In the wake of several high-level departures from Penguin Random House, including global CEO Markus Dohle and U.S. CEO Madeline McIntosh, the company has announced a reorganization and promotions.

In a memo to staff, Nihar Malaviya, interim global CEO of Penguin Random House, gave this reason for the changes: "Our editors' ability to aggressively pursue the works they are most passionate about, and the autonomy and independence of our divisions and imprints, is what drives our business and ensures our success. Therefore, we will expand the number of adult publishing divisions from three to four, creating the newly formed Random House and Crown Publishing Groups." (Random House and Crown had been merged in 2018. Random House Publishing Group president and publisher Gina Centrello retired in January. The other two PRH publishing groups are Knopf Doubleday and Penguin.)

Sanyu Dillon

David Drake

The new president of the Random House Publishing Group is Sanyu Dillon, who had been chief marketing officer. The Group now includes the imprints Random House, the Dial Press, Hogarth, the Modern Library, One World, Ballantine Bantam Dell/Delacorte, Random House Worlds, Harmony/Rodale, Convergent, and WaterBrook & Multnomah. Dillon began her PRH career in 2004 as director of marketing for the Random House imprint. (With Dillon's move to Random House, Erica Curtis has been promoted to senior v-p of consumer marketing.)

The president of the newly reconstituted Crown Publishing Group, which now includes Crown, Currency, Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press, is David Drake, who has been president of the Crown imprint. He started his PRH career in 1999 in the publicity department of what became the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group. He joined the Crown Publishing Group in 2009.

Jeff Abraham, who has been president of PRH Publisher Services, has been promoted to president of publishing operations, technology, and services and will be responsible for IT, publishing operations and PRH Labs and will continue to head PRHPS. He has been with PRH for 17 years and is on the U.S. board.

Jaci Updike has been promoted to president, sales and marketing. She started her career at PRH in 1989 and is the longtime head of the sales group. She continues on the U.S. board.

Other division heads who will also report to Malaviya, including Amanda D'Acierno, president and publisher, Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group; Allison Dobson, president, Penguin Publishing Group; Jen Loja, president, Penguin Young Readers; Barbara Marcus, president and publisher, Random House Children's Books; and Maya Mavjee, president and publisher, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Others reporting to Malaviya and also sitting on the U.S. board are Annette Danek, global executive v-p, chief supply chain officer; Paige Mcinerney, executive v-p, director of human resources, Penguin Random House U.S.; Kimberly Ayers Shariff, executive v-p, strategy--diversity, equity & inclusion, Penguin Random House U.S.; and Nina von Moltke, president, director of strategic development, Penguin Random House U.S.

Malaviya added: "These colleagues make up an incredibly talented, experienced team of leaders with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. To position ourselves for future growth, I have chosen to elevate this executive team to lead the U.S. business and work directly with me--and with all of you--as we write our next chapter together."

Riverbend Bookstore's future home.

Riverbend Bookstore will open this summer at 521 North Truman Boulevard, Crystal City, Mo. The Jefferson County Leader reported that owners Steve and Caroline Meyers purchased more than 50,000 items--including books, DVDs, albums and games inventory--from Books Galore, a longtime used bookstore in neighboring Festus that closed in December. They plan to sell primarily used books, but will also carry some new titles, along with teaching-related materials.

The Meyers, who are both teachers in the Potosi School District, said they were faithful patrons of Books Galore and hated to see the only bookstore in the area close. "We both are avid readers," Caroline Meyers said. "This is one way of sharing our joy of reading with people." Her husband, who grew up in Festus, agreed: "I hated to see such an institution not be in the area."

They bought the building that will house Riverbend Books and are having it renovated for their needs. "We're really pushing hard to open in June," Stephen Meyers said. "We've got a laundry list of things to do. It needs a new roof. It's a 9,800-square-foot building."

Future goals include opening a coffee shop in the building, he added, noting that while both of them will work in the store, he plans to retire from teaching at the end of the school year and will be there full time.

Gibran Graham

Late last month, Gibran Graham, owner of the Briar Patch bookstore in Bangor, Maine, suffered a stroke and was airlifted to Portland, where he will be hospitalized for at least several more weeks. Other booksellers have rallied to help him, including Heidi Carter, owner of Bogan Books, Fort Kent, Maine, who created a GoFundMe campaign for Graham. In less than a week, the campaign has raised $60,000 toward a goal of $100,000.

Carter wrote in part, "In 2018, when I decided to open a bookstore in northern Maine, I didn't know where to begin. Not long after I began advertising the opening of Bogan Books, Gibran reached out to me. He could have not reached out, he could have tried to convince me that I couldn't open another bookshop in Maine, and he could have been condescending or mean. But he wasn't any of that. Instead, without knowing me at all, he welcomed me into the world of indie booksellers in Maine. He introduced me to a community of amazing people and he continually made sure I knew about meetings and programming opportunities that he thought would be helpful to me and my store. Gibran doesn't know this, but he was my game-changer.

"That's Gibran.

"He is extremely community centered. I have learned that he isn't one to sit on the sidelines. He is involved in the community of Bangor from city government to theatre, collaborative events, and more.

"He supports authors, schools, literacy, and other local establishments. He also gets involved with the bookselling world as much as he is allowed and has often presented authors at regional meetings and worked on committees for the American Booksellers Association. He is passionate about selling books and also helping people find the right book for them."

The Briar Patch started more than 35 years ago as a children's bookstore and has expanded in recent years to carry a variety of titles for adults, too. The store also offers author readings and signings, storytimes and other events.

Canadian bookstore chain Indigo Books & Music, which was hit by a cyberattack on February 8 that compromised the company's ability to process online sales, released a statement on Friday saying that while the ransomware attack left no indication personal customer information had been accessed, some employee data was compromised.

"We immediately engaged third-party experts to investigate and resolve the situation," Indigo said of the breach. "As part of this remediation work, we proactively shut down some of our systems to prevent data from being improperly accessed. Through our investigation we learned there is no reason to believe customer data has been improperly accessed, but that some employee data was. Since this incident, we have been working with third party experts to strengthen our cybersecurity practices, enhance data security measures and review our existing controls."

Both current and former Indigo employees are being notified that their information may have been affected. Indigo has also retained TransUnion of Canada to offer two years of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection services at no cost.

Indigo's customers remain unable to make purchases online except for "select books," CBC News wrote, adding that when the incident began more than two weeks ago, Indigo "was only able to process purchases made in store with cash, but some of its services, including over-the-counter credit and debit payments as well as exchanges and returns, have since been restored."

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Sales of English-language titles in Germany rose from 3.1% of total sales revenue to 4.5% between 2020 and 2022, according to Buchreport. In fiction, the rise has been even steeper, with the market share lifting from 2.5% to just over 5% in the same period, fueled by TikTok hit authors Colleen Hoover, Alice Oseman, Taylor Jenkins Reid and Ali Hazelwood, the Bookseller reported. Other bestselling writers with high English-language sales in the markets include Matt Haig, Ana Huang, J.K. Rowling, Sally Rooney and Madeline Miller.

"The development--presumably fueled by the impatience of BookTok fans to read their favorite authors' latest offering as quickly as possible, in whatever edition is available--means that publishers are under increasing pressure to bring out the German licensed editions parallel to the original edition, speeding up the usual publishing process," the Bookseller wrote, noting that Buchreport said that whereas in the past rush-publishing was done as an exceptional measure and usually involved very topical nonfiction titles, it is now becoming much more usual in popular fiction/YA.

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Bookseller moment: Scottish bookseller Far from the Madding Crowd in Linlithgow, posted on Instagram: "What a glorious day today: spring is in the air! And lambs* are in our window: we've got a huge range of springtime books & activity ideas + Mother's Day cards & gifts! #ChooseBookshops *not real lambs sadly!" --Robert Gray

This past Wednesday, Shelf Awareness sent our monthly pre-order e-blast to more than 900,000 of the country's best book readers. The e-blast went to 914,122 customers of 214 participating independent bookstores.

The mailing features 11 upcoming titles selected by Shelf Awareness editors and a sponsored title. Customers can buy these books via "pre-order" buttons that lead directly to the purchase page for the title on each sending store's website. A key feature is that bookstore partners can easily change title selections to best reflect the tastes of their customers and can customize the mailing with links, images and promotional copy of their own.

The pre-order e-blasts are sent the last Wednesday of each month; the next will go out on Wednesday, March 29. Stores interested in learning more can visit our program registration page or contact our partner program team via e-mail.

For a sample of the January pre-order e-blast, see this one from Main Street Reads, Summerville, S.C.

The titles highlighted in the pre-order e-blast were:

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (Tor)
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House)
Milk Street Noodles by Christopher Kimball (Voracious)
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (Harper)
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments by Gayl Jones (Beacon Press)
The Trackers by Charles Frazier (Ecco)
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (Atria)
Once Upon a Prime by Sarah Hart (Flatiron)
Monsters by Claire Dederer (Knopf)
Nic Blake and the Remarkables by Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray)
Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Posted on Facebook yesterday by Split Rock Books, Cold Spring, N.Y.: "Shoveled out but going sledding, opening at 10:30!"

"You just never know in this town!" Fitz Books & Waffles, Buffalo, N.Y., posted on Facebook along with a photo of the shop's snowbound sidewalk chalkboard sign. 

Black Garnet Books, Saint Paul, Minn., shared a photo on Instagram of bookseller dog Nova for her sixth birthday, inviting customers to "come in tomorrow (Tuesday 2/28) and say happy birthday to Nova for 6% off your purchase. we'll have plenty of treats for you to give this little sunshine baby and she miiiiight have a cute lil outfit on, we'll see how she's feeling lol.... 

"Nova is at the store because she's a soft, gentle dog. kids are, sometimes, neither of those things, by no fault of their own. so please be thoughtful and respectful of Nova's autonomy! we haven't had a bad experience yet, and I would like to keep it that way. ok see y'all tomorrow!"

At Rizzoli New York:

Pam Sommers, longtime executive director of publicity, is retiring. She built the publicity department, which handles publicity for Rizzoli, Rizzoli Electra and Universe as well as distribution clients, after joining the company in 2002. Earlier she was U.S. publicity manager for Taschen.

Jessica Napp has been promoted to director of publicity. She joined Rizzoli 16 years ago and for the last 11 years has served as associate director of publicity. Earlier she worked at Abrams, Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, Little, Brown and Planned TV Arts, now known as Media Connect.

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Molly Merkle has been named publisher of AdventureKEEN, where she continues as chief operating officer. She joined the company more than 30 years ago.

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Dr. Amy Shah, author of I'm So Effing Hungry: Why We Crave What We Crave--and What to Do About It (Harvest, $28.99, 9780358716914).

Drew Barrymore Show: Eliza VanCort, author of A Woman's Guide to Claiming Space: Stand Tall. Raise Your Voice. Be Heard. (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, $19.95, 9781523004188).

Tamron Hall: Lewis Howes, author of The Greatness Mindset: Unlock the Power of Your Mind and Live Your Best Life Today (Hay House, $26.99, 9781401971908).

NBC NOW's Meet the Press: Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us (Adapted for Young Readers) (Delacorte Press, $17.99, 9780593562628).

Ley Line Entertainment and FirstGen Content have announced a cast for the co-production of On Swift Horses, based on the novel by Shannon Pufahl. Deadline reported that Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle are on board to star in the project, which Daniel Minahan is on board to direct. 

Peter Spears is producing alongside Mollye Asher, Tim Headington and Theresa Steele Page on behalf of Ley Line with Michael D'Alto producing on behalf of FirstGen Conent. Bryce Kass is adapting the script.

Winners of the 2023 Golden Kite Awards and honor books, presented to children's book authors and artists by their peers and sponsored by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, have been named. Golden Kite recipients receive a cash prize of $2,500 plus $1,000 to donate to a nonprofit of their choice. Golden Kite Honor recipients receive $500 plus $250 to be donate. This year's winning titles are:

Golden Kite winners
Picture book text: Fly by Brittany J. Thurman, illustrated by Anna Cunha (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum)
Picture book illustration: Kumo the Bashful Cloud, illustrated by Nathalie Dion, written by Kyo Maclear (Tundra Books/PRH Canada)
Nonfiction text for younger readers: Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by David Litchfield (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Nonfiction text for older readers: Absurd Words: A Kid's Fun and Hilarious Vocabulary Builder for Future Word Nerds by Tara Lazar (Sourcebooks)
Middle grade fiction: The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali (HarperCollins)
Illustrated book for older readers: The Adventures of Team Pom: Squid Happens by Isabel Roxas (Flying Eye Books)
YA fiction: Beneath the Wide Silk Sky by Emily Inouye Huey (Scholastic Press)
Sid Fleischman award for humor: Freddie and the Family Curse by Tracy Badua (Clarion Books)

Honor books
Picture book text: The Talk by Alicia D. Williams, illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum)
Picture book illustration: Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Nonfiction text for younger readers: H is for Harlem by Dinah Johnson, illustrated by April Harrison (Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Nonfiction text for older readers: Save the People!: Halting Human Extinction by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Nicole Miles (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Middle grade fiction: Iveliz Explains it All by Andrea Beatriz Arango, illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez(Random House Books for Young Readers)
Illustrated book for older readers: Esme's Birthday Conga Line, illustrated by Marissa Valdez, written by Lourdes Heuer (Tundra Books/PRH Canada)
YA fiction: Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg (Scholastic Press)
Sid Fleischman award for humor: The Real Riley Mayes by Rachel Elliott (Balzer + Bray)

Brianna Labuskes has published seven psychological thrillers. She comes to fiction writing from a decade-and-a-half journalism career covering politics and policy in Washington, D.C. She now lives in Asheville, N.C., with her dog, Jinx. Labuskes's first historical novel, The Librarian of Burned Books (Morrow, February 21, 2023), is a Sapphic love story and a testament to the power books have over the very darkest of times.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

It's an underdog fight with a powerful senator over book bans and censorship--and, no, it's not set today but in 1944.

On your nightstand now:

The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick. I absolutely adored Burdick's last novel, The Girls with No Names,about a group home in New York City where unruly girls were sent in the early 1900s. With her intriguing settings, lush prose and complex characters, she has become a must-buy author for me.  

Favorite book when you were a child:

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. This was one of the first books I remember creating the full range of human emotions within me. And not only a full range but a complicated one--grief-tinged happiness, sweet sadness, a satisfying ending instead of a picture-perfect, easy one.

Your top five authors:

Oh no! Only five? I'll say for historical fiction: Maggie Shipstead (Great Circle), Jennifer Chiaverini (Resistance Women), Kate Quinn (The Diamond Eye), Pip Williams (The Dictionary of Lost Words) and Sarah James (The Woman with Two Shadows).

Book you've faked reading:

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. I can't get through Hemingway no matter how many times I've tried. But he would always be assigned reading in English classes, so I did my best to muddle through conversations about him.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, a beautiful coming-of-age story set in 1950s San Francisco. The main character is the queer daughter of Chinese immigrants, who--apart from handling all the messiness that comes with being a teenager--has to deal with the Red Scare panic sweeping the country. 

Book you've bought for the cover:

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen. The cover is so pretty: it's gilded lavender wallpaper with bunnies, which is important to the plot, and when you take a step back you realize the shadows on the wall form a profile of a woman. The best part is that this queer cozy historical mystery lives up to its appealing cover, and its fun and complex main character has enough charisma to anchor a whole series.

Book you hid from your parents:

I've been reading my mom's romance novel collection since I was a teenager, so I don't think there was ever a book I hid from my parents. She loved the titans of the late 20th century, like Johanna Lindsey and Judith McNaught, both of whom imbued me with a love of historical romances.

Book that changed your life:

Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry. This was one of the first, if not the first, psychological thriller I had ever read, and it started me on a path that led to me becoming a published author in the genre. Berry, whose voice is lovely and rich, also has a stunner in Northern Spy, set in the time of the Troubles in Ireland, for those who prefer history with their intrigue.

Favorite line from a book:

"I don't ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember. Somewhere inside me there'll always be the person I am tonight." --F. Scott Fitzgerald in Tender Is the Night. It's a line I've come back to for nearly two decades since finding it. Although it's romantic in intention, it's always meant something broader to me. Every decision you make in your life was made by someone you were in that moment, and so every decision deserves the respect, love and kindness you feel for every version of yourself. No matter how it turned out.

Five books you'll never part with:

The Book Thieves by Anders Rydell. This book has sparked ideas for two novels now; I'm never letting it go! In Memoriam by Alice Winn, a love story between two soldiers in the Great War, publishing in March. From the first page, I knew this would be a book I would read time and again. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, a Victorian love story with a twist of magic. As you can tell by now, it's the romances I read over and over. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid is a contemporary enemies-to-lovers book about hockey players that has become a comfort blanket in terms of reading. And A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, one of the favorite books in the Armed Services Editions series featured in The Librarian of Burned Books. It's sweet and classic and deserves rereads through the various seasons of my life.

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

In Memoriam by Alice Winn. This historical fiction novel set heavily in the World War I trenches is tender, loving, heartbreaking, endlessly compelling, richly detailed and poetic. I stayed up until 3 a.m. so I could read it in one sitting, because I simply couldn't stop myself.

Book in The Librarian of Burned Books that is your favorite:

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. Something about Don Quixote has always appealed to me. The idea of tilting at windmills because he thought they were giants never came across as foolish to me--but rather courageous. You can find mentions of Don Quixote in most of my books, and my favorite line from it is: "Too much sanity may be madness--and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!"

Concept picture books about shapes and colors may be kid stuff, but readers of any age can get something out of All About Nothing, a mind-bending, horizons-broadening introduction to negative space by Elizabeth Rusch (Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives), with illustrations by Elizabeth Goss (My Way West).

"What do you know about nothing?" the book begins; an illustration shows a kid inverting a pot and looking at the, well, nothing inside it. "Nothing is the space around and between everything," explains the book's next spread. That's a little heavy, but readers can get a purchase on the idea from the accompanying illustration of an apartment-dwelling kid and cat looking out their respective windows: both appear in black silhouette, and the flat whiteness around them--bordered by window frames and curtains--shows the negative space. The book continues with its simple explanatory text, some of it with a punning aspect, and elucidating illustrations. "Nothing grabs your attention!" corresponds with an image of a jigsaw puzzle with a white abyss where a lone missing piece should go. Attention-grabbing indeed.

While the younger set may tend to skip back matter, this section is worth the time of anyone who has never before seen Rubin's vase, the ultimate teaching tool for negative space, reproduced here. Additionally, the back matter reports that the art in All About Nothing was made "by cutting paper to highlight positive and negative space." It also highlights Goss's terrific facility with paper engineering. Her illustrations are all black, white and a single color until the final spread, a dynamic outdoor scene that invites both contemplation about space and a longing for a lazy, temperate afternoon.

Rusch and Goss serve up some good advice along with their big concept. By encouraging readers to look around--meaning figuratively and literally around objects--All About Nothing doubles as an entreaty to slow down, chill out and take the time to smell the roses and study the clouds, the spaces between which, as Goss presents them, can resemble four-legged animals in various stages of movement. Readers may well lose themselves in a spread showing a chuckling kid whose smile reveals a missing tooth, white negative space filling in the mouth's outline. It's nothing to laugh at. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author

Shelf Talker: This mind-bending, horizons-broadening picture book introduction to negative space is served up with some good advice about slowing down.

Does anyone else love a Sunday morning in bed with a cup of thick bitter coffee and a pile of cookbooks? I highly recommend it. I am a homebody who after a recent devastating house fire has moved three times in as many months with my very favorite husband and wild happy pack of dogs. But... without my books. The fire was a disaster, but one that is slowly being remedied with fire restoration experts, paint decks, boxes of fabrics, builders and... replacement books. Turns out someone else's edition is just as good a friend as mine were. I can always turn the pages down again. And the comfort of the old cookbooks reintroduced makes for a practically perfect day in deep midwinter.

There are generations of cooks who don't know Laurie Colwin. That has to change. Colwin first gave us Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen followed quickly by More Homecooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen. Then she died, which I have never quite gotten over. Laurie is a warm, generous cook, and you are going to want to sit at her table and laugh and eat. You will cry when you realize you cannot, but still she will be with you forever once you own these books. They were two of the initial ones I replaced. Her writing is simple and straightforward just like her food. Laurie once did a riff on chocolate cakes, baking a bunch until she found the perfect one with buttermilk and lots of dark cocoa. I can whip up that cake up in 20 minutes flat and wow a room of late-night guests who need one more post-party treat before bed. "One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends." Laurie Colwin gets me.

Christopher Kimball has become synonymous with the trend in TV food. He founded Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen and now Milk Street. But his older cookbook The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook is, for my money, still his best. Want to whip up a perfect tall flaky biscuit? Kimball's version never misses. How about fluffy buttermilk pancakes like Grandma made? The secret to those turns out to be egg whites. And fried tomatoes--every summer I want some but because I only make them once or twice a year, I turn to my old tattered copy so I don't waste time ruining the first batch. Eggs Benedict on top of fried green tomatoes is a wow. Spend a couple of hours turning pages here and you will be dreaming up Sunday meals for a month.

Italian food is a staple in most American homes, so The Silver Spoon should be, too. It's still the best loved cookbook in Italy 70 years after it was first published. Roasted pork with prunes? Yes. I mean, it's a game changer. I make great fried chicken--I am an evangelist for my fried chicken, taught to me by my beloved Gram. Nobody else's even comes close. Just ask me. And yet this fried chicken marinated in lemon and olive oil was a revelation. This book is fun to read too. Glazed radishes. Why? Make them and pile them on a Parmesan-encrusted pork chop, and you'll see.

When I was a little girl, my mom got the Time Life Good Cook series. Remember them? They were edited by the brilliant Richard Olney. He and Julia Child, James Beard and M.F.K. Fisher forever changed the way Americans eat and think about food. Along with Alice Waters, they introduced us to seasonal eating. Made from scratch, respecting the seasons, farmer's markets, roasting over flame... these were the lessons that took us away from all those godawful church supper Jell-O salads. Richard Olney's The French Menu Cookbook is a treatise on why eating well will make your life happier and more beautiful. Seriously. We are living in an age where it is all about what you can't eat. No meat, no gluten, no dairy, no fun. Richard Olney will remind you why food matters. It is a demanding cookbook, but as narrative nonfiction it will just make you drool. I might not cook partridge over a cherry-wood branch, tickling its skin with thyme butter every seventh minute, but I will improve my capon and I will not ever forget the flame, either.

I'm still dying to talk about M.F.K. Fisher and Marcella Hazen and Julia Child. Stay tuned for part two. --Ellen Stimson