On Saturday, May 2, more than 400 independent bookstores across the U.S. will participate in the inaugural Independent Bookstore Day (inspired by last year's California Bookstore Day), while Canadian booksellers hold their first Authors for Indies Day. In addition to hosting parties, author appearances and events, booksellers will distribute exclusive merchandise (a video from Harvard Bookshop, Cambridge, Mass., offers a sneak peek) created for the occasion. All week, we are highlighting indie booksellers' creative plans for, and thoughts about, celebrating IBD 2015:

Bennington Bookshop, Bennington, Vt.: "Phil and I are looking forward to Independent Bookstore Day," said Linda Foulsham, new co-owner of the bookstore that opened in 1928. "We have planned a special day to thank the Bennington community for their warm welcome and continued support of the bookshop. We are thrilled to be in Bennington and to be part of the downtown business community." (via the Bennington Banner)

Bookends & Beginnings, Evanston, Ill.: Special Guest Storytime with Janet Nolan, author of PB&J Hooray, "which traces the routes the ingredients take to get into your PB&J sandwich. PB&J will be on hand for snacking!" Also: "Have your photo taken for our Facebook page with the title of the book that changed your life, and you'll be entered into a raffle to win a $25 gift certificate (3 winners!)."

Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Tex.: "Join us for lunchtime refreshments and drinks to unveil the Brazos Booknook, a brand new artisanal chair designed by New Living!" And: "A drunk coloring party! Starring our brand new coloring book, Hemingwasted: A Loving Look at Literary Lushes.... We'll have wine from Beviamo and Saint Arnold beer on hand."

Screening room: Canadian Authors for Indies: The Movie, and BookNet Canada's "15 memorable on-screen indie bookstores."

Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y.: Co-owner Jessica Stockton is "especially excited" about the "author photo booth. Get your photo taken with awesome authors in our festive photo booth! Strike a pose, get crazy with props, or get your favorite book in the picture." Also: "Get your own silly portrait created by awesome local artists Elisha Cooper and Betsy Lewin!"

Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Wash.: "Exquisite Corpse Writing Project--Calling all writers! Join our collective story project in celebration of Independent Bookstore Day! Each writer will have a 30-minute block of time to contribute; the only rule is you must use the previous collaborator's contribution as inspiration. The result of this collaborative effort will be a book published and printed by Third Place Press."

Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, Berkeley, Calif.: "Kids' Joke-a-Thon. Come and tell your favorite joke and get the giggles going! Looking for new material? Check out our extensive humor library that includes Monkey Farts, Jokelopedia and, specially available for this day, Funny Ha Ha."

Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Mass.: Mystical Mimosa Brunch, and "local authors Chrysler Szarlan and Suzanne Strempek Shea will be reading palms and lending a hand on the Ouija board. There will also be tarot card readings to look into the future and match you up with your perfect book!"

BookPeople‎ of Moscow, Idaho: "Events include a visit by everyone's favorite primate, Curious George, a reading and book signing by Michael Kostroff of acclaimed television show The Wire, and beer tasting with Moscow Brewing Company."

Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe and Phoenix, Ariz: "Only on Independent Bookstore Day... enjoy 15% off everything at our Tempe and Phoenix stores, and happy hour prices all day long at First Draft Book Bar!"

Independent Bookstore Day will have an enhanced meaning for Susan Murphy, whose Pages Bookshop hosts its grand opening Saturday. The bookseller's website noted that today is the store's soft opening, "to make sure everything is set for the official opening. There are a few last minute details inside the store to finish, but you can come in and take a look."

"It's a lovely shop," the CarrieD Away blog reported, adding that "Pages will be more than a bookshop, it will be a literary hub. Susan has already hosted several events, including a Taste Makers series with Always Brewing Detroit. The ticketed event brought together local chefs and authors for food, wine and discussion. She recently held a panel discussion on black representation in science fiction and is planning another that will focus on diversity in children's books."

Murphy had been searching for a permanent location for several months, and briefly opened a pop-up bookshop during the winter before finding the location at 19560 Grand River Avenue in an area she had previously described on Facebook: "I will be surrounded by a wonderful group of neighborhoods that have welcomed me during my pop-up inside Always Brewing Detroit."

The Bookworm, Kennewick, Wash., opened in its new location at 731 N. Columbia Center Blvd. yesterday. The much larger space--growing from 2,600 square feet to 5,800--"means more books on the shelves and much more room for Tri-City readers as they browse new and used books," the Tri-City Herald reported.

The Bookworm first opened in Richland in 1974, and Cindy Bitzer joined the staff in 2005 before purchasing the business with her husband, Mark, in 2009 when the previous owner decided to retire. The Herald noted that closing the Richland Bookworm last year had been a tough decision for the Bitzers, but that location "had been subsidized by the Kennewick store for 15 years."

During May, the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation is launching the Campaign to Sustain, a fund-raising initiative that seeks 50 new sustaining donors to provide regular monthly donations to help support Binc's bookseller assistance programs. Those programs help booksellers suffering financial hardships for a range of reasons and assist with, among other things, medical expenses, domestic violence, utility shut-off and homelessness. The average Binc assistance grant is $1,500.

"In 2014, grant requests increased, and we received on average one request for assistance every week," said executive director Pam French. "To continue to meet grant requests, we are focusing on becoming sustainable and expanding our fundraising efforts. Booksellers are like a big, extended family and willing to help each other out. Becoming a sustaining donor is one way for booksellers to ensure help is there when it is needed."

Wanda Jewell, Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance executive director and a sustaining Binc board member, said she is increasing her Binc commitment to $40 a month in celebration of SIBA's 40th anniversary, "and I invite all of you to join me."

Sustaining donations can be made on the Binc donation page. Suggested monthly amounts range from $10 (enough to provide emergency help after a disaster) to $100 (enough to prevent an eviction).

Don Mankiewicz, a novelist and Oscar-nominated screenwriter "who grew up in a fabled Hollywood family and went on to create TV's Ironside and Marcus Welby, M.D.," died April 25, the Los Angeles Times reported. He was 93. His 1954 novel Trial was made into a film starring Glenn Ford and Dorothy McGuire. The Times also noted that Mankiewicz "was assigned to adapt F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon at least in part because he grew up steeped in its luminous, old-Hollywood setting."

photo: Michel Pinault

During Blue Metropolis, the annual Montreal international literary festival, Junot Díaz was featured in conversation with author Heather O'Neill at the Rialto Theatre. During the event, which drew 800 people, Díaz received the Premio Metropolis Azul--given to a writer for a work of fiction exploring an aspect of Spanish language, history or culture--for This Is How You Lose Her.  

Grandpa Oren with baby Daniel

Congratulations to ABA CEO Oren Teicher, who is the grandfather of another future bookseller--Daniel Aryeh Wharton, born on Saturday! All family members, including Daniel's older brother, are well.

Not to be outdone by Apple Watch's debut last week, U.K. bookstore chain Waterstones was also "turning a new page in wearable technology" by introducing the Waterstones Watch, featuring "an unparalleled level of technical innovation. We've finally answered the question, 'I wonder what it would be like if I had a book on my wrist all the time?' "

Effective January 1, 2016, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishing will be distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books. HMH is currently distributed there by Thomas Allen.

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Quercus, a Hachette company, is taking over distribution in North America of the Teach Yourself line of self-instruction books and book-plus product, effective June 1 with backlist and September 1 with front list.

Quercus publisher Nathaniel Marunas commented: "Teach Yourself has a decades-long history of creating the highest quality language courses, and business, self-development, lifestyle and hobby titles and we are proud to be part of the next chapter in that history."

McGraw-Hill Education has been the longtime distributor of Teach Yourself.

The Memory Painter: A Novel by Gwendolyn Womack (Picador), an Indie Next pick for May. The publisher has also created a quiz for the book, How Old Is Your Soul?

Tomorrow morning on Morning Joe: Nicolle Wallace, author of Madam President: A Novel (Emily Bestler/Atria, $25, 9781476756899). She will also appear on the Chew.

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Tomorrow on Tavis Smiley: T.C. Boyle, author of The Harder They Come (Ecco, $27.99, 9780062349378).

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Tomorrow on Diane Rehm: readers review Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books, $16.99, 9780399252518).

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Tomorrow on Watch What Happens Live: Barney Frank, author of Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28, 9780374280307).

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Tomorrow on the Wendy Williams Show: Tia Mowry, author of Twintuition: Double Vision (HarperCollins, $16.99, 9780062372864).

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Tomorrow night on the Daily Show: Judith Miller, author of The Story: A Reporter's Journey (Simon & Schuster, $27, 9781476716015).

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Tomorrow night on Late Night with Seth Meyers: Chelsea Handler, author of Uganda Be Kidding Me (Grand Central, $16, 9781455599714).

The U.S. trailer is out for Testament of Youth, based on Vera Brittain's memoir and starring Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) and Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Indiewire reported. The film opens in limited release June 5.

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"While Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has inspired no shortage of movie versions, the reason it still resonates is not only the timeless story of a mad scientist playing God, but the way the material can be creatively spun," Indiewire noted in offering a first look at Victor Frankenstein. Paul McGuigan directed Max Landis's (Chronicle) adaptation, starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy.  

"As much as the monster is his creation, Igor is his creation as well," McAvoy said. "That was quite exciting. It's funny, the script, but also really dark, in a cool way." Victor Frankenstein opens October 2.

Yiyun Li has won the £30,000 (about $45,370) Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award for her story "A Sheltered Woman." Chinese-America, Li is the first female winner of the prize, the Bookseller wrote.

The judges said "A Sheltered Woman" is "the story of a Chinese-American nanny hired to spend a month and no more supporting a new mother and her baby. Trying to keep detached from the emotional turmoil around her, she is also entrapped by her own past." The story was first published in the New Yorker in March 2014.

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The winners of the James Beard Foundation's book awards are:

Cookbook Hall of Fame: Barbara Kafka

Cookbook of the Year: Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by David Sterling (University of Texas Press)

American Cooking: Heritage by Sean Brock (Artisan)
Baking and Dessert: Flavor Flours: A New Way to Bake with Teff, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Other Whole & Ancient Grains, Nuts & Non-Wheat Flours by Alice Medrich (Artisan)
Beverage: Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail by Dave Arnold (Norton)
Cooking from a Professional Point of View: Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes by Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns (Chronicle Books)
Focus on Health: Cooking Light Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing by Keith Schroeder (Oxmoor House)
General Cooking: The Kitchn Cookbook: Recipes, Kitchens & Tips to Inspire Your Cooking by Faith Durand and Sara Kate Gillingham (Clarkson Potter)
International: Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by David Sterling (University of Texas Press)
Photography: In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World by Gabriele Galimberti (Clarkson Potter)
Reference and Scholarship: Butchering Poultry, Rabbit, Lamb, Goat, and Pork: The Comprehensive Photographic Guide to Humane Slaughtering and Butchering by Adam Danforth (Storey Publishing)
Single Subject: Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan (Ten Speed Press)
Vegetable Focused and Vegetarian: At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin (Roost Books)
Writing and Literature: The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber (Penguin Press)

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The six books shortlisted for the £10,000 (about $15,240) Encore Award for a second novel are, the Bookseller reported:

The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee
Getting Colder by Amanda Coe
Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies
Her by Harriet Lane
Everland by Rebecca Hunt
The Way Inn by Will Wiles

John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., in an attempt to start a slave insurrection, led to his execution and fanned the flames of dissension already smoldering across the country. But Brown's family, especially his daughters, is less well known, though they supported his antislavery work. Taking Brown's daughter Sarah as her central figure, Sarah McCoy weaves a richly layered story of love and sacrifice in her third novel, The Mapmaker's Children.

McCoy (The Baker's Daughter) juxtaposes Sarah Brown's story with that of Eden, a woman living in modern-day New Charlestown, W.Va.--mere miles from Harpers Ferry. Lonely and isolated, struggling with infertility and the chasm it has opened in her marriage, Eden stumbles upon a porcelain doll head in a hidden root cellar. With the help of an inquisitive neighborhood girl, she begins investigating the doll's history, which leads them to the Underground Railroad and a surprising connection to Sarah Brown.

McCoy's narrative shifts between Eden and Sarah, telling the women's stories in alternating chapters. Grieving her father's death after his ill-fated raid, Sarah cares for her mother and sisters while longing to help John Brown's colleagues continue their abolitionist work. A talented artist, she begins sketching maps to guide escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad, while struggling with her love for a family friend and the news that she can't bear children. More than 150 years later, Eden faces similar questions of motherhood and identity. Reluctant at first to accept the new puppy her husband brings home, Eden finds herself cooking elaborate meals for the dog, while dealing with the grief and shame brought on by her failure to conceive a child.

While the rich historical detail in Sarah Brown's chapters (including letters, telegrams and newspaper articles) can make Eden's modern-day setting feel a bit sterile by comparison, both women are vivid, complicated characters. Both are surrounded by strong ensemble casts: Sarah's family and abolitionist friends; Eden's husband, brother and new neighbors. The twin stories gradually intertwine, until the final chapters lead to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.

In vibrant yet unassuming prose, McCoy tells a story of womanhood past and present, asking big questions about family, courage and love. Readers will enjoy solving the historical puzzle of the doll's origins, but the book's true strength is its portrayal of Eden and Sarah: two brave women bound together by the difficult, noble work of building worthwhile lives. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: In her third novel, Sarah McCoy weaves together the Civil War-era story of Sarah Brown, artist and abolitionist, with that of a modern-day woman struggling with infertility.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Until July by Aurora Rose Reynolds
2. Virtuous by M.S. Force
3. Dare to Hold by Carly Phillips
4. Club Luxe Box Set by Olivia Noble
5. Their Virgin Mistress by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
6. All I Ever Need Is You by Bella Andre
7. Third Debt (Indebted Book 4) by Pepper Winters
8.  Siberian Treasure: A Marina Alexander Adventure Book 1 by C.M. Gleason
9. The Soldier's E-Mail Order Bride by Cora Seton
10. His Proposed Deal by Sandi Lynn

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]