"We are cautiously optimistic as we head into 2019 on the back of a strong 2018 Christmas for high street bookshops. We predict that calls on the government for high street regeneration will only grow in the coming year, with booksellers set to move to the forefront of collaborations with other retailers as they continue to cement their position as retail leaders in the U.K. Meanwhile the book industry more broadly will continue to pioneer and establish progressive agenda issues, with a focus on environmentally responsible bookselling and publishing, social and cultural responsibility, inclusivity and diversity.

"Brexit is of course a pressing concern to our members: in our latest survey, booksellers highlighted an economic downturn and its impact on consumer spending power and price inflation on all goods as their key concerns around Brexit. As such it is vital that the book supply chain is prepared in the event of a no deal Brexit, so that booksellers can continue to thrive and act as leaders on the high street."

Lin-Manuel Miranda and three of his Hamilton collaborators have purchased New York City's beloved Drama Book Shop, which had celebrated its 100th birthday last year but announced in the fall it would close this month because of a large rent increase. The New York Times reported that the new owners are Miranda, a longtime supporter of the bookshop; Thomas Kail, director of Hamilton; Jeffrey Seller, lead producer; and James L. Nederlander, president of the Nederlander Organization, which operates the theater in which the show's Broadway production is running.

They bought the store from Rozanne Seelen, whose husband, the late Arthur Seelen, had acquired it in 1958. She "sold it for the cost of the remaining inventory, some rent support in the store's final weeks, and a pledge to retain her as a consultant," the Times wrote.

Future bookseller Lin-Manuel Miranda

"It's the chronic problem--the rents were just too high, and I'm 84 years old--I just didn't have the drive to find a new space and make another move," she said. "Lin-Manuel and Tommy are my white knights."

The rescue plan is a joint venture between the Hamilton team and the city, which has pledged to find the store an affordable space in Midtown. Julie Menin, the mayor's media and entertainment commissioner, said, "The store is a gem and a cultural institution in New York, and we want to make sure it's saved."

The Drama Book Shop will close its West 40th St. location on January 20, and reopen at a new, as yet unnamed, location in the fall.

"When I was in high school I would go to the old location and sit on the floor and read plays--I didn't have the money to buy them," Miranda said. "After college Tommy Kail and I met in the Drama Book Shop basement, and I wrote a good deal of In the Heights there.... They're like family to us, and when we heard that the rent increase was finally too precipitous to withstand, we began hatching a plan."

Kail, whose post-college theater venture, Back House Productions, was a resident company at the store, commented: "I was in many senses professionally born in that bookshop's basement--I spent the first five years of my career there." 

Seller's office, which is already running a Hamilton merchandise store in Manhattan, "will oversee the day-to-day management," the Times noted, adding that he said the bookshop will have a revamped website and expanded programming, with a goal of breaking even, which in recent years the store has done occasionally but not consistently.

Miranda already had a track record for being there when the shop needed him. In 2016, a pipe burst on the third floor of the building that houses the Drama Book Shop, causing severe damage. Customers rallied to support the store and Miranda, using the hashtag #BuyABook, tweeted about the situation and encouraged his followers to purchase books, which they did. He later appeared for a book signing at the store when Hamilton: The Revolution was published. 

After the news broke yesterday, Miranda tweeted: "The best part of this morning has been all your @dramabookshop stories. We love this place so much. Keep 'em coming."

Photo: Robert Scoble

In an "open letter" advertisement featured in Saturday's editions of the New York Daily News and New York Post, Amazon touted the potential benefits connected to its massive HQ2 project in Long Island City. The proposed development has been the subject of controversy and opposition since the November revelation that New York City and Northern Virginia were the online retailer's HQ2 choices.

The letter, titled "Our pledge to New York City," wished city residents a "Happy New Year from your future neighbors at Amazon," and said that the HQ2 announcement had been "the beginning of what we hope will be a long and mutually beneficial partnership between New Yorkers and Amazon."

Highlighting HQ2's benefits, the letter promised additional jobs and career training for local residents; indirect jobs in construction, building services and hospitality; state and local tax revenue; support for education; and "helping small businesses thrive."

"As we move forward, we pledge to be your partner, and to listen, learn, and work together," Amazon concluded. "As Long Island City thrives, so will our employees, customers, and our partnership with New York."

The Post considered Amazon's intentions: "Amid alarming reports about potentially strained sewage systems in the neighborhood by the influx of 25,000 new employees as well as critics who are upset about Amazon's employment policies, tax incentives and just about everything Amazon stands for, the company is determined to get off on the right foot."

CurbedNY reported that the letter was also mailed out in the form of a "Happy New Year" flier to some Queens residents, including Long Island City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer, who shared a video on Twitter in which he said: "The only reason they're mailing these out and spending this money is because our voices of opposition have been heard and felt. This is about money. This is about power. But just as we did in 2018, we're going to fight like heck in 2019. Your voice has got to be heard."

Barnes & Noble has announced the January selection for its nationwide book club: The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict, published by Sourcebooks. The book club, which debuted early last year and was held quarterly, will now be monthly, the company said yesterday.

As with previous book club selections, B&N is selling a special edition of the novel that includes an author q&a and reading group guide. The book club discussions are scheduled for Tuesday, February 5, at 7 p.m. and will be held at Barnes & Noble locations around the country.

The Only Woman in the Room is a fictionalized take on the story of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, who escaped from Nazi Germany, found stardom in Hollywood and developed a radio guidance system for torpedoes. Past B&N book club selections included Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion, Anne Tyler's Clock Dance and Hank Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.

John Burningham, the British children's author and illustrator who was behind some of the 20th century's most enduring books for kids, died January 4, the Guardian reported. He was 82. Burningham, who last year was jointly presented a Booktrust lifetime achievement award with his wife and fellow illustrator Helen Oxenbury, wrote and illustrated dozens of books, including Husherbye, Avocado Baby, Granpa and Oi! Get Off Our Train.

The Bookseller wrote that Oxenbury, who was married to Burningham for 54 years, described him as "a gargantuan character who played a huge part in my life and in the lives of our children and grandchildren, as he did in the lives of children all over the world, with his wonderful stories and his insight into a child's mind. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't met John. He's guided me, influenced me and inspired me my entire life."

Francesca Dow, managing director at Penguin Random House Children's, told the Guardian that Burningham "was a true original, a picture book pioneer and an endlessly inventive creator of stories that could be by turns hilarious and comforting, shocking and playful. He never spoke down to children, always treating them with the utmost respect.... John will be much missed by his publishing family here at Penguin Random House, and our thoughts and very best wishes are with Helen and his family."

In 1963, Burningham's first picture book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers, won the Kate Greenaway Medal, which he received again in 1970 with Mr. Gumpy's Outing.

Judith Kerr said that his picture book Humbert inspired her career: "More than 50 years later it is still one of the best picture books ever produced for children."

There was an outpouring of tributes on social media, including one from Cressida Cowell, who wrote: "So sad to hear that John Burningham has died. He created so many gloriously imaginative and creative books.... I have happy, happy memories of reading Avocado Baby, Courtney, Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present, with my children."

Michael Rosen tweeted: "Very sorry to hear that John Burningham has died. He was a truly great creator of children's books and a very warm and interesting guy. Wishing Helen and the family the very best and much sympathy."

Our series examining how independent bookstores around the country have navigated rising rents, lease negotiations and relationships with landlords continues throughout the week.

Christine Onorati opened WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., in March 2007. Onorati had originally thought of opening a store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but even when she was looking for spaces back in 2006, the properties there were "unbelievably expensive." Her search took her to Greenpoint, just north of Williamsburg, which was described as being "on the cusp" 12 years ago and, according to Onorati, is still described in much the same way in 2018, though more restaurants and retailers have moved in since she opened.

She found a space in Greenpoint at a good rate, in a building that was bought and renovated by a young couple. Onorati renewed that lease two years ago without any issues, and reported that she has a great relationship with her landlords. "They were very fair with me," said Onorati. "They are very happy with me as a tenant. I'm very low drama and I've brought value to their apartments above me."

Word Jersey City

In December 2013, Onorati opened a second, larger WORD location, complete with a cafe, in downtown Jersey City, N.J. In many ways, she said, it was a similar situation to her moving into Greenpoint in 2007, with both areas being described as right on the cusp of a real estate boom. And although Onorati got a "good deal" on a building that had been vacant for years, the terms of the agreement made her responsible for the renovation and construction work needed to turn what had once been a Burger King into an independent bookstore.

"I would never, ever take on a bookstore construction deal like that again," she said. The construction and permitting process took much longer than expected, and the opening had to be delayed several times. "It cost us a lot of money."

In September 2016, around the same time that Onorati renewed her Brooklyn lease, she rented a space two doors down from her Greenpoint store with the plan of opening a children's store. At 550 square feet, the new space was smaller than her main store, and even after negotiating her new landlord down, Onorati was still paying "a ton more per square foot." Onorati calculated that the two stores together could make up for the additional costs, and the new landlord had agreed to handle construction, renovations and permits.

The plan was to open the children's store by February 2017, but even as late as December 2016 it became clear that the landlord did not have the necessary permits and certificates to begin the build-out. Nevertheless, Onorati was told that construction would begin "any day now," and ultimately spent more than six months fully staffed up and ready to open a new store. She officially pulled the plug on the children's store in January 2018, nearly a full year after it was supposed to open.

"It almost sunk me," said Onorati. "To me it's a perfect example of what New York City rents and New York City real estate can do to a retail establishment."

Onorati noted that these rising costs, including not just rent but also minimum wage and healthcare, have led to drastically changing her business model. She recalled that when one of her employees first suggested carrying socks several years ago, she thought it was a ridiculous idea. Now she sells "a sh-t ton of socks" and other items with high margins.

Onorati added: "You can't dig your heels in anymore. You have to be changeable and negotiable and rethink your model and [product] mix every day." --Alex Mutter

A New York Times piece by the aptly named J.D. Biersdorfer (beer town resident) focuses on Books & Brews, the Indianapolis, Ind., bookstore and bar founded in 2014 by Jason Wuerfel. The operation is "a de facto community center, drawing crowds to trivia contests, fund-raisers, tabletop game gatherings and literary events... The stage in the back serves as a performance platform for music jams, open-mic nights and readings." The concept has worked so well that Wuerfel has franchised the business and it now has eight other locations in central Indiana.

"The fundamental flaw of the bookstore is that it's designed to be quiet and not let people connect to each other," Wuerfel told the Times. "When you encourage people to walk around, and you have books and board games and music that breathes life into spaces, you naturally provide the framework for social engagement."

While most of the books in the store/brewpub are used, Books & Brews also "offers a rack of new books for sale at the cover price, including titles by Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut Jr., whose maternal grandfather was Albert Lieber, a well-known local brewer in his day, and featured in Vonnegut's autobiographical Palm Sunday."

Lisa Misosky and Catherine Frye, owners of Southland Books & Cafe in Maryville, Tenn., opened The Bird & The Book, "a casual, unpretentious bar," last September "in the same building as their other businesses, but occupying a space just below the bookstore," the Daily Times reported, adding that the co-owners "know how to run a business."

"This was the solution to my midlife crisis," said Misosky, who runs the bookstore and tends bar. "We had talked for two years about opening this other business but never had the time or ability to make it happen."

Frye, who operates the cafe and oversees the bar menu, added: "We both wanted to open a bar and we had talked about it over the years. We discussed what we wanted, how it should be a cozy and comfy kind of place where it wouldn't be loud or rowdy, and people could talk, enjoy themselves and find things to do."

The Bird & The Book "fits the description of the business they envisioned.... The emphasis, they said, was to make it a good fit for the community," the Daily Times wrote. 

"This community is where we live," said Misosky. "We want to make this community better, and we can do that by making this a place where everyone can feel welcome."

At the Random House Publishing Group:

David Moench has been named director of publicity, Del Rey.

Michelle Jasmine has been named associate director of publicity, Random House publicity.

Mary Moates has been named publicist, Random House publicity.

Allison Schuster has been promoted to senior marketing manager, Ballantine Bantam Dell.

Ashleigh Heaton has been promoted to assistant marketing manager for the Ballantine Bantam Dell and Del Rey lists.

Colleen Nuccio has been promoted to assistant marketing manager, Ballantine Bantam Dell.

Greystone Secrets: The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix, illustrated by Anne Lambelet (Katherine Tegen Books), the first in a series.

Tomorrow:
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Senator Kamala Harris, author of The Truths We Hold: An American Journey (Penguin Press, $30, 9780525560715).

A trailer has been released for Transit, based on the novel by Anna Seghers. The film was adapted and directed by Christian Petzold (Phoenix, Barbara), and IndieWire reported that a "Petzold feature is best enjoyed with the minimum of existing information, which makes the first trailer for his Transit such a joy... knowing what happens in that book--written in 1944, set in 1942--doesn't dilute the imaginative power of the film, which Petzold pulls out of time to be, well, timely and not at all rooted in the World War II environs of Seghers' story. And yet the film can't exist without them, even as it slips between now and then, finding terrifying parallels at every turn." Music Box Films will open Transit March 1 in select theaters.

Kate Wisel has won the 2019 Drue Heinz Literature Prize for a manuscript of short stories for Driving in Cars with Homeless Men, which will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press October 1. The award also includes a cash prize of $15,000.

Judge Min Jin Lee commented: "You can hear the crackle of heat and the roar of a powerful fire burning through these pages. Young angry women, brokenhearted mothers, and men who are lost to themselves and others struggle in the world of Driving in Cars with Homeless Men. Close to the edge, fearful of love yet dying of longing, [Wisel's characters] are vital and tender. Their stories are incandescent."

Wisel's work has appeared or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast, New Ohio Review, Tin House online, Redivider (as winner of the Beacon Street prize), and on the Boston subway as winner of the Poetry on the T contest. She is a fiction fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt was named the Specsavers Book of the Year after a popular vote in the U.K. The title had previously garnered three Specsavers National Book Awards wins for new writer of the year, popular nonfiction book and the Zoe Ball Book Club Choice.

Kay called the success of his "love letter" to the National Health Service a testament to the entire nation's affection for the service, the Bookseller reported. "I want to share the award with the million and half people who keep the NHS going every single day, including when the rest of us are enjoying Christmas at home," he said.

Other Specsavers National Book category winners who were eligible for book of the year were:
Popular fiction: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Crime/thriller: Snap by Belinda Bauer
Autobiography/biography: Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Food & drink: Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
Children's: Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different by Ben Brooks, illustrated by Quinton Winter
YA: Feminists Don't Wear Pink, curated by Scarlett Curtis
Audiobook: The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, read by Benedict Cumberbatch
International author: Sally Rooney, Normal People
U.K. author: Philip Pullman, The Book of Dust Vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage

Lincoln Peirce is an author and cartoonist from Portland, Maine. His comic strip Big Nate, featuring the adventures of an irrepressible sixth grader, appears in more than 400 newspapers worldwide. In 2010, he began a series of illustrated novels based on the strip, introducing Nate to a new generation of young readers. His newest book, Max & the Midknights (Crown Books for Young Readers, January 8, 2019), is a comedic adventure set in the Middle Ages.

On your nightstand now:

I've always wanted a nightstand. Unfortunately, putting one beside my bed would prevent me from opening my closet, so I find other places to keep the books I'm reading. I admire Elizabeth Kolbert's pieces on environmental issues and climate change for the New Yorker, and her book The Sixth Extinction is a sobering amplification of those themes. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris is the best graphic novel I've read in many years. I'm about halfway through Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand, and it's fascinating. Herriman is on cartooning's Mount Rushmore, yet has always been a somewhat mysterious figure.

Favorite book when you were a child:

This is an easy choice: Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman. It's set in Switzerland during the 1860s and tells the story of Rudi Matt, a young man who dreams of climbing the Citadel, the mountain on which his father was killed. I'm not sure this book would resonate with kids today, but when I was a boy I found it thrilling.

Your top five authors:

Robert Caro is my favorite historian. The Power Broker is one of the all-time great books about New York City. I love Roald Dahl for his sense of mischief, and for the way he makes readers his co-conspirators. I first read William Faulkner's fiction in my teens and early 20s, and it was--and still is--unlike anything else. And I must include on my list two cartoonists who tell monumental, universal stories in tiny panels: Charles Schulz and Lynda Barry.

Book you've faked reading:

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. My grandmother gave it to me for my birthday when I was 12 or 13, and I just wasn't ready for it. I've never been ready for it.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Maus by Art Spiegelman. It should be required reading in high schools and colleges.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I'm splitting this in two. The first is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It was on my parents' shelf when I was a child, and the cover was unforgettable. There was no picture--just a pinprick of blood, a distinctive font and a color scheme that suggested decay. The second is Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. As a Lincoln, I always notice books with the name Lincoln in the title. We Lincolns have to stick together.

Book you hid from your parents:

Moe Howard & the 3 Stooges by Moe Howard. I think the less said about this, the better.

Book that changed your life:

In 1977, I discovered a book in my high school library called The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, edited by Bill Blackbeard and Martin Williams. In those pre-Internet days, before the modern appreciation of comics as a legitimate art form had really taken root, there was no place to see examples of great comic strips from the past, like Thimble Theatre, Polly and Her Pals or Terry and the Pirates. This book was not only my introduction to the so-called Golden Age of newspaper comics, but it placed those comics within a historical context. I'd never read a scholarly survey of comics before. It opened my eyes.

Favorite line from a book:

"I'll be seeing you! I'll be seeing you soon!" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Charlie Bucket shouts those words as he runs by Willie Wonka's chocolate factory, moments after discovering the miraculous Golden Ticket inside a candy bar wrapper. I remember reading this to my daughter when she was a little girl, and she just burst into tears of happiness.

Five books you'll never part with:

With one exception, the books I feel most attached to are those I first read as a child or young adult. I still have my original copies of these four books: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is both a great work of literature and extraordinarily funny; Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams, is the gold standard in children's literature for its perfect marriage of story and art; Old Yeller by Fred Gipson is the first book that I can remember making me cry; and Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others by Charles Schulz is a heartfelt and nostalgic memoir from my boyhood hero. The fifth book on this list, a signed copy of Richard's Poor Almanac by Richard Thompson, is a collection of comic creations from Richard's partnership with the Washington Post. As a cartoonist, Richard was unsurpassed. As a writer, he was effortlessly funny. He died in 2016 due to Parkinson's disease. He was a genius.

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

When I was 20 or 21 years old, I read Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. At the time, I found it quite compelling, and I identified strongly with the protagonist, Martin Arrowsmith. I'm not at all certain I'd feel the same way now at age 55. I'd like to read it again just to satisfy my own curiosity.

Book you love that nobody else has ever heard of:

Fish Stories by Nicholas Heller. My wife and I bought this at a yard sale shortly after our son was born. It's a collection of three stories featuring a nameless main character who appears to be a human/dog hybrid. He has fishing adventures that end up involving an ineffective wizard. Hilarity ensues.

Oh, that Hermes: We always knew he was mischievous. But in I Am Hermes!, Mordicai Gerstein's comics-style autobiography of sorts, it's clear that as a kid the messenger of the gods was a pest of Olympian proportions.

With the help of dialogue balloons, Hermes narrates his own adventures, starting with events from his devilish infancy (first word: "Gimme!") and toddlerhood. The baby-talking trickster ("Wah! Momsey! I'm a hungwy, sweepy widdle baby!") takes delight in sneaking out of his cradle and stealing the cows belonging to his older brother Apollo. When Apollo rats out the brat to their dad, Zeus tells his younger son that it's time to grow up, which Hermes literally does before his eyes: "How's this?" Zeus anoints him on the spot: "You'll deliver messages, some in the form of dreams, to everyone." In the latter part of I Am Hermes!, the wing-sandaled one sets out to rescue Ares, god of war, who has been captured by Poseidon's twin sons; later, he disguises himself as a goatherd to get to know the crush-worthy mortal maiden Penelopeta, who becomes his bride.

A ticklishly madcap quality is I Am Hermes!'s calling card; as Gerstein says in his author's note, "Most of the retellings of the Greek myths I've seen... treat the gods and heroes as superheroes, telling us how great and powerful they were. But from my reading of Ovid, Hesiod, Robert Graves, and the Homeric Hymns, the Olympians could also be bad-tempered, silly, jealous, vengeful, and even stupid--more like characters in a family sitcom." Or like characters in a spoof: In the book's last chapter, Hermes and his family members decide to retire (Zeus: "I'm bored with being a god. Too much responsibility, not enough appreciation") and take on new roles (e.g., Zeus and Hera start a renewable electricity company called Jupiter Electric). As for Hermes, he finds "the perfect place for me!"--the Internet, of course: "I deliver emails, texts, tweets, pictures, movies, music, myths, histories, mysteries, fables, games, news..."

Gerstein, author of the 2004 Caldecott-winning The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, has a flair for the comics-style format, which he tested in I Am Pan! Although chockablock with panels, the tidy layouts can accommodate banter (" 'Did not!'/ 'Did too!'/ 'Did not!'/ 'Did too!' ") and sight gags (an oblivious snail, when Apollo asks it about his cows' whereabouts: "I was inside all morning, housecleaning"). To aid the reader unfamiliar with the book's mythological cast of characters, I Am Hermes! begins with a pseudo team picture in which the gods and goddesses pose above their IDs; several look like good candidates for a starring role in another Gerstein book. Here's hoping there's one forthcoming. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author

Shelf Talker: This winning comics-style look at Hermes, messenger of the gods, capitalizes on the humorous aspect of his troublemaking.