Yesterday #DignidadLiteraria and @PresenteOrg--among the major critics of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins (Flatiron Books) and a lack of diversity in publishing--announced on Twitter that they had met with the leadership of Macmillan, parent company of Flatiron, and secured a commitment for Macmillan to "transform their publishing practices to include substantial increases in Latinx titles and staff, company wide." They added that Macmillan committed to "developing an action plan to address these objectives within 90 days" and that it will "regroup within 30 days with #DignidadLiteraria and other Latinx groups to assess progress."

In a statement, #DignidadLiteraria and Presente said that they "appreciate Macmillan's stated intentions to work as a leader to address the incredible dearth of presence and opportunity when it comes to Latinx professionals, editors and writers in the U.S. publishing industry.

"But today's announcement is just the first step in what must ultimately be a seachange in publishing. This campaign is not simply about Flatiron Books, or Macmillan USA. It's about seeking change that reverberates through the entire industry so the shelves of U.S. bookstores and libraries reflect its people.

"Today we urge leaders across the publishing industry at-large not to wait until their hand is forced to actuate these changes. We urge government leaders to investigate the appalling homogeneity in the publishing industry and we urge writers and readers to demand greater power, presence, and visibility for Latinx voices."

Whyte's Booksmith, San Anselmo, Calif., has been put up for sale again by owner Michael Whyte, who founded the store in 1980. The Pacific Sun reported that Whyte, who had previously put the business on the market in 2018, "has a popularity problem" because his bookstore "is so adored that its fans don't want him to sell it."

"I had a couple hundred customers come in and say, 'Don't you dare sell our bookstore,' " Whyte recalled. "Apparently, over 39 years, it's become more or less community owned--at least in the mind of the public."

Now Whyte is attempting to sell again with one new stipulation: He will sell only to buyers who will continue to operate the shop as-is. He also plans to leave the store on the market until it is sold. Pacific Sun wrote that Whyte's Booksmith has been profitable for its entire 39-year run, and the Craigslist advertisement has an asking price of $250,000.

Whyte credits part of his store's success to what he described as the "conscious community" of San Anselmo, where a good bookstore offers a much-needed gathering space.

"It's part of what enriches a small town," he added. "They don't have a lot of places to go and run into friends... [a bookstore] is a very easy place to strike up a conversation. Two people might be standing at a book table--one is holding a book and the other says 'I thought it was great' or 'if you like that, try this'.... Your local bookstore kind of has just about everything that you'd want."

Kevin Noble Maillard (photo: Chris Owyoung)

Last week, Kevin Noble Maillard won the Robert F. Sibert Medal for "the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English" for his picture book Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal and published by Roaring Brook Press.

Congratulations! Fry Bread won the Sibert Medal, and it is also one of the Honor titles of the American Indian Youth Literature Awards, chosen by the American Indian Library Association (AILA). How are you feeling?

Exceedingly great, because these are the first professional or achievement awards I've ever won in my life, if you don't count my college dean's list or the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Fishing Derby.

Fry Bread is your first children's book; what made you want to write for children?

Yes, this is my first picture book. I wanted to write a book for my own children, and maybe some other Native kids that normally don't see themselves in books. When my oldest child was a baby, I was searching for board books to read to him and I kept coming up empty-handed. There were probably three titles out there that were modern stories written by Native folks. All the rest were historical Thanksgiving stories written by white people. I was so appalled and, frankly, mad, that I decided to write my own.

These books have such a strong impact on how we see ourselves and how we see others. Representation in children's books is analogous to representation in film and television for adults. Who is being seen and who is being pushed aside and, most importantly, who is telling the story? For Native people, the story is usually told by white people and the narrative is not right: amicable relations, land sharing, friendships. It's like staring inside a mirror and asking, "Who's the fairest of them all?" then changing every single answer to "manifest destiny!" And that's just really not the honest truth, or anything remotely close to it.

This book has two distinct sections: one that is lushly illustrated and feels experiential, the other more teaching and text oriented. Do you think this format helped make Fry Bread a Sibert pick? Are there other aspects of Fry Bread that you think made it "the most distinguished informational book published in English" in 2019?

I'm a law professor during the day, so I'm a researcher by trade. I also write a lot for the New York Times, so I'm used to translating dense information into approachable text. Writing the back matter for me was like writing academic scholarship with footnotes, a bibliography and peer review. So much peer review. I really think there were at least 40 edits to the back matter, and I've been through some really extensive editing processes as a professor and journalist. I went through so many rounds with the editors... and we would debate, debate and debate some more about the appropriate word to use. Most people don't know this, but there are so many more people than the author and illustrator behind the book scenes. We had two editors, two readers and three fact checkers. You know how the credits roll at the end of a film--even a short one--and there are hundreds of names of people that worked on the product? That's what this book was, and there were so many people contributing to the substantive content of the pages. I did a Ph.D. in political theory in addition to my law degree, and this back and forth was really familiar to me, like an interdisciplinary dissertation committee.

Our outside reader presented some incredibly difficult questions that really forced me to think through each section of the back matter. All of these editors and readers pushed me to the next level, like the smiliest but super-demanding personal trainers. I'm pretty sure [editor] Connie Hsu takes notes from the Mickey character in Rocky. I'd get an e-mail every few days that would say something like, "Should we add...." But for months! This was such a dialectical process that I felt I deserved tenure when we finally finished it.

Has your relationship with Fry Bread the book and fry bread the food changed from the beginnings of creating this book to receiving this award?

Not at all. I'm still the fry bread lady in my family. It's not going to cook itself.

But the bonus side of it now is that I can feel more comfortable being an expert on the topic, because I always used to feel that my recipe was too different.

How does it feel to have your work recognized by the American Indian Library Association?

Amazing. I'm very conscious of inside-community opinion, especially with Native readers. It's hard to please everyone, but with Native topics, there are a lot of ways that things can be misrepresented. Having a community of Indigenous educators who love books, understand Native history and, most of all, are picky about fry bread recognize and celebrate the book feels pretty darn great.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell Shelf Awareness readers?

I still think about being in second grade in Tulsa, and the teacher calling Marsha Berryhill's name for "Best Story Award" instead of mine. I'm sure my face looked like a side-eye emoji.  I remember thinking that one day I would write something that would get all the teachers' attention. It took about 40 years, but I succeeded. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness

Noting that "we've got three different models here of how we've introduced food and beverages into the bookstore," Donna Paz Kaufman of Paz & Associates and Story & Song bookstore bistro in Amelia Island, Fla., introduced her fellow panelists at the Wi15 education session "Successfully Managing a Café in Your Bookstore": Nicole Magistro of the Bookworm of Edwards in Edwards, Colo.; Carrie Morris of Booka Bookshop in Oswestry, Shropshire, U.K.; and restaurant industry consultant Henry Pertman of Total Image Creative.

Carrie Morris, Henry Pertman, Donna Paz Kaufman, Nicole Magistro

The Bookworm's café opened in 2007 and features 35 seats inside and 25 on the patio, which can be used about seven months of the year. Crepes, salads, soups and smoothies, as well as coffee and tea, are served, and the café accounts for 25%-28%, depending on the month, of overall business. Magistro recalled that the Bookworm had been a bookstore for a decade before launching the café because "we wanted to be an indispensable community gathering place, we wanted a place to gather that was not a bar."

Booka Bookshop is located in a small market town and has been operating for 10 years in a 2,000-square-foot space, including a café that can serve up to 25 people and accounts for 15% of total business. "When we opened, it was always with a view to having a café," Morris said. "It's a very simple, pared back operation. We serve cake and coffee, and even though it's a simple operation, it does contribute around 16% of our turnover.... There is the potential to do more, but there are also implications that come with that."

The bistro at Story & Song serves breakfast and lunch in an open-air courtyard "so we don't pay rent. It's just part of the property," Kaufman noted, adding that her business has three primary segments: "Over 50% of our business is retail, then add another 22%-26% from the bistro's everyday business, and the upstairs art gallery has become a venue and so now we have a catering business... And the margins are good; I'm happy with that, too."

Kaufman also observed that one thing she has seen from their consulting work is "you absolutely must acknowledge you are running two different businesses that reach two different industries. So as we have benchmarks in the book industry through ABACUS, there are different benchmarks in the food and beverage industry. Those figures, on QuickBooks or whatever you use for accounting, must be separated."

In studying bookstores with cafes, Magistro said she has found that most were not providing an experience through their website to make the whole brand visible. "And similarly, they weren't meeting the customer where they are, in places like online dining guides and review sites. That's a lot more important on the restaurant side of the business. You've got to have the Yelp and TripAdvisor listings. Perhaps you need to be on OpenTable taking reservations. Your menu page should be updated and fresh and highly visible. These things are critical on the restaurant side."

Conceding he didn't know the book industry well enough yet to make a specific recommendations, Pertman advised that the hospitality field is growing fast and bookstores "are not going to sell more books, so moving forward the part that has to grow is the hospitality segment.... You should really posture yourself in any way you can to get your share of that."

Magistro challenged the theory: "I don't know that that's true. We sat through a presentation this morning [Ryan Rafaelli's breakfast keynote] about the rise of independent bookselling and the benefits of being where we are in terms of community and curation and expertise. I'm not willing to give that up.... We don't want to devalue the book. We want to add value and that's the whole reason for us having the café, which helps people to linger, relax, lose themselves, browse awhile and buy books."

"It seems that what's consistent among the three of us who have cafés in the store is that we'd do it again," Kaufman concluded. "Yes, the learning curve is there. It takes some careful management and you've got to worry a lot, but it brings in people.... I think our bookstore wouldn't be as successful without the café and the café wouldn't be as successful without the bookstore." --Robert Gray

Sir Roger Scruton, a British philosopher and controversial public intellectual who "dedicated himself to nurturing beauty, 're-enchanting the world' and giving intellectual rigor to conservatism," died January 12, the Guardian reported. He was 75.

Scruton wrote more than 50 nonfiction books, including works on Spinoza, Kant, Wittgenstein and the history of philosophy; and four novels, as well as columns on wine, hunting and current affairs. The Guardian wrote that he "exemplified Nietzsche's aphorism that 'every philosophy is a sort of memoir.' His was spun out of his life--often agonizingly."

His books include Kant: A Very Short Introduction (2001); Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously About the Planet (2012); England: An Elegy (2000); The Aesthetics of Music (1997); Sexual Desire (1986); The Meaning of Conservatism (1980); An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture (1998); and Thinkers of the New Left (1985), which was later expanded as Fools, Frauds and Firebrands (2015).

His agent, Caroline Michel, told the Bookseller: "A world without Roger Scruton is unimaginable. Before Christmas we were due to meet as he had so many ideas for new books. His curiosity was endless, his intellect, towering, as well as being the loveliest of men. He was revered internationally and adored within the agency here at PFD. We will all miss him."

Robin Baird-Smith, Scruton's publisher at Bloomsbury, observed: "After 25 years, I have now published 15 of his books--all in print. He became the backbone of my publishing life and until recently he and I were still discussing new projects. I shall miss him sorely as will his countless readers and admirers. He was a major influence on the ethos of the Bloomsbury Continuum imprint."

In 2016, he was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honors List, "the same year he was awarded the Polish Lech Kaczynski Foundation's Medal for Courage and Integrity for supporting dissidents behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War," the Bookseller noted.

Debuting on this week's New York Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list at #14 is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which was released by Milkweed Editions in paperback five years ago (and in hardcover in 2013).

"I love seeing that little #1 next to the title, referring to its first week on the list," Joanna Demkiewicz, marketing director at Milkweed Editions, said. "We're moved by its inclusion because it's so obviously related to indie booksellers' enthusiasm for the book. At Winter Institute, countless booksellers told us that they simply can't keep Braiding Sweetgrass on the shelves; some have it flagged to order with every order they place. As an indie press, we don't expect to make the Times bestseller list, and, in fact, we've never made it before.... We're really moved by this, and so excited for Robin."

Pictured: (l.-r.) Bailey Hutchinson, bookseller & events coordinator at Milkweed Books; Lee Oglesby, managing editor at Milkweed Editions; Demkiewicz; and Shannon Blackmer, sales & marketing associate at Milkweed Editions.

At the beginning of January, more than 100 rare volumes were stolen from Passages Bookshop in Portland, Ore., in a late-night burglary, with thieves smashing display cases and forcing the store to close for two weeks.

In an update on Facebook last week, owner David Abel expressed his "thanks to the very many people who have sent messages of support, sympathy, and indignation after the news of the break-in and burglary at Passages four weeks ago. Your responses helped me keep my spirits up through the painful process of cleaning up, assessing the loss, making repairs, and reopening. I am deeply grateful.... I was astonished by the reaction: the original post reached 17,000 people, and the story was covered by two local newspapers, three television stations, and a monthly magazine."

On Saturday, he posted details of an offer to help from Patti Smith: "A couple of weeks after the break-in, on a Tuesday afternoon, I received a call from New York. The name didn't register, I just heard 'Smith,' and the caller explained that she had seen Doug Perry's piece about the incident in the Oregonian. In the week after the story appeared, I'd gotten a few crank calls and e-mails, so I was a little wary. But when she said she had read that one of her books had been taken, and that she couldn't replace the missing Warhol but would be happy to send a box of signed copies of her books, I realized that it was Patti Smith calling.

"I was stunned. 'That's so kind,' I said. 'Well, I really love bookstores,' she replied. After a brief conversation, I texted her the address of the shop, and earlier this week a box arrived, with pristine signed copies of first editions of her current books, several of which I hadn't seen before. While they last, these very special copies will be available. I'm thinking of them as kindness copies."

Passages Bookshop has also posted a list on its website of most of the books stolen and asked that it be shared with "booksellers, librarians and so on, who you imagine might possibly encounter such books for sale."

Congratulations to Back of Beyond Books, Moab, Utah, which is celebrating its 30th birthday this month. The store said in its February newsletter: "We are not throwing a big birthday party. Rather we invite you to simply drop in this month and say 'hello.' Buy a book or two and quietly celebrate with us 30 years of bookselling in Moab. Tell us your favorite Back of Beyond Books story."

One of our favorite Back of Beyond Books stories is that of owner Andy Nettell, which he recounted in the newsletter. Noting that other than having a great-grandfather who briefly ran a feed shop in South Dakota, Nettell said no one in his family has retail experience and asked, "So how did I end up with a bookstore?" His answer: "Almost by accident. I was a career ranger for the National Park Service, landing at Canyonlands National Park in 1989. Transferred to Arches in 1994. My hobby at the time was producing folk concerts and a weekly folk/acoustic music program on KZMU. When, in 1999, our little CD store in town announced their closing, I panicked. Where on earth would I get my tunes? So I bought Music of Moab. I had no idea how to run a little retail store let alone understand a balance sheet and read a P&L statement. But I worked hard and made decisions from my heart and slowly turned around Music of Moab into a profitable business.

"And I read the tea leaves and saw digital music as the future and soon sold Music of Moab. During my years working at Arches National Park, I worked one or two nights a week at Back of Beyond Books. I loved being surrounded by like-minded people and a world of books. So in 2001, I opened Arches Book Company, right across the street from Back of Beyond. I did all I could to complement Back of Beyond by offering items that BoBB did not sell. Romance novels, magazines, genre fiction, installing a coffee bar and roasting our own coffee beans. Still had no idea how to read a Profit and Loss Statement, but simply led first with the heart, then with the head. In 2004, Back of Beyond was put on the market and I pulled off the purchase, with a little help from friends.

"Now as BoBB celebrates 30 years, I look back and marvel at my naivete as a businessman, yet quietly applaud at what has been accomplished."

Theresa Collier has been promoted to assistant director of publicity and marketing at Artisan Books. She was previously senior manager, publicity & marketing.

---

At Doubleday:

Michael Goldsmith has been named director of publicity. He has been at Doubleday for six years.

Elena Hershey has joined Doubleday as assistant director of publicity. She had been at Putnam for seven years, most recently as publicity manager.

Tricia Cave has joined Doubleday as senior publicist. She formerly worked at Flatiron Books.

Hannah Engler has been promoted to marketing associate.

Daniela Ayuso will join the team in March as assistant manager, digital marketing.

Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick (Penguin Press).

Today:
Fresh Air: Eilene Zimmerman, author of Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy (Random House, $27, 9780525511007).

Tomorrow:
Rachael Ray: Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons and Justine Simmons, authors of Old School Love: And Why It Works (Dey Street, $26.99, 9780062939722).

"Movie theaters aren't throwing away their shot to have Hamilton on the big screen," Variety noted in reporting that Disney is bringing a film of Lin-Manuel Miranda's stage hit, with the original Broadway cast, to movie theaters October 15, 2021. Hamilton director Thomas Kail filmed the stage show before the original Broadway cast members began to depart. The musical was inspired by Ron Chernow's 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton.

"Lin-Manuel Miranda created an unforgettable theater experience and a true cultural phenomenon, and it was for good reason that Hamilton was hailed as an astonishing work of art," said Disney CEO and chairman Robert Iger. "All who saw it with the original cast will never forget that singular experience. And we're thrilled to have the opportunity to share this same Broadway experience with millions of people around the world."

The original Broadway cast includes Miranda as Alexander Hamilton; Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson; Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr; Christopher Jackson as George Washington; Jonathan Groff as King George III; Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler; and Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton.

Miranda added: "I fell in love with musical storytelling growing up with the legendary Howard Ashman-Alan Menken Disney collaborations--The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin. I'm so proud of what Tommy Kail has been able to capture in this filmed version of Hamilton--a live theatrical experience that feels just as immediate in your local movie theater. We're excited to partner with Disney to bring the original Broadway company of Hamilton to the largest audience possible."

Finalists have been named for the 25th annual Audie Awards, sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association. Winners of the awards will be announced at the Audie Awards Gala in New York City on March 2 that will be hosted by author and CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca. In addition, a lifetime achievement award will go to Stephen King.

The finalists for the Audiobook of the Year are:

Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner, narrated by Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown, Denise Gough and a full cast (Penguin Random House Audio)

Becoming, written and narrated by Michelle Obama (Penguin Random House Audio)

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, narrated by Meryl Streep and a full cast (Penguin Random House Audio)
 
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, narrated by Tom Hanks (HarperAudio)

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff, narrated by a full cast with Holter Graham (Simon & Schuster Audio)

The Testaments: The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, narrated by Ann Dowd, Bryce Dallas Howard, Mae Whitman, Derek Jacobi, Tantoo Cardinal and Margaret Atwood (Penguin Random House Audio)

To see the nominees in the other 23 categories, click here.

The Midwest Independent Booksellers Association has selected its Midwest Connections Picks for February. Under this marketing program, the association and member stores promote booksellers' handselling favorites that have a strong Midwest regional appeal.

Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham (Catapult, $26, 9781948226561). "Twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike are enjoying a relatively comfortable life in Lagos in 1996. Then their mother loses her job due to political strife, and the family, facing poverty, becomes drawn into the New Church, an institution led by a charismatic pastor who is not shy about worshipping earthly wealth."

Everywhere You Don't Belong by Gabriel Bump (Algonquin, $25.95, 9781616208790). "Everywhere You Don't Belong is an alternately witty and heartbreaking debut novel about a young black man born on the South Side of Chicago. Raised by his civil rights-era grandmother, Claude McKay Love copes with abandonment, violence, riots, failed love, and societal pressures--and discovers how hard it is to leave his hometown behind."

Twenty by Debra Landwehr Engle (Kensington, $15.95, 9781496723574). "Twenty begins as 55-year-old Meg is reeling from a series of calamities, including divorce and the death of her mother. Just as she hits an all-time low, something magical happens that allows her to begin rediscovering the love, friendship and joy that's been missing from her life. Both a heartwarming story and a catalyst for inspiration, Twenty fearlessly tackles depression, grief and regret."

Martin McLean, Middle School Queen by Alyssa Zaczek (Sterling, $16.95, 9781454935704). "Martin McLean has always been surrounded by people who can express themselves, but he's not great at speaking up unless he's at a Mathletes competition. Then his Tío Billy introduces him to the world of drag, inspiring Martin to create a fabulous drag queen alter ego."

In this high-concept second novel, Margarita Montimore's (Asleep from Day) heroine experiences her life out of order in a smart, funny, time-hopping journey around the last four decades.

On New Year's Eve in 1982, 18-year-old Oona Lockhart faces a life-changing decision: take a semester off from college to tour with boyfriend Dale and their band, or seize an amazing opportunity to study abroad in London. When midnight strikes, marking both a new year and Oona's 19th birthday, the choice becomes the least of her worries. Instead of 1983 and her 19-year-old body, Oona finds herself in 2015, trapped in a world and body she doesn't recognize. As her personal assistant Kenzie tells her, "You're fifty-one on the outside, but on the inside, you still have the mind and memories of yourself at nineteen. So it's like you've swapped bodies. Only with yourself. At a different age."

Oona will go on to live her life out of chronological order, leaping forward and backward through time each birthday. The dazzling high-tech world of 2015 gives way to the drug-drenched early '90s club scene, and Oona struggles to find her footing anew each year. Despite usually finding a letter left by her previous year's self, she struggles to adjust to surprises like finding herself married to a stranger or in an argument over events that haven't happened to her yet. Throughout the chaos, her mother, Madeleine, remains her touchstone, but she also keeps a secret that will change Oona's entire out-of-order life forever.

Anchored in its disparate time periods by pop culture, fashion and a few historical references, this coming-of-ages tale focuses purely on the personal. Like the average person, Oona spends too much time managing her closest relationships to influence world events. She may know portions of her future, but she seems powerless to rewrite her fate, aside from skillfully playing the stock market. Though living in scrambled chronological order may seem an unusual problem, Oona's plight will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like a stranger in their own life when confronted by choices made at a different age. Despite her frequent at-sea moments, though, Oona repeatedly manages to take control of the time she is given and make a home for herself in any year. Montimore's meditation on what always changes and what never will sparkles with hope and heart, perfect for readers who love a quirky, thought-provoking tale. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Shelf Talker: A woman lives her life out of chronological order, decade-hopping from the 1980s to the 2010s in Montimore's light-hearted but thought-provoking second novel.

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

1. Inappropriate by Vi Keeland
2. Forever Freed (Forever Bluegrass Book 13) by Kathleen Brooks
3. Crossing the Line (Hot Jocks Book 4) by Kendall Ryan
4. Herd That by Lani Lynn Vale
5. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
6. Kerrick by Dale Mayer
7. Making You Mine: Knox and Aubrey by Melissa Foster
8. Riven Knight (Tin Gypsy Book 2) by Devney Perry
9. Bad Boys After Dark: Carson by Melissa Foster

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]