Because of the Labor Day holiday, this is our last issue until Tuesday, September 6. Enjoy the long weekend!

"Independent booksellers have taken so much of my money and I'm not complaining about it. I have never not gone into a bookstore and spent all my money there! Honestly, I love it. The thing [with] independent bookstores is that you can get so many book recs and you can really find so much stuff. I tend to gravitate toward romance novels, and I have a pretty good idea of what's out there, but there are so many other things that I just don't know are out there. I usually find out through booksellers and opportunities at independent bookstores. 

"As an author, I can't even begin to thank independent booksellers for the way that they have sold my book and generally talked it up. So it's really twofold the way they have impacted me. Mostly the fact that I am poor because of all the money I’ve spent in indie bookstores, and I don't even regret it."

Dawn Braasch (l.) and Molly Coogan

Dawn Braasch, the owner of Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven, Mass., has sold the bookstore to longtime manager Molly Coogan.

"I often worried about who would buy the bookstore when it was time to retire, and whether they would love it as much as I have," Braasch wrote in a Facebook post announcing the ownership change. "Thankfully, I found that person in Molly, who has been with me for nearly nine years."

Bunch of Grapes has operated on Martha's Vineyard for more than 40 years. Braasch purchased the bookstore in 2008 from the Nelson family, for whom she'd worked as an events coordinator. Under her ownership, the store has changed locations a few times, including when it relocated to a temporary space after a fire.

"I will miss the day-to-day running of the store but am looking forward to retirement and more time with my seven grandchildren," Braasch continued. "Please stop by and wish Molly well if you are in town, and thanks from the bottom of my heart for 15 great years."

Coogan told the Martha's Vineyard Times that owning a bookstore on the island was always a dream, and now that it's happened, "it's unbelievable."

She said Braasch "has mentored me so well that any changes we've made have really been made together over the years. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor and boss."

In the U.K., independent booksellers and publishers "are urging the government to take action as rising fuel bills leave them facing mounting costs and a 'huge challenge' in the months ahead," the Bookseller reported. 

"It's worrying for everyone: the coming months are likely to be hard for many people," said Jon Woolcott, publisher and bookseller at Little Toller Books in Beaminster. "It's especially frustrating to have an absent government, and nothing beyond vague promises to help those most in need--this does nothing to help people's confidence and it's both shocking but not surprising to see such a mess. Tax cuts will not help the most vulnerable as they already pay little tax."

Tim West, owner of the All Good Bookshop in London, has not paid himself for the last two months, and "probably won't" again in August due to rising bills. "Obviously it would be nice for people to simply spend more money on books. But given the other demands on people's money this is not a likely occurrence. The other solution to our problem is to increase our customer base. But this costs money in advertising. Money we don't have.... In general I am always confident that the community will rally round in the short term, I am less confident about our long term prospects."

Heather Thomas, co-owner of Westwood Books in Sedbergh, added: "We've already seen a drop in footfall and each time a new announcement is made sales drop. So we don't have the sales coming in to cover the higher costs.... We rely entirely on the shop's income so that has a big impact at home too, where our costs are also spiraling like everyone else's. We've cut the amount of stock we are buying in, and are also looking at ways to reduce energy consumption such as dropping the temperature slightly and buying staff additional layers to wear like fleeces and jumpers".

In Bath, Mr B's Emporium owner Nic Bottomley said he and his team are "monitoring cash flow and price increases carefully, being prudent in our spending and of course doing all we can to sell as many books as we can to offset the increased cost burden.... Aside from that we'll be taking any opportunity we can to urge the government to work out how to help high street businesses, as well as individuals, as they face these sudden spikes in energy and other bills--particularly given the healthy profit-position of many of the companies who are at the other end of those bills." 

Eva Ferri, managing director of Europa Editions, observed: "Most of all we are concerned about increased costs to warehouses and bookshops, who will be heavily impacted. As for readers, the hike in their bills will eat into their disposable income and most likely result in fewer books being sold. We're also aghast that as summer draws rapidly to a close, and while EU countries are busy making contingency plans to help individuals and businesses alike, our government is nowhere to be seen."

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The Australian Publishers Association has released the results of a 'baseline' survey of the country's publishing industry undertaken by University of Melbourne researchers, and convened a Diversity & Inclusion Working Group, charged with developing an industry action plan in response to the survey findings, Books+Publishing reported. 

The Australian Publishing Industry Workforce Survey on Diversity and Inclusion found that 84% of respondents were women, with 2% identifying as non-binary or other, while 21% identify as LGBTQ+, compared with estimates of 11% in the Australian population. More than 85% of respondents hold a degree, and more than half hold at least one postgraduate degree, compared to 24% of the Australian population holding an undergraduate degree.

"The industry is largely white, including a high percentage who identify as British; less than 10% identify with an Asian culture, and less than 11% with a European (non-British) heritage," the APA reported, adding that fewer than 1% of Australian publishing industry professionals identify as First Nations. Just over 5% of respondents have a disability, compared to 9% of the Australian workforce. And while women make up the majority of the Australian publishing workforce, representation from women and non-binary people declines in more senior positions.

Regarding the results, APA president James Kellow acknowledged that "our workforce doesn't always represent the breadth of our culture. This plays into what and how we publish and the extent to which we reach, or don't reach, all potential readers.... This survey's hard data tells us we have a great deal of work ahead and provides a solid base from which we can lead change as an association, as publishing houses, and as individuals."

The working group established by the APA in response to the survey is chaired by Astrid Browne, managing director of Hardie Grant Explore. The group "will encourage participation from across the industry, with senior leaders supporting publishing staff to participate and propose ideas for action," according to the APA. --Robert Gray

PEN America will present Words on Fire: Writing, Freedom and the Future, an afternoon of "urgent public conversation on the issues that drive the world's leading free expression advocacy organization in this dire moment," on September 12 at the New-York Historical Society in Manhattan.

Originally set to feature Salman Rushdie, the event "has taken on new significance in light of the barbarous attack on the author," PEN America noted, adding that the organization "is working with those closest to Salman Rushdie to determine how the symposium can best honor his work and voice as he recovers from severe injuries in an attack chillingly linked to the themes of this event and PEN America's work."

Led by PEN America president Ayad Akhtar and CEO Suzanne Nossel, Words on Fire will "gather renowned authors who are at the forefront of fighting for truth, open discourse and unfettered storytelling," including Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Dave Eggers and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

The museum is currently hosting the special installation PEN America at 100: a Century of Defending the Written Word, featuring artifacts, photos and letters from PEN America's decades in defense of free speech.

Nominations are open for the 2022 Duende-Word BIPOC Bookseller Awards, which are presented annually to "celebrate and uplift the Black and Brown independent booksellers whose dedication to indie bookstores, and their Black, Indigenous and POC colleagues and communities, have touched and influenced countless lives."

The BIPOC Bookseller Awards, a collaboration between Duende District Bookstore and the storytelling nonprofit The Word, gives awards each year in three categories: Activism, Innovation and Leadership. The recipient of each award receives $1,000, a plaque and media attention.

The Activism Award honors "the bookseller who goes above and beyond to advocate for Black and Brown booksellers and literary representation, in their stores and communities."

The Innovation Award recognizes "the bookseller whose vision, whether entrepreneurial or programmatic, has shown us what the future of the industry should be." 

And the Leadership Award celebrates "the bookseller who has dedicated their career to supporting, uplifting, and leading Black and Brown booksellers in their stores, communities, regions, and/or nationally, fighting for systemic change for all BIPOC in the bookstore industry."

Nominations will be accepted until Monday, September 19, and booksellers can be nominated for multiple awards. More information can be found here.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation's #ReadLoveSupportBinc Challenge Campaign, which launched in June with the goal to spread gratitude and awareness, and to support local bookstores and comic shops by raising $100,000 to ensure that every qualified need continues to be met, has reached its goal. 

"Thank you to everyone who made Binc's fundraising campaign successful!" the foundation noted in its latest newsletter. "Thank you for the gifts, the TBR stack photos, and helping us get the word out. Thank you to authors Kate DiCamillo, Ann Patchett, Will Schwalbe, and Garth Stein for the matching gifts that energized so many donations. Thank you to everyone who has helped and is helping us make a difference in the lives of booksellers and comic shop employees and owners, giving them the peace of mind that empowers them to do the work they love, running the bookstores and comic shops we love."

Binc added that with the uncertain economy and torrential rain and flooding across the country, assistance inquiries from bookstore and comic shop owners and staff continue at a high pace and donations are always welcome. 

On Wednesday evening, the Book Sisters--a group of Long Island writers--reunited at Theodore's Books in Oyster Bay, N.Y., to celebrate the launch of Ellen Meister's novel Take My Husband (Mira). Pictured: (l.-r.) Susan Henderson, Carol Hoenig, Ellen Meister, Saralee Rosenberg, Debbi Honorof. (photo: Jeff Siegel)

Kit Little

Congratulations to Kit Little, the first bookseller to receive the status of Certified Professional Bookseller after having completed the four courses in the Professional Booksellers School curriculum that serve as the basis for that designation.

Little has a busy career. She heads Little Extra, a bookselling consultant firm, and is executive administrator for the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association. Earlier she worked for Towne Book Center, Collegeville, Pa., as director of marketing for more than 13 years, the last five as a remote, independent consultant.

In her NAIBA role, Little was present for all of the school's classes attending as a student while also providing tech support for the class. At one point, she juggled three concurrent courses as a student while also developing classes for and teaching in the second cohort of the event management course. (She's now an instructor in that area.) "While challenging, this was an incredibly rewarding endeavor," Little said. "With nearly 15 years of event management experience and more than 25 years of management and program development experience in retail and classroom settings, I learned new and/or honed existing skills in each course I took."

Eileen Dengler, president of the Professional Booksellers School and NAIBA's executive director, said, "Kit worked very hard these past two years. She learned a lot, she contributed even more as a student and instructor, and helped us adapt the program from a student's perspective."

The Professional Booksellers School, Inc. is an independent, education nonprofit. So far, 210 booksellers have been students in the school, with 129 receiving certifications in one or more courses.

"Late August, humidity at one thousand per cent, content to be here in the cool quiet amongst the beautiful books," Thank You Books, Birmingham, Ala., posted on Instagram. 

At HarperCollins:

Laina Adler has been promoted to v-p, deputy publisher for HarperOne, and will become more involved in acquisitions for platform-based titles while continuing to lead the HarperOne marketing and publicity team. Adler has been with HarperCollins for nearly 20 years.

Tara Parsons has been promoted to v-p, deputy publisher for Amistad, HarperCollins Español and HarperVia. Formerly at Simon & Schuster, Amazon and Harlequin, Parsons returned to HarperCollins in 2018, building and overseeing the marketing departments for Amistad, HarperCollins Español and HarperVia, while also editing select titles.

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman (Kensington).

Actor and author Gabriel Byrne will bring Walking with Ghosts, a solo show adapted from his memoir, to Broadway this fall. Playbill reported that the 75-performance run will begin October 18 at the Music Box Theatre, with opening night set for October 27. Lonny Price is directing. The production premiered at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre before playing Edinburgh International Festival, both earlier this year, and a West End run is set to run September 7-16. 

"What an honor to be on Broadway again, especially in a glorious venue like the Music Box," said Byrne. "It was a real joy to hear laughter in a theatre during the premiere run of Walking with Ghosts in Dublin. I've chosen to be honest and unflinching in the recounting of a life from working class Dublin to Hollywood. Although rooted in the local, I hope the play has a universal resonance."

Craig Gillespie "has lined up an all-star cast of faces familiar to the director" for his next project, a film adaptation of Ben Mezrich's book The Antisocial Network. Deadline reported that Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan and Pete Davidson are set to star in Black Bear Pictures' Dumb Money, with Gillespie directing. Rebecca Angelo & Lauren Schuker Blum are adapting with Ryder Picture Company's Aaron Ryder, Black Bear's Teddy Schwarzman and Gillespie producing.

Principal photography will begin in October on Dumb Money, which "offers a gripping portrayal of how a loosely affiliated group of private investors and internet trolls on a subreddit called WallStreetBets took down one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street, firing the first shot in a revolution that threatened to upend the establishment."

"Black Bear has diamond hands for Dumb Money," Schwarzman said. "Lauren & Rebecca have masterfully adapted Ben Mezrich's exceptional book detailing one of the greatest underdog stories of our time. Craig Gillespie is a tremendous leader with exceptional vision and has assembled a tremendous ensemble. We're honored to partner with him, Aaron Ryder, and this terrific team in front and behind the camera to bring Dumb Money to audiences everywhere."

Jacqueline Auld won the £2,500 (about $2,980) Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, which "celebrates the outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from, or whose work celebrates, north-east England," for her story "The Children of Gaia," the Bookseller reported. In addition to cash, the prize is designed "to support the completion of her work, and funding towards a year's membership of the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors." 

Now in its fourth year, the prize was founded by author L.J. Ross and is sponsored by her publishing imprint Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries. The aim of the honor is "to provide financial support and help build and maintain creative confidence for new, emerging and established writers in the crime and thriller genre," the Bookseller noted.

Ella King is a Singaporean author living in London. A graduate of Faber Academy's novel-writing program, she has worked as a corporate lawyer and for anti-human trafficking and domestic violence charities. Her debut novel is Bad Fruit (Astra House, August 23, 2022), a portrayal of a toxic mother-daughter relationship and a young woman's search for truth and liberation.   

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

Girl on the cusp of womanhood uncovers the roots of her mother's destructive behavior and the shattering secrets at the centre of her own childhood.

On your nightstand now:

I'm writing my second novel about a grown-up Lolita struggling with motherhood, so these books are both bedtime reading and research: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay, a deeply personal, urgent memoir on the impact of trauma on the body; Vertigo & Ghost by Fiona Benson, which includes the Zeus poems examining the rage and devastation experienced by women in classic Greek mythology; and What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer, raw and honest poetry on the challenges and aspirations of modern-day motherhood.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (the U.S. version is called The Golden Compass), which my grandfather bought for me. Suddenly, I was immersed in this incredible setting where people's souls manifested as talking animals and following the story of this fierce, wild girl whose sole virtue is being an exceptionally good liar. Stunning. Many years later, I went to a book signing with Philip Pullman, who wrote "a thousand blessings" to me in his dedication. I almost cried.

Your top five authors:

Amy Tan for normalizing the Asian American experience, Ocean Vuong for the beauty of his prose and poetry, Hanya Yanagihara for daring to write a character who doesn't recover from trauma, Elena Ferrante for capturing the claustrophobia of talent in women and Deborah Levy for observations about mothers and motherhood that cut to the bone.  

Book you've faked reading:

My husband is a great reader of classics and, whilst I enjoy some of the classic female authors (Eliot, Austen, Brontë), I struggle to get more than a few pages into Russian literature.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Meg Mason's Sorrow and Bliss, which I finished on a train journey from London and back, utterly captivated by the honesty, humour and roller-coaster ride that is Martha. Now, more than ever, it's so important that fiction fearlessly address taboo subjects like mental health. And, obviously, I'm in love with Patrick, along with thousands of other fans.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I confess my problem with covers: when I love a book, I buy different versions, a sort of declaration of my feelings. Case in point is Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which I love because of its challenge to traditional understandings of innocence, shame, sex and trauma. I have three versions--a complete set of Thomas Hardy's works, which I tell myself is far too heavy to read; a paperback version; and a beautiful 1974 edition I bought in Dorset near Thomas Hardy's cottage.

Book you hid from your parents:

My parents took a divided approach to books. My father loved reading. We spent many happy Saturday afternoons together browsing bookstores, but my mother felt the opposite. She was a tiger mum who thought "stories" were frivolous unless they were about business or law or management (except for John Grisham, who fictionalized the corporate world), so I hid most of my reading from her. My sister and I had a wardrobe that lit up when you opened it; we'd pretend to go to bed early and read under the strip light.   

Book that changed your life:

Amy Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife. Not as well-known as The Joy Luck Club and far darker, The Kitchen God's Wife is the closest to Amy Tan's mother's own experience of surviving during World War II. Mothers and daughters trying desperately to communicate across cultures, buried secrets spawning fiercely held misunderstandings, the brutal reality of domestic violence during war--this book not only reflected my grandmother's experience in China but also made me realize my family's story wasn't unique and that I wasn't alone in my separateness and connectedness to both white and Asian culture.

Favorite line from a book:

For me, no one but Ocean Vuong captures the violence and beauty of being raised in the legacy of war. These lines from On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous devastate me every time: "All this time I told myself we were born from war--but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty. Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence--but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it."

Five books you'll never part with:

Being an Asian female reader can be a lonely experience. Books that speak to any part of that are few and far between. The books that do achieve this, however, I read over and over, refusing to buy new copies when the covers fall off or when the pages are waved from reading in the bath. Because you don't throw away books like Jing-Jing Lee's How We Disappeared, which reflects your own family's experience during a forgotten war; Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, which observes the tensions and misunderstandings between first-generation Asian mothers and their daughters; the essays in East Side Voices, edited by Helena Lee, and The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla, which challenge me to find my unique identity and voice within predominately white culture; and Lisa Taddeo's Three Women, which is so painfully honest about the female collision of sex and desire.

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

Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. As a teenager, I read Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre before Wide Sargasso Sea and never gave a passing thought to the monstrous woman in the attic. Wide Sargasso Sea, the feminist prequel to Jane Eyre, was my first taste of startling, lush prose, of the subversiveness of untold stories, of women finding power in the midst of their victimhood, of the fact that "there is always the other side, always."

Fragrant, delectable homemade Pakistani dishes are central to Rabia Chaudry's touchingly warm and intimate narrative in Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat and Family. A woman who grew up besieged by harmful comments about her weight and appearance, Chaudry is an uplifting storyteller and her humor-laden anecdotes balance the underlying gravity of her story with grace and skill.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Chaudry moved with her parents to Northern Virginia when her veterinarian father was offered a job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1970s. Misguided efforts to make their scrawny toddler look like her American counterparts included feeding her two bottles of half and half daily and letting her gnaw on frozen butter sticks. Her family discovered the U.S. through their taste buds, astounded by the bounty, affordability and convenience of fast food offerings. A neighbor introduced them to the cheesy deliciousness of Italian-American cuisine.

As an overweight girl with a dark complexion, Chaudry was constantly reminded of her "future unmarriageability" by an immigrant community preoccupied with their daughters' marriage prospects. She got married early, while in college, to an unsuitable boy in an effort to disprove the naysayers. Food was Chaudry's family's love language; her cherished memories include restaurant hopping with her feuding uncles, feasting before sunrise and after sundown during Ramadan, and drinking copious amounts of steaming chai.

Chaudry is an attorney, podcast host and author of Adnan's Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After 'Serial'. An advocate for Adnan Syed, the young man convicted of murdering his high school ex-girlfriend in 1999, Chaudry was an executive producer of an HBO documentary based on her book. Being in the media spotlight made her self-conscious about her weight and frustrated that she couldn't take control of her own body. Eventually, her path toward improved health and fitness and inner contentment, plagued with many false starts, came with the hard-won wisdom of someone accustomed to being criticized for her appearance. It turns out that, for Chaudry, wresting control of her own narrative from those eager to pass judgment ultimately opened the door to self-acceptance.

Readers of Chaudry's memoir are in for a treat at the very end of Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: she shares easy-to-follow recipes for some of her favorite foods, complete with the extra touches that have made the author a cooking legend among her family and friends. --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer

Shelf Talker: A Pakistani American lawyer struggling with her weight chronicles with humor and sensitivity her path toward inner contentment and shares recipes for chai, ghee and the Pakistani dishes she loves.

I guess there's always the pull of more to do--flags to fly and
words to scratch into the world's longest stretch of wet concrete.

--From the poem "Wish List--Permadeath" in Chris Tse's collection Super Model Minority

New Zealand's Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day celebrated 25 years last week, noting beforehand that "the magic and excitement of poetry pervades the day, with the poetry community turning out in droves to discover New Zealand poets, share poetry, and experience the joy of the written and spoken word.... Poetry will appear on beaches, on streets, in hospitals, and on public transport! Bookshops, marae, libraries, universities and schools will host events such as book launches, poetry slams, readings, workshops, open mic nights, and performances." 

Chris Tse

Among this year's highlights, the National Library named Chris Tse the New Zealand Poet Laureate, succeeding David Eggleton. Te Pouhuaki National Librarian Rachel Esson described the appointment as recognition of "a poet leading a generational and cultural shift in the reach and appreciation of poetry in Aotearoa."

"The number 13 is a lucky number in my family, so it feels very auspicious to be named the 13th New Zealand Poet Laureate," Tse said. "Stepping into this role as a queer, Asian writer is an incredible and life-changing opportunity. I'm thrilled and honored to be following in the footsteps of some of our literary greats. New Zealand's poetry scene is thrumming with diverse and innovative voices on both the page and the stage, and I can't wait to use my tenure as Poet Laureate to help people discover the riches of this scene."

The National Library's Steampunk Poetry Machine also made news. Stuff NZ reported that the "wardrobe-sized poetry-spewing machine that looks like a steampunk Tardis has been set up at the National Library to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Papers Past, the digital archive of New Zealand and Pacific print publications. The machine, complete with flashing lights and an old thermal printer inside, is 'a little bit like a time machine,' according to the National Library's digital experience director Tim Kong."

Kiwi indie booksellers were enthusiastic #NationalPoetryDay participants, of course, including: 

Wardini Books, Havelock North: "Unleash the Power of Poetry! This Friday is National Poetry Day and we have things you can do! Amy has created a Dada poem (a random chance poem) using words from the first chapter of The Traitor and the Thief by [co-owner] Gareth Ward--and, she's got all the bits and bobs so that you can have a go too. See you this week--who knows what we shall unleash?" And: "We are thrilled to present this short film featuring the winning poets of the Wardini Book Poetry Competition 2022.... An extra special thank you to our cinematographer, the legendary Peter Janes." 

Unity Books, Wellington: "Happy @nzpoetryday!!!! To celebrate, alongside the @nzsocietyofauthors we are hosting an open mic night! Poetry of any subject or scope and authors of any language are welcome to attend and share their work (and eat a few nibbles)."

Schrӧdinger's Books, Petone: "Thanks so much to everyone who braved the cold last night to come to our second event celebrating #NationalPoetryDay we couldn't have asked for a better crowd! It was an absolute delight to host 5 wonderful writers from around Te Whanganui-a-Tara, who read beautifully!"

Vic Books, Kelburn: "The power of poetry & people! How wonderful to have our six guest poets Leah Dodd, Anahera Gildea, Nick Ascroft, Dani Yourukova, Joy Holley & National School Poetry winner Joshua Toumu'a share their work on @NZPoetryDay."

Good Books, Wellington: "GOOD BOOKS is celebrating Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day with a Magnetic Poetry Competition. Create a new poem in-store with our custom-made, very limited-edition magnetic poetry sets or enter online."

Scorpio Books, Christcurch: "Friday 26th is @nzpoetryday--a celebration of the incredible and diverse range of poetry in Aotearoa. It's a great opportunity to read some poetry! Or speak only in rhyme! Or catch a live poetry event! And of course, come visit us for a poetry recommendation!"

Marsden Books, Wellington: "We have a super selection of poetry books including one unique to our great suburb! Karori Park and Other Poems by John Davidson. These are some of our favorites."

Books & Co., Otaki: "It's National Poetry Day! Huge congratulations to @chrisjtse who is our new Poet Laureate! Check out some NZ poetry today.... Happy weekend shopping and reading!"

Wardini Books also offered "mahoosive congratulations to Chris Tse on becoming Aotearoa's new Poet Laureate! Look out for news of Chris's inauguration which will happen in Hawke's Bay next year. Yippee!"

And in the Spinoff, books editor Claire Mabey wrote: "Tse has already succeeded in expanding what poetry is and can do in Aotearoa. To me this laureateship is a joyous ascension of, in Tse's words, a community 'thrumming with diverse and innovative voices on both the page and the stage.' I've long believed that Aotearoa is one of the most generative poetry communities in the world. Chris Tse as poet laureate tells that story because he will take that community on this ride with him in inventive and, most probably, visually stunning ways. He will turn more of us onto the sheer magic of poetry. It's just the way he is."