £500 (about $665) worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.

photo: Gary Brown

Shelley Noble is the author of more than 20 novels--historical fiction, historical mystery, and contemporary women's fiction. A former professor, professional dancer, and stage and screen choreographer, she lives in New Jersey halfway between the shore, where she loves visiting lighthouses and vintage carousels, and New York City, where she delights in the architecture, the theater, and ferreting out the old stories behind the new. Her historical novel The Sisters of Book Row (Morrow, March 3, 2026) features the women who helped save New York's famed Book Row.

Handsell readers your book in 30 words or less:

In 1915, three sisters who own a rare bookshop on Manhattan's Book Row risk everything to protect the written word against the most vicious censor in U.S. history.

On your nightstand now:

I don't have a nightstand because if I read in bed I'd never stop to sleep. But on my TBR for fun stack: Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas, because I didn't get to it for the holidays, and what's more festive than murder, mystery, mayhem, and mistletoe? Susanna Kearsley's The King's Messenger--I love her novels; her time slips are as smooth as walking into the next room. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien--a re-reread because I can never get enough Tolkien. And a couple of totally unrelated nonfiction works to broaden my horizons.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I had many favorite books in childhood, but the most "special" books were those secured within my grandmother's glass-fronted bookcase that held series left from an earlier generation's youth. We weren't allowed to lift the glass front, but we could see through it: Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew. They were old and she handed them out like treasures, to be read only in the little, quiet "telephone" room where they were housed. We sat at a big, heavy oak desk, a lamp trained on the pages, and were carried away.

Your top five authors:

Charles Dickens, Mary Stewart, Elizabeth Peters, Ngaio Marsh, Ken Follett.

Book you've faked reading:

In high school I faked reading Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities for French class. I faked reading Herman Melville's Moby-Dick twice. Many years later, I ended up enjoying A Tale of Two Cities, but I confess, after several attempts, I've only speed-read my way through Moby-Dick.

Book you're an evangelist for:

For all well-written and researched historical novels. For those readers who don't pick up a history book in their spare time, historical fiction is an inviting way to learn the lessons of history while gaining perspective and appreciation of the people who don't usually get mentioned in the annals of our past but are important for our future. And who are oh so human, even if some of them are fictional.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Honestly, I can't remember when I bought a book for the cover. I've been attracted to a book by the cover. Picked up a book because of the cover. Read the jacket flap because of the cover. But since the cover is usually put in the hands of artists other than the author, I always look inside the pages before buying.

Book you hid from your parents:

I'm from an old Southern family. We hid everything from our parents. Consequently I had a very eclectic, uncurated range of reading. I read Dickens's The Pickwick Papers in fourth grade, Philip Wylie's Generation of Vipers as a high school freshman, but didn't read Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie until I was out of college.

Book that changed your life:

The I Ching. The Book of Changes. Not a book you read in one sitting but is always there to fine-tune your perception of your situation in the world.

Favorite line from a book:

I keep three quotes posted on the wall behind my desk. One is by Ray Bradbury from Fahrenheit 451: "Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for." And one, not from a book but from Murder, She Wrote: "It's art, Jessica. It has to end badly." I try to live by the first, but not lose sight of the second, in writing as in life. And one other as a reminder: "You can't steal second base and keep one foot on first." Words of wisdom from a fortune cookie.

Five books you'll never part with:

First of all, the books and scrapbooks authored by my children over the years--they run the gamut. But I'll count those as one, so I can add the I Ching, Jiyu-Kennett's Selling Water by the River, Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic, and maybe The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

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

I should say Moby-Dick, but I feel I will just have to let it pass. So perhaps Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I just never liked the characters, not even Heathcliff. Not even the movie. And knowing that it's a classic, I feel that maybe I just haven't unlocked the key to being moved by it. I usually stick to rereading my favorites and most often am delighted to love them all over again. And I'm looking forward to again committing time to Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. It was amazing, and I'm sure it will be amazing on my next visit.

Media coverage of major conflicts tends to focus on large issues like military strategy and political maneuvers but pays less attention to stories of citizens caught up in campaigns they can't control. In the 20th century, the Troubles in Northern Ireland claimed thousands of civilian lives before the Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998. Séamas O'Reilly (Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?) pays homage to Derry, one of the towns most affected by the Troubles, and imagines the lives of some of its residents in Prestige Drama, a sly novel that ingeniously subverts narrative expectations.

The prestige drama of the title is Dead City, an upcoming U.S. streaming series depicting "a fictitious account of one family's experience in the aftermath of a terrible massacre" in the 1970s. The screenwriter is Derry native Diarmuid Walsh, author of a failed novel and a "disastrously unsuccessful play," whose lack of success as a writer in London brought delight to jealous Derry townsfolk. The family the show is based on is the Devenneys, whose son, 17-year-old Jamie, was killed one evening when he went out with some friends. To lure viewers, the producers hire Hollywood star Monica Logue, who plays a TV detective, "one of those improbably beautiful but respectfully dowdified homicide cops," but now wants to be seen as a serious actress and has come to Derry to play the murdered boy's mother. But an unforeseen problem complicates matters: Logue disappears.

Readers might expect this novel to be like Logue's TV show, a procedural centered upon solving a mystery. O'Reilly offers instead something richer: a melancholy portrait of a town still smarting from Troubles-era trauma. Most of the novel focuses on the townspeople affected by Jamie's death. They include Ann-Marie, Jamie's mother, "the great sad case of the town"; Jonny, one of the pals with Jamie the night he died; and Bogle, who once served time in a maximum-security prison and who agrees to talk with Diarmuid to share "some of the real stories, a splash of living colour." Highlighted by unforgettably visceral writing--cops in the 1970s beat Jamie's father so severely that "his glasses were wedged in his face, melded to his cheek, bone-deep"--O'Reilly's novel is a tribute to people who fought back against terrorist tactics, a prestige drama of far greater consequence than a TV show. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer

Shelf Talker: Prestige Drama, a novel by Séamas O'Reilly, tells the stories of Derry, Northern Ireland, residents and a Hollywood actress who comes to town to shoot a series based on a tragedy during the Troubles.