Winter Institute officially starts later today with the opening reception. We sympathize with everyone whose plans have been disrupted by the blizzard in the Northeast and hope you make it to Pittsburgh eventually. For everyone else who's attending, we look forward to seeing you over the next few days!

Books Across Borders has announced the 2026 Spring Fellows--U.S. booksellers who will attend the London Book Fair next month and the RISE Bookselling Conference in Verona, Italy, in April.

Mira Braneck

The booksellers attending the London Book Fair as Books Across Borders fellows are Mira Braneck of A Room of One's Own in Madison, Wis., and Pierce Alquist of Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Mass.

Mira Braneck is a bookseller and writer. She is the receiving manager and Books to Prisoners program coordinator at A Room of One's Own. Braneck earlier sold books at Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa, and interned at the Paris Review. She is currently at work on her first novel.

Pierce Alquist

Pierce Alquist is the director of the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith. The Transnational Series focuses on stories of migration, the intersection of politics and literature, and works in translation. She also reviews literature in translation and has been a judge for the Best Translated Book Award twice. She is a judge for the 2026 Cercador Prize.

The booksellers attending the RISE Bookselling Conference as Books Across Borders fellows are Kimberly Brock of Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio, and sweet pea Flaherty of King's Books in Tacoma, Wash.

Kimberly Brock

Kimberly Brock is the adult book buyer at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, where she has worked for more than 12 years. She began as a frontline bookseller before becoming a book buyer in 2021. She holds master's degrees in Tourism Administration and Publishing from the George Washington University. Kim serves on the board of directors for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC) and on the American Booksellers Association's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

sweet pea Flaherty

sweet pea Flaherty is the owner of King's Books. They've been a bookseller since 2000, working first at A Room of One's Own in Madison, Wis., then moving to Tacoma to work at King's in 2003; they bought the store in 2010. King's Books is a community-centered bookstore with 15 book clubs and two bookstore cats. sweet pea is the co-founder of the Tacoma Wayzgoose letterpress festival, since 2005, and the Banned Book Club, since 2006.

At the same time, Books Across Borders will start accepting applications for the Fall 2026-Spring 2027 season beginning this Wednesday, February 25. Booksellers interested in diverse and international literature and in fostering relationships with the international literary community are encouraged to apply here. Strong consideration is given to booksellers who demonstrate a history of reading and promoting international literature and who communicate a kinship with Books Across Borders mission and values. Fellows are chosen by the Books Across Borders' Board of Directors. The deadline for applying is May 1.  

Next Page Books and Nosh in Frisco, Colo., has new owners, one of whom is a former employee. The Summit Daily News reported that Erik Benson, whose first job in Summit County more than 15 years ago was at Next Page, and his wife, Jacque Benson, recently purchased the business from Lisa Holenko. She had been the owner since buying the store in 2016 from Karen Berg, who opened it in 2007. 

The Bensons do not plan major changes to the shop. "So far, they've reintroduced a bar with coffee, tea, wine and beer and are building on community partnerships that they hope they can expand even further," the Daily News wrote, adding that next summer the couple "are hoping to have some outdoor seating offerings to further boost the community feel they are striving to maintain." 

They are also planning to expand and revamp an existing collaboration with local schools. "We want all of the schools and all the teachers in the district to know that we are here, and we want to support you. We want to support everyone's love for reading, not just the kids," Jacque Benson said.

Noting that they want to work with other indie bookstores in the region to share ideas about initiatives with local organizations, she described the independent bookstore community as "collaborative, not competitive." 

A romance-focused bookstore called Ever After Booksellers opened on Valentine's Day in Greenville, N.C., WITN reported.

Located at 113 West 4th St., Ever After Booksellers carries a wide range of romance titles with an emphasis on LGBTQ+ titles and independent authors. In the weeks ahead, owners and married couple Adelaide and Hail McCarty plan to host book clubs and other events.

Adelaide McCarty noted that although they wanted to "create a space that has love stories for everyone," the pair noticed "there was a lack of LGBTQ+ spaces in particular."

The Strand Bookstore, New York City, has opened a cafe in its flagship Union Square store. Named Cafe Fred in honor of Fred Bass, the late longtime second-generation owner of the Strand, this is the second Cafe Fred, which made its debut in the Strand's Lincoln Center store.

Cafe Fred serves coffee from La Colombe Coffee Roasters, pastries from Ole and Steen, and tea.

Nancy Bass Wyden, third-generation owner of Strand Bookstore, said, "Naming Cafe Fred after my dad felt like a natural choice. He loved books, people, and New York City, and he believed The Strand should always be a place where everyone is welcome. Cafe Fred is a tribute to his spirit and a way to honor the warmth and literary community he brought to the store every day."

Indian author Mani Shankar Mukherjee, who wrote under the pen name Sankar and was one of the most popular writers ever in the Bengali language, died February 20. He was 92.

Scroll reported that Sankar "loved telling long-drawn-out stories. And despite writing a string of hugely popular novels that have gone on to gain critical acclaim as well, he never made up any of them. Deprived of the chance of a formal, sheltered education by the early death of his father, and compelled to earn a living as a teenager to support his family, Sankar pounded the pavements of Calcutta in search of work, met, spoke to, and observed countless individuals, and spun all that he heard into the stories that regaled generations of readers."

His best known work is Chowringhee (1962). Other books include Jana Aranya (The Middleman); Seemabaddha (Limited); Asha Akankha (Unlimited); and Nagar Nandini (The Daughter of the City). In 2021, Sankar received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiographical book Eka Eka Ekashi. 

Sankar "laid bare the inner conflicts of the white-collar worker in search of success, revealing an internal moral landscape in a way few other writers did. Without intellectualizing them, he exposed the inevitable contradiction between the pursuit of success and adherence to moral standards," Scroll wrote.

Chowringhee was adapted into a hit Bengali film in 1968 and attained cult status, the Telegraph reported. It was translated into multiple Indian and foreign languages, expanding Sankar's readership far beyond Bengal. Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray adapted two of Sankar's novels--Seemabaddha and Jana Aranya--as part of his Calcutta trilogy in the 1970s.

Ray "had personally called the young writer after reading Seemabaddha in a Puja annual, asking him not to sell the film rights before informing him. The resulting films brought Shankar's sharply observed corporate and middle-class narratives to national and international audiences... winning accolades at international festivals," the Telegraph noted. Sankar's novel Man Samman was also adapted into the Hindi film Sheesha by Basu Chatterjee,.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee praised Sankar on social media as "one of the brightest stars in Bengali literature.... Through his pen, the untold stories of the struggles of ordinary people came vividly to life. His profound research and works on Swami Vivekananda, in particular, remain an invaluable treasure for us. His demise is an irreparable loss to our cultural world."

A snowstormy message from Newtonville Books, Newton, Mass.: "It's a long winter. Read more books." 

MidWest Living showcased "20 incredible Black-owned bookstores in the Midwest every bibliophile should visit," noting that "behind every great bookstore are the people who staff and support them.... The 2020s have made those communities a whole lot bigger--especially for Black-owned bookstores.... 

"Through author events, book clubs, and inclusive titles, Black-owned bookstores are keeping the conversation going, lifting marginalized voices and fostering curiosity and conversation, both in-person and online. Here's a sampling of some of the many black-owned bookstores across the Midwest."

At Zando Nancy Trypuc has been promoted to publishing director of Evil Twin, the new horror imprint, and deputy director of marketing.

Treasure Thieves on the High Seas: Pirates, Privateers, and Plunder, written and illustrated by Roxie Munro (Holiday House).

Today:
CBS Mornings: Norah O'Donnell, co-author of We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America (Ballantine, $35, 9780593727027).

Good Morning America: Caroline Chambers, author of What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking: A Cookbook (Union Square & Co., $35, 9781454952718).

Kelly Clarkson Show: Naomi Watts, author of Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause (Crown, $18.99, 9780593729052).

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Christina Applegate, author of You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir (Little, Brown, $32, 9780316594929). 

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Bill Gurley, author of Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love (Crown Currency, $31, 9780593799666).

Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black, Dear Edward) will star in NBC's crime procedural pilot, What the Dead Know, adapted by Beth Rinehart (FBI: Most Wanted) from former New York City medical examiner Barbara Butcher's memoir, Deadline reported. 

From Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, the show "centers on highly intelligent, hyper-vigilant death Investigator Ava Ledger (Schilling) who is really good with dead bodies. It's the living that give her trouble. The series follows Ava as she teams with the NYPD to solve their toughest cases," Deadline wrote.

Rinehart executive produces with Wolf Entertainment's Dick Wolf, Tom Thayer, Peter Jankowski, and Anastasia Puglisi. Kevin Plunkett, Rebecca McGill, and Butcher co-executive produce. Fred Berner is director/executive producer.

Four authors have been shortlisted for the £10,000 (about $13,500) Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. The winner will be named March 24 in London. Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Robert Macfarlane, Sarah Waters, Simon Armitage, Sally Rooney, Max Porter, and Tom Crewe. This year's shortlisted titles are: 

The Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks
Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal
Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn 
Year of the Rat: Undercover in the British Far Right by Harry Shukman

Tolstoy may have made famous the claim that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, but Tolani Akinola takes the old adage to new heights in Leave Your Mess at Home, an incredible and moving debut centered on one family's dysfunction that probes questions of familial belonging and duty, immigration and identity, harm and healing.

The Longes moved to Chicago from Nigeria in search of the American Dream, and on the outside, they've achieved it: "their house on North Hermitage Ave. a thing fought for, one child a doctor, another on her way, her first son a successful businessman." But that neat summary ignores entirely the misery of the grown Longe children. Ola, the eldest and the successful businessman, is facing a crisis of identity as he considers how to raise his first child in a world not built to be kind to men like him, neither Black enough for American culture nor Nigerian enough to belong fully to his parents' people. Anjola, the doctor, is burnt out in her career and secretly in love with her best friend, who is engaged to someone else. The doctor-to-be, Karen, is still in university and does not even want to be a doctor, but is as clear on how to tell her parents of her career dreams as she is on how to tell them she might be gay. And all of that is not to mention Sola, the eldest daughter, long estranged from her family after an intense argument with her mother nearly a decade earlier.

When Sola returns to Chicago following the very public implosion of her influencer career, she slowly reconnects with members of her family--some intentionally, some by chance. But her homecoming proves the harbinger of a great reckoning for the Longes, as long-buried secrets are laid bare and the siblings are forced to ask themselves not only what their parents want for them, but what they each want for themselves. With great care and no small amount of humor, Akinola explores the hidden toll of secrets and buried resentments over decades spent loving one another within the bounds of a messy, imperfect family. Heartfelt and heartbreaking, Leave Your Mess at Home is a reminder that everyone is a product of where they come from, for better or worse, yet in belonging to a family, there is always choice in what shape that belonging may take across hurt and harm and, ultimately, healing. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Shelf Talker: An incredible and moving debut centered on one family's dysfunction that probes on questions of familial belonging and duty, immigration and identity, harm and healing.