"Visiting an independent bookstore makes me feel like I'm experiencing culture as it's happening, and I know that's all because of booksellers. They are curators of minds, ideas, inner landscapes, and knowledge. Booksellers do so many amazing things for communities: orchestrating events large and small, supporting new authors (like me!), cultivating inclusive spaces, and reading a prolific number of books to match readers with stories they'll love. (I must add that bookseller recommendations often end up being my favorite books of all time.) Most of all, booksellers are a critically important bridge between writers and readers. To all the booksellers out there, I could not be more grateful for your support." 

Adrienne Vaughan

Tragic news: Adrienne Vaughan, president of Bloomsbury Publishing USA, died on Thursday in a freak boating accident while on vacation with her family in Italy. Her husband was injured. Their two children were physically unharmed. Vaughan was 45. Our deepest condolences go to her family, friends, and colleagues.

Vaughan joined Bloomsbury in 2020 as executive director and chief operations officer. In October 2021, she was promoted to president. She had previously worked in children's and academic publishing at Scholastic, Disney Publishing Worldwide, the start-up Little Pim, Oxford University Press, Disney Book Group (where she led the Disney Press and Marvel Press imprints), and Trustbridge Global Media. She had a bachelor of business administration degree from William & Mary and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.

"Our hearts go out to Adrienne's husband and children, parents, family and friends. Bloomsbury is doing everything possible to provide the support they need on the ground in Naples and in the U.S.," Nigel Newton, chief executive of Bloomsbury, said. "The loss of Adrienne is a terrible blow. Since she was appointed president of Bloomsbury USA three years ago, America has grown to become our biggest market.

"Adrienne was a natural business leader with a great future ahead of her. She was deeply loved by colleagues due to her combination of great personal warmth with a fierce determination to make the business succeed and grow. Her business instincts were outstanding and she loved authors, readers and her colleagues equally.

"Losing Adrienne is devastating for everyone at Bloomsbury. We thank all who have sent their thoughts, prayers and condolences to us and will convey them to Adrienne's family."

Earlier this year, Vaughan joined the board of the Association of American Publishers. In a joint statement, AAP board chair Julia Reidhead, chairman and president of W.W. Norton, and AAP president and CEO Maria A. Pallante said, "Adrienne Vaughan was a leader of dazzling talent and infectious passion and had a deep commitment to authors and readers. She was elected to the AAP Board of Directors this year and made an immediate positive impact, speaking as a featured leader at our annual member meeting and participating with purpose on our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

"Most of all she was an extraordinary human being, and those of us who had the opportunity to work with her will be forever fortunate. We send our love and condolences to all those who are in shock and mourning at this tragic loss, most particularly her husband and two children, whom she spoke of frequently with great pride. We hold our colleagues at Bloomsbury in our constant thoughts and send prayers and very best wishes to her husband for the speediest possible recovery."

Vaughan's husband, Mike White, is v-p of finance at Scholastic, where he has worked since 2000.

A new Barnes & Noble location is opening in West Lebanon, N.H., on August 9.

Located in the Upper Valley Plaza at 250 Plainfield Rd., it is the first new B&N to open in New Hampshire in 22 years. Katherine Arden, author of The Bear and the Nightingale (Del Rey), will be on hand Wednesday for a ribbon cutting and book signing.

Bent Pages in Houma, La., has reopened under new ownership and with limited hours, Houma Today reported. 

New owners Angele Leboeuf and Jeannie Tillman purchased the store in early May and have given it the new title Bent Pages & Co. Hours are limited while the owners work on creating a children's room in the front of the store, opening a large local authors section, and reopening the cafe. They also intend to clear out a little of the old inventory to create more space and make the interior less overwhelming. They hope that with the increased emphasis on local authors, they'll be able to draw some of the tour buses that travel through the area.

"I love the store, I love the building, I love the books, I love the place the store had in the community," Leboef told Houma Today. "For me, Bent Pages was always the solace, you know, to come here... I just feel like this is home."

Residing in a 4,174-square-foot space at 1422 Barrow St., Bent Pages first opened in 1997. Previous owner Molly Bolden, who owned and operated the store for years, closed it at the end of last year. Originally used books only, Leboeuf and Tillman have added new titles and plan to continue expanding that selection.

Tillman and Leboeuf hope to host a grand opening in September and have the cafe fully reopened by January.

Industry Insights: Returns, the latest report from RISE Bookselling, a project led by the European and International Booksellers Federation, analyzes seven case studies exploring how book returns work in Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.

The International Publishers Association newsletter reached out to Daniel Martin Brennan and Tora Åsling, policy adviser and policy officer, respectively, at the EIBF, to discuss the study. "Each country and market may have a different way they might implement and manage this process," they noted. "This is one of the reasons why we wanted to commission an industry insights report to better understand what exactly is different, or perhaps the same, and could be learnt from better understanding these processes in the interim both from an efficiency and environmental point of view." They cited three particular insights gained from the report:

• Efficient book returns depend on data.
• In some markets, there is an overproduction of books.
• Market dynamics influence returns. 

When asked about final recommendations and next steps in the process, they suggested "cooperation and dialogue! We need publishers, wholesalers, and booksellers to work together, but also bookshops, both big and small, to learn and develop together. The key is more efficiency, better curation and experimentation to see what can work for the local market and how we can balance the environmental impact of book returns."

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In Nepal, the Covid-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the book trade. The Kathmandu Post (via ANN) reported that official data shows book imports have been rising. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, Nepal imported books worth Rs792 million (about $6 million) in the fiscal year 2019-20, before the pandemic started.

During the Covid lockdown phase, the importation of books and magazines dropped by 31% year-on-year, to Rs545.4 million (about $4.1 million) in 2020-21, before rebounding in 2021-22 to Rs984.8 million (about $7.5 million) from India alone, up 81% from the previous year, per government statistics. According to the central bank, Nepal imported books and magazines worth Rs1.03 billion (about $7.8 million) in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022-23. 

Prem Prasad Sharma, owner of Books Mandala shops in Pokhara and Kathmandu, said, "The book business is growing sharply in Nepal. The boost came after the Covid-19 pandemic. As people stayed home for a long time during the lockdowns, they turned to reading books. Dependable and faster internet service helped sellers to advertise their books digitally. People bought books online during the Covid period. Other supporting infrastructure such as digital payment, cash on delivery, and improved delivery systems also propelled the growth of online book stores."

On the downside, bricks-and-mortar bookshops have been hit hard by book piracy. "The increase in book sales has attracted pirated copies in the market," said Likhat Prasad Pandey, president of the National Booksellers and Publishers Association of Nepal. "The purchasing power of the people has decreased lately due to slowed economic growth. Therefore, the market is flooded with pirated copies as they are available at a cheaper rate."

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The Canadian Independent Booksellers Association showcased Allison the Bookman, North Bay, Ont., describing the bookshop as "steeped in history and full of excellent books. This year, Allison the Bookman is celebrating 50 years in business. The family-run shop is known for its wide selection, knowledgeable staff, and friendly atmosphere. It has served, and will continue to serve, generations of readers." --Robert Gray

McNally Jackson Books at the Seaport, New York City, hosted a sold-out launch event for David Connor's novel Oh God, The Sun Goes (Melville House), featuring Connor in conversation with musician Helena Deland.

Farley's Bookshop, New Hope, Pa., offered an uplifting, whimsical promise on the shop's sidewalk chalkboard: "A world of books for young and old!"

Effective with January 2024 titles, Simon & Schuster will handle North American distribution to the book market for Image Comics. That includes independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Amazon, libraries, and non-comic shop bricks-and-mortar and online retailers where physical books are sold.

Image Comics will continue its relationship with Diamond Book Distributors to serve the U.K. and international book market. Image Comics' "direct market"/comic shop distribution is currently serviced and will continue to be serviced by Lunar Distribution. Image Comics' digital/e-book distribution is currently serviced and will continue to be serviced by IPG.

"For the past 20 years we have been able to establish a foothold for our trade paperbacks and graphic novels in the book market thanks in no small part to the support and efforts of Diamond Book Distributors," said Eric Stephenson, publisher of Image Comics. "Over time, our needs and backlist of titles have grown and our increasing footprint in the marketplace has us excited to take this next step with Simon & Schuster to build a more robust infrastructure for our titles there."

At Ingram's Lightning Source:

Caitlin Kleinschmidt has been promoted to manager, trade sales, and will lead the new trade sales team. Kleinschmidt joined Ingram in 2022.

Alicia Samuel has been promoted to manager, content acquisitions sales, and will lead the sales team focused on the academic, religion, and education markets. Samuel has been with Ingram since 2018.

Ali Galbraith has joined Lightning Source as a key account sales manager. She earlier held executive sales positions at InterVarsity Press.

Liz Hunter has joined as a senior key account manager. She has worked at Hachette/Workman for 11 years, most recently as associate director, field sales.

Dan Kosack has joined as a senior key account manager. Kosack has worked at Penguin Random House for 15 years, most recently as national account manager, Walmart.

The Stories We Cannot Tell by Leslie A. Rasmussen (Touchpoint Press).

Today:
CBS Mornings: James McBride, author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel (Riverhead, $28, 9780593422946).

Good Morning America: Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins, author of Adversity for Sale: Ya Gotta Believe (HarperCollins, $29.99, 9781400236251).

Today Show: Hayley Arceneaux, author of Wild Ride: My Journey from Cancer Kid to Astronaut (Adapted for Young Readers) (Convergent, $18, 9780593443880).

Dr. Phil: Brian Boxer Wachler, author of Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception (Rowman & Littlefield, $27.95, 9781538164198).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Michael Oher, co-author of When Your Back's Against the Wall: Fame, Football, and Lessons Learned through a Lifetime of Adversity (Avery, $28, 9780593330920).

Today Show: Matt Abdoo, co-author of Pig Beach BBQ Cookbook: Smoked, Grilled, Roasted, and Sauced (Harvest, $30, 9780358651888).

The View repeat: Ken Jennings, author of 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife (Scribner, $27.99, 9781501131585).

The musical adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's 1996 novel The Notebook will make its Broadway premiere next spring, with previews beginning at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre February 6, with opening night on March 14. Playbill reported that the new musical features music and lyrics by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, with a book by playwright Bekah Brunstetter. The production had its world premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater last fall. 

The core creative team members from the Chicago run will return for the Broadway production--with direction by Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Rent) and Schele Williams (Aida, Motown the Musical), and choreography by Katie Spelman. Casting is yet be announced.

The longlist has been selected for the $5,000 Crook's Corner Book Prize, which honors "the best debut novel set in the American South." The winner will be announced in January.

The longlist:
The Gospel of Rot by Gregory Ariail (Mercer University Press)
It Dies with You by Scott Blackburn (Crooked Lane Books)
The Old Place by Bobby Finger (Putnam)
Hestia Strikes a Match by Christine Grillo (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
In Circling Flight by Jane Harrington (Brighthorse Books)
Indigo Field by Marjorie Hudson (Regal House Publishing)
Traces by Patricia L. Hudson (Fireside Industries/University Press of Kentucky)
Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks (Algonquin Books)
Night Wherever We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton (Ecco)
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow (The Dial Press)

In Brooklyn Crime Novel, Jonathan Lethem (The Arrest) returns to the neighborhood of Boerum Hill, the setting for his novels Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude, and the place where he grew up in the 1970s. He discards conventional structure in favor of more than 100 brief passages that, taken together, paint a comprehensive, if decidedly idiosyncratic, social and economic portrait of his native borough over the half-century since his youth.

When it comes to the "crime" in the novel's title, Lethem concentrates on the broad subject of petty street theft that, in significant part, defines the interactions between the white teenagers who grow up on Boerum Hill's Dean Street and their Black counterparts in the neighborhood and nearby projects. All of this is acted out in something called "the dance"--shorthand for the nonviolent, but coerced, exchange of small amounts of cash between the more and less powerful that amounts to a "system of relations, a flow chart of arrows moving here and there, or iron filings polarizing around magnets." It's only in the novel's penultimate section, when a pair of shocking incidents leap the boundaries of this well-choreographed system, that the fundamental flaw in its logic is revealed.

Lethem doesn't devote sustained attention to any single character, or in some instances even bother to name them beyond a nickname. There's "C.," a Black teen wise beyond his years, who acts as a sort of mentor to the white boys of Dean Street; the erratic "millionaire's son," who's fond of brandishing a gravity knife; and the "Brazen Head Wheeze," a guardian of local history named for the bar he frequents. Lethem's narrator hopscotches from one episode and time period to another, at first speaking from a detached position, but then gradually situating himself as more of a character in the story. Through the slow accretion of detail--like the games of stickball, the gushing fire hydrants on steamy summer days, or the subway graffiti--that clearly draws on Lethem's boyhood experiences, the novel becomes a sociological study of a neighborhood undergoing a tense transition, especially as gentrification and skyrocketing property values arrive when the "Brownstoner era" begins to emerge in the late 1970s.

In a 2003 New York Times profile, Lethem described his style as "something more like mixing 2-D pop culture elements into 3-D mimetic fiction; surrealism is another word, I suppose." Readers familiar with his work are likely to settle in comfortably here, while it may take others time to feel at home on the Brooklyn streets. But anyone attuned by personal experience to the vibrancy and edginess of New York City life, or who simply enjoys reading about it, will find something to savor here. ---Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: Jonathan Lethem creates a vivid portrait of the borough of Brooklyn over 50 years of profound social and economic change.