Allison Hill

Yesterday morning ABA CEO Allison Hill greeted attendees by saying, "You made it!

"Three years of a pandemic, international shutdowns, a supply chain breakdown, a labor shortage, the threat of a recession, and odds are that your flight was delayed getting here, but you made it. And we're so glad that you did. As my grandma used to say, y'all are a sight for sore eyes.

"I last saw many of you in Baltimore at Winter Institute in January 2020--it was just six weeks before I started this job and seven weeks before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. When I spoke then about the challenges that lay ahead for independent bookstores I neglected to mention the pandemic.

"It's been a long three years with challenges and heartbreak and loss and hard work like we'd never seen before. And yet here you are, your bookstores survived, in fact they grew stronger--forged by fire. And some of you even opened bookstores during the pandemic. Which is a whole other level of badass.

"When I thought about what to say to kick off Winter Institute, I wanted to offer inspiration. And then I realized that this is the inspiration. Us coming together, you all being here--this is inspiring. Inspiration is why we come together. It's why we have Winter Institute.

"So knowing that the well may be dangerously low after the last few years, my hope for this week is that you find inspiration in each other--that you fill the well again--and I hope that this week's program inspires you to go back and work on your business, take on big challenges, and reinvigorate the great work that you do in the world of connecting readers and books, championing debut and diverse and beloved authors, and creating community. Because the world needs the inspiration of independent bookstores."

Members of the #BookstoreSquad ("Annoyingly delightful bookish shenanigans!") on TikTok, previously acquainted through their popular social media accounts, happily convened in person: (from l.) Melody Wukitch, Park Books, Severna Park, Md.; Bob Lingle, Good Neighbor Bookstore, Lakewood, N.Y.; Tory Hall, Chapters Books and Gifts, Seward, Neb.; Nicole Lintemuth, Bette's Pages, Lowell, Mich.

Sales reps shared their upcoming titles at the Rep Picks session, rotating among the tables filled with booksellers for 15-minute presentations.

Third grade teacher turned librarian turned "Ambassador of School Libraries" John Schu gave a wildly energetic presentation to a room of children's booksellers. Schu, promoting his 2022 adult title, The Gift of Story (Stenhouse Publishers), and March 2023 picture book, This Is a Story (Candlewick Press, illustrated by Lauren Castillo), spoke about instilling a love of reading in children.

The galley room was filled with eager booksellers throughout the day.

From Dallas, Tex.'s Interabang Books: Lori Feathers, Carlos Guajardo and Carrie Jones.

Cory Doctorow (l.) and Susan Mitchell (r.) at Wi's opening keynote.

"I can't think of a better place to start a discussion of a level playing field than here in Seattle," said ABA CEO Allison Hill, as she introduced the Tuesday breakfast keynote, "Chokepoints, Antitrust, Amazon, and You: How Corporate Monopolies Are Squeezing Bookstores, and How You Can Fight Back."

Stacy Mitchell, director of the Institute for Local Self Reliance in Minneapolis, Minn., and author of Big-Box Swindle (Beacon Press) began on a positive note: "There's a lot of change happening right now. Biden has repudiated the last 40 years of economic policy." Since the publication of her 2018 article in the Nation, "6 Ways to Rein in Today's Toxic Monopolies," Mitchell said, "all six are happening."

Mitchell called the ABA "a light in the darkness," examining what a level playing field looks like and continuing to call out violations of the antitrust Robinson-Patman Act. She then introduced Cory Doctorow, co-author with Rebecca Giblin of Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back (Beacon Press). Historically, "we've looked at chains from a cost/benefit analysis standpoint," Mitchell said. "Cory's book gave us a new framework." Doctorow and Mitchell lauded three key appointments by President Biden: Lina Khan as FTC chair; Tim Wu as special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy; and Jonathan Kanter as antitrust boss at the Department of Justice.

Amazon introduced the concept of being "locked to the platform," Doctorow said. The company attracted customers with subsidized shipping, and marketplace sellers reached huge audiences. Amazon took low commissions, so sellers were locked in. Next, Amazon got sellers to bid against each other, and then moved on to cloning products from its sellers. Doctorow calls this the "Enshittification" of Amazon. Mitchell points out that this model "puts producers and consumers in alignment": everyone loses except the owner of the platform.

Doctorow notes the parallel to Facebook, which locks you in because of your network of friends, and it would take so much effort to move them all. Facebook then feeds content to its users and charges publishers to feature that content on the site. Similarly, Spotify negotiated deals with the three big music companies--Sony, Warner and Universal--ahead of Spotify's IPO, negotiating "rock bottom-per-stream prices" so that the three companies gained profits at the expense of the musicians they represent.

Mitchell brought into the discussion bookseller Danny Caine's idea of "what it means when you lose face-to-face interaction" with your customer, the "erosion of connection to one another" and the resulting sense of loss. "You can't see what's missing," Caine wrote in his book How to Resist Amazon and Why (Microcosm). Caine, co-owner of Raven Book Store, Lawrence, Kan., was scheduled to appear at the event but couldn't due to Covid.

Doctorow described himself as "a recovering bookseller" and debunked the myth of creators as entrepreneurs. "Creativity is not a solo effort. Mystery writers are really Edgar Allan Poe fan fiction writers in some sense," he said, just as Brahms's Symphony #1 led to Beethoven's 10th. He credited Taylor Swift for using her power to take on the power structure on behalf of fellow musicians. She put pressure on Universal (when she left Big Machine Records to sign with them) to share Spotify proceeds with all its musicians on a "non-recoupable basis" (regardless of whether or not the musicians had earned out their advances). Doctorow also mentioned Colleen Cross, a former forensic accountant turned thriller writer, who was part of a group founded by Susan May that grew suspicious about their Audible royalties; together the group is applying pressure to change the way Audible compensates authors and narrators.

But Mitchell says it's not just the entertainment field that suffers from "chokepoint capitalism." Farmers are beholden to one or two distributors. Three shipping cartels control the entire supply chain. Hospital chains buy up local hospitals, applying pressure to lower the wages for health care workers, and patients' care suffers. Mitchell once again channeled Caine, who wrote in his book, "I'd love to be able to compete with Amazon, [but it] is a business I can't compete with because they're bending the rules of free market capitalism."

Doctorow quoted [Herbert] Stein's Law: "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." And when a crisis arises, Doctorow said, in an ironic application of Milton Friedman's words--we need to have "ideas lying around." Like all creative people, booksellers are not alone: "You speak with moral authority as independent booksellers." --Jennifer M. Brown

McNally Jackson has opened its fifth bookstore in New York City, at 1 Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. News of the bookseller's plans for the 7,000-square-foot space had originally been revealed last August. 

"This store is our effort to resurrect the lost tradition of grand, midtown bookstores. Please come see it, and tell us what you think," McNally Jackson tweeted.

The Rockefeller Center bookstore, the company's largest location, features a full Goods for the Study stationery section. McNally Jackson's other stores include the original Nolita shop, founded in 2004, as well bookstores in the South Street Seaport, downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg.

Bliss Books & Wine hosted its grand opening and ribbon cutting on Saturday at 3502 Gillham Road in Kansas City, Mo. KSHB reported that co-owners La'Nesha Frazier and her sister La'Nae Robinson had several reasons to celebrate. Their dream of opening a bookstore "where customers could also buy and drink wine while hanging out," which began in 2019 with a pop-up that was forced online in 2020 by the pandemic, hit another roadblock last year when their chosen physical space ran up against a city ordinance that prevented them from getting a liquor license because of density issues.

"Our community has been with us from day one. We pivot, they pivot. We rise, they rise. We backtrack, they backtrack," said Frazier. "They have been the pushing force for us. it's been awesome.... The battle with the liquor license, I was going to fight it to the death, because I was fighting for my community."

Last summer Frazier and Robinson worked with city councilwoman Andrea Bough to change the city's ordinance so they were eligible for a waiver.

"This is what we dream of for Kansas City," said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended the grand opening. "Making sure not only do we have Black-owned businesses, but that they thrive. And in particular, Black, women-owned businesses--that's what this is all about."

KSHB noted that "based on the turnout for Saturday's event, Bliss Book and Wine provides something the community craves--a space to buy local books, to hang out, to drink wine and to experience culture."

Donald Spoto

Donald Spoto, the prolific biographer "whose subjects included Jesus and Joan of Arc, but who was best known for his books on Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and other high-profile entertainment figures, some of which made news with startling claims," died February 11, the New York Times reported. He was 81. 

Spoto always had a fondness for movies, especially those directed by Hitchcock, whose work he first encountered when he was 10 and saw Strangers on a Train at the RKO Proctor's Theater in New Rochelle, N.Y. In 1976, he told the Westchester Rockland Newspapers of New York: "The film completely wiped me out. It devastated me. I found its imagery overpowering. And after that, I found that every single Hitchcock film that came along absolutely mesmerized me."

Spoto's first book, The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: 50 Years of His Motion Pictures (1976), was more of a cinephile's guide, but he made a bigger impact with The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983), published three years after his subject's death. "It was a thorough biography that cut through the carefully cultivated image that the director had sought to project and delved into his harsh treatment of some of his stars and other unflattering details," the Times noted. 

Subsequent books include Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich (1992); Marilyn Monroe: The Biography (1993); Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean (1996); Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn (2006); and Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates (2007).

Spoto's research "sometimes earned attention beyond the book review section," the Times wrote. "In Laurence Olivier: A Biography (1992), his claim that Mr. Olivier, who was married to Jill Esmond, then Vivien Leigh and then Joan Plowright, had a 10-year affair with the comic actor Danny Kaye drew considerable publicity."

Although he wrote more than two dozen books, being a biographer was something of a second career for him. Spoto had previously held several teaching positions, including in the theology department at Fairfield University and the department of religion at the College of New Rochelle. He drew on his theological training and interest in Christianity for The Hidden Jesus: A New Life (1998) and Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint (2007).

Kristin Chenoweth signed copies of her book I'm No Philosopher but I Got Thoughts (Harper Celebrate) at novel. in Memphis, Tenn.

"See y’all after Mardi Gras," Kitty Meow at Blue Cypress Books, New Orleans, La., posted on Instagram. 

In anticipation of the upcoming Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Title Wave Books, Anchorage, Alaska, shared a photo of the shop's floor display on Facebook, noting: "Who's ready for the Iditarod??!! Looking for books about the Iditarod? We've got you covered!! Come on in and take a look at our amazing Iditarod collection in the Alaskana and Kids sections!"

Theodore's Books, Oyster Bay, N.Y., shared a photo of the shop's sidewalk chalkboard, noting: "Here at Theodore's Books, we are sooooo over winter and ready for some warm spring weather and fresh new releases. Here in Oyster Bay, good books are in bloom!"

From Bonham to Buddha and Back: The Slow Enlightenment of the Hard Rock Drummer by Clementine Moss (Zepparella Inc.).

Today:
Fresh Air: Michael Schulman, author of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears (Harper, $40, 9780062859013).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Reginald Dwayne Betts and Titus Kaphar, authors of Redaction (Norton, $100, 9781324006824).

Drew Barrymore Show: Sen. Bernie Sanders, co-author of It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (Crown, $28, 9780593238714).

The View: Goldie Taylor, author of The Love You Save: A Memoir (Hanover Square Press, $28.99, 9781335449375).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste (Young Adult Edition) (Delacorte, $18.99, 9780593427941).

Richard Armitage (The Hobbit trilogy), Michelle Keegan (Brassic) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) will lead the cast of new Netflix series Fool Me Once, based on the Harlan Coben novel. Variety reported that the eight-part series, produced by Nicola Shindler's Quay Street Productions, is "the eighth project to emerge from Coben's partnership with Netflix, which has seen his works adapted in four languages." Previous collaborations include Safe, The Stranger and Stay Close. 

The cast also features Emmett J.Scanlan (Kin), Dino Fetscher (Years and Years) and Adeel Akhtar (Ali & Ava). Coben exec produces alongside Shindler, series writer Danny Brocklehurst and Richard Fee. Charlotte Coben, Yemi Oyefuwa, Nina Metivier and Tom Farrelly are also writing on the show while Outlander director David Moore will lead direct, with Nimer Rashed helming the series' second block.

"I'm thrilled and honored to once again be collaborating with my uber-talented partners Danny, Nicola and Richard," said Coben. "Fool Me Once will be our fourth Netflix series together, and man, it never gets old!... I can't wait to see how this dream cast brings these characters to life."

The longlist has been unveiled for the £25,000 (about $30,075) Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. A shortlist will be announced at the end of April, and the winner named in mid-June at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland. This year's longlisted titles are:

The Romantic by William Boyd  
These Days by Lucy Caldwell  
My Name Is Yip by Paddy Crewe  
The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan  
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris 
The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph  
The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk  
The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane  
Ancestry by Simon Mawer  
I Am Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam 
The Settlement by Jock Serong  

photo: Zoraya Lau

Tyriek Rashawn White is a writer, musician and educator from Brooklyn, N.Y. He is the media director of Lampblack Lit, a literary foundation provides mutual aid and resources to Black writers across the diaspora. He has received fellowships from Callaloo Writing Workshop and the New York State Writers Institute, among other honors. He holds a degree in Creative Writing and Africana Studies from Pitzer College, and most recently earned an MFA from the University of Mississippi. His debut novel, We Are a Haunting (Astra House, April 25, 2023), follows three generations of a working-class family and their inherited ghosts in a story of hope and transformation.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

A family saga told between mother and son across time; an elegy for the living.

On your nightstand now:

Right now, I'm reveling in Exhalation by Ted Chiang. Fruit Punch: A Memoir by Kendra Allen is everything I want in a book. I've been put on to Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector. Also, I keep returning to Sons of Achilles by Nabila Lovelace time and again, a book of poetry and with the depth of an archive.

Favorite book when you were a child:

When I was young, I read my brother's old comic books, a lot of crime and murder mysteries, horror and sci-fi. A bunch of novel adaptations of video games. There is a book called Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley, where a mystery involving my favorite detective ends up bleeding into the 1965 uprisings in Los Angeles.

Your top five authors:

My top authors are central to who I am as a writer. I think Toni Morrison is one of the greatest writers to ever live. James Baldwin changed what I thought I knew writing to be; to write with purpose. Jesmyn Ward is writing some of the most important works of fiction in our contemporary moment. Octavia Butler because Kindred was a shock, but Wild Seed showed me the imaginative power of the stories we tell, of what's possible. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez while I worked at a call center, wanting to write for a living, reading between breaks and on the job when no one was looking.

Book you've faked reading:

I tried to get through Gone with the Wind with the rest of the class, but I couldn't do it. I also avoided The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn during after-school at the public library.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi takes a nearly impossible task of tracing parallel lineages split only by a shift in space-time: the transatlantic slave trade. What she does with this book is an intimate thing. The story asks questions that reverberate throughout history, both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Book you hid from your parents:

If it was a book, honestly, I didn't have to hide it. My mother was just happy I was reading and not off somewhere getting into trouble.

Book that changed your life:

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison was one of those books I couldn't really grasp when I read it in high school, yet it made me feel connected to something larger. It transported me in a bodily way: a boxing ring, an underground living quarters, a riot in Harlem. The truth of the novel opened me up to a pathway, that my own feelings of angst growing up said less about me and more about society.

Favorite line from a book:

"Don't ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it." --Toni Morrison, Jazz

Five books you'll never part with:

Mama Day by Gloria Naylor grounded me in ways I didn't know I needed, helped me look toward ancestry and spirituality in more connective ways. I'd say Another Country by James Baldwin because there's drama, there's mess, there's New York and a bit of Paris, and there is a reckoning with how strained love and relationships become within a racialized capitalist society. It wants to do so much and almost does. Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo is a book I could never truly get out of my head. I read Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward while living in Mississippi, during a few short days over summer. Finally, I could never give up Jazz by Toni Morrison because of the level of craft apparent from the opening pages.

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

I remember reading Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri when I was fresh out of undergrad, entering adulthood, and believing the book was wondrous. The experience felt like coming-of-age at the same time your favorite musician grows into their own. They put words and harmony to who you are in that moment. Maladies is concerned with love and pleasure as much as it is concerned with history and lineage.

Welcome to Consent is a fierce, funny, celebratory and extremely supportive young people's guide to saying no, saying yes and being "the boss of your body."

Although we are regularly told about the importance of consent in relationships, exactly how to give, withdraw or withhold consent may not be clear to young (or older) people. In this substantial volume, the creative trio that brought us Welcome to Your Period--authors Yumi Stynes and Dr. Melissa Kang and illustrator Jenny Latham--is back with another upbeat and informative title in the Welcome to Your Body series. And while one might think consent is a fairly straightforward proposition ("Yes means yes and no means no--right?"), the authors make clear from the get-go that there's a lot more nuance and complexity to consent than meets the eye. Some of the myriad issues that complicate matters include power dynamics, experience levels, cultural backgrounds, communication skills, substance use, desire and embarrassment.

Readers learn that consent isn't important only in sex and relationships, it is something they will need to navigate in every aspect of their lives. (The "sex and relationships" section appears toward the end, called "For When You Are Ready.") On colorful pages with digital illustrations of individuals with a variety of body types, skin tones and gender and cultural identities, the authors address topics like "What Does No Look Like?"; "Different Cultures, Different Meanings"; and "Can I Change My Mind?" They troubleshoot consent challenges and encourage readers to find people they can trust but also to trust their own instincts. Invaluable attributed commentary from adults and young people provides personal experiences, tips, anecdotes, questions and opinions. Backmatter includes a glossary of terms and additional resources.

While the authors do not shy away from sensitive subjects, they make an effort to keep things developmentally appropriate for the preteen/early teen set. Still, some conservative readers may find their frank, sex-positive language and use of both anatomically correct and contemporary terms ("If you're someone with a penis, it's polite to ask before you send someone a dick pic") more than they're ready for. Most will see the immense value in honest, direct talk that prepares young people of all types for normal, complicated human interactions. Lucky is the young person who consents to read this book. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor

Shelf Talker: This absolutely necessary guide to consent explores with candor and humor the nuances of verbal and body language in navigating all kinds of relationships and situations.