Archivist Books hosted a grand opening celebration last weekend in the shop's new location at 772 Monroe Ave in Rochester, N.Y. WHAM reported that "crowds of people showed up" for the celebration at the store, which "has several community initiatives, including a program that raises money for people to use in the store to reduce the financial barrier to literature."

"[We're] a way to support each other through community and get literature into the hands of people that might not have the funds for it," said owner Taylor Thomas. 

Archivist Books owner Taylor Thomas

In an Instagram post, Thomas wrote: "Finally able to sit down and gather my thoughts! Yesterday was more than anything I could have dreamed of it being.... There's so many people I'd love to call out and thank personally because this store of mine has truly been one of community but it would be a list far too long. Everything from the paint on the walls to the chairs behind my counter have been donated or done by the hands of people who believe in my dream. And the PANTRY?!? I went in today to start organizing and have already created some bags to share with various pantries and orgs because redistribution is always the goal. I just want to say thank you so so much for showing up for me yesterday. It will be a core memory for me 1000% and I’m so excited to continue creating this space with all of you."

Last summer, Thomas had announced plans to convert a vintage 1968 Globestar trailer into a mobile bookstore for new and used books. In September, Thomas noted that while that project was still underway, they had decided to open Archivist Books in a physical space at Luna Cooperative art space. 

In a January update, Thomas shared the news about the move to the Monroe Ave. storefront, noting that the "new move has also forced me to look at my original idea of a trailer and figure out how that factors into my long-term plans.... I've decided to pivot. My main goal of mobility was to make books accessible to people who otherwise wouldn't have the option to come visit stores in person. With this in mind, I've decided to partner with ten local city schools. I will be buying and placing little free libraries at each one. I will stock them with books every month, making sure that the books are diverse in both content and language. I am SO excited to embark upon this new aspect of mobility as it seems to lead me exactly where I was hoping to be with my trailer. If it weren't for the donations I received, none of this would be possible. I will be taking every cent from selling my trailer towards the funding of this new project. Again, I thank you for your belief in me and your trust in my vision." 

Regarding the new storefront, Thomas wrote: "I have thought of ways to truly be in community. I want to embody this as an action, not just something I say because. As I said, change is both equal parts exciting and terrifying. I have so much that I want to do with Archivist and this is just the beginning. I don't use the word radical because nothing I'm doing is radical. This work has been done by black and queer people for decades and I am just continuing what they’ve created. To me, that is an honor I don't take lightly." 

Publishing veterans Madeline McIntosh, Don Weisberg, and Nina von Moltke have founded Authors Equity, a publishing company aimed at creating a "fully author-centric model," featuring profit-sharing, bespoke teams, collaborative publishing processes, and long-term commitments.

McIntosh, former CEO of Penguin Random House US, an independent director of Simon & Schuster, and president of the board of Poets & Writers, will serve as Author Equity's CEO and publisher. Serving as president is von Moltke, former president, strategic development, at PRH US, and a board member and treasurer of the Center for Fiction, while Weisberg, former CEO of Macmillan Publishers, will be senior adviser. Other core team members include Robin Desser, previously editor-in-chief of Random House and editorial director at Knopf; Carly Gorga, former head of partnerships and brand marketing at PRH US; and Andrea Bachofen, formerly of Random House and Amazon.

Madeline McIntosh

The majority of investment funding for Authors Equity has come from authors themselves, including James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, and Louise Penny, author of the Inspector Gamache mystery series.

Clear, who has committed to publishing future titles with Authors Equity, said the company "has taken the best elements of traditional publishing and combined them with a fresh approach that works perfectly for authors who want to succeed in today’s market. Authors get to create books on their own terms without having to let go of the excellence in editorial skill and mainstream distribution that is a strength of traditional publishing."

Penny, who will remain committed to St. Martin's, said she invested in Authors Equity because she is excited about what the company is doing. "It's time for a new way of doing business, where the author is top of the pyramid."

Simon & Schuster will distribute Authors Equity titles, as well as provide production support for some titles. Authors Equity will announce its debut titles in the months ahead.

Said McIntosh: "Publishing doesn’t need to be a zero-sum game. Authors, publishers, and readers alike benefit when there’s a variety of approaches in the market. Our approach won’t be right for everyone, but each author deserves a chance to find the right creative partnership and financial model that will give them the very best publishing experience."

Tom Doherty (photo: Robert Davis)

Tom Doherty, founder of Tor Books and chair of Tom Doherty Associates, publishing under the Tor, Forge, Tordotcom, Starscape, Tor Teen, and Nightfire imprints, is the 2024 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award. Managed and sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society with support from the Heinlein Society and the family of Dr. Yoji Kondo, the award honors "outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space." Doherty was specially cited for his "work in bringing the inspiring books of hundreds of authors writing about our future in Space to public awareness."

The award will be presented May 24 during Balticon 58, the 58th Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Baltimore.

The survival of about a third of nearly France's 4,000 independent bookshops would be threatened by a proposed revision by the European Union that would do away with exemptions to its Late Payments Directive. The Bookseller reported that the EU has proposed that a cap of 30 days be mandated for paying invoices in business-to-business commercial transactions in all sectors.

According to a study commissioned by the French booksellers association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française) from market research firm Xerfi, the regulation would cost French booksellers more than €112 million (about $122 million), with an immediate threat to 1,300 indies. 

In a statement, the SLF called this month for the EU to take into account the specific cultural and economic nature of booksellers so they can continue to offer a wide and diversified range of titles, and not just bestsellers, the Bookseller noted. Maintaining long payment periods that correspond to books' life cycle is an "absolute condition," the SLF added. Booksellers currently are exempted from the 60-day payment period for businesses that was introduced in France in 2008, and negotiated with publishers delays of 70 to 80 days.

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World Book Day will be celebrated Thursday, March 7, by bookshops, publishers, libraries, and schools across the U.K. and Ireland to emphasize the point that "children are more likely to enjoy reading when their choices are championed and we make reading fun."

"Our aim for World Book Day 2024 is to bring the fun of reading to more children, to celebrate their choices and encourage everyone to Read Their Way!" said WBD CEO Cassie Chadderton. "Fewer children and their families are enjoying reading, just when the life-changing benefits are needed most. The World Book Day £1/€1.50 authors and illustrators will be out and about at bookshops, libraries and schools across the country encouraging children to read for pleasure and we're excited that a fantastic array of partners and supporters are making it easier than ever to get involved with activities, fundraising or simply choosing a... book for free with our £1/€1.50 tokens."

One WBD tradition, however, has taken cost of living crisis hit in recent years. The Guardian reported that "while in the past many schools asked children to dress up as their favorite book character for the event, in recent years some schools have adopted more flexible policies, asking children to wear pajamas or comfortable clothing instead."

Chadderton noted that the charity has always asked schools to "have a think about their context, have a think about the children that are in their setting, and think about what will work best for them," but the discussion about costumes "has become more vocal this year." The day "is all about trying to make sure that even more children, and particularly those who are experiencing poverty and are hit by the cost of living crisis, appreciate that reading is something that is a pleasure and will have enormous benefits to a child's life chances." 

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Applications for the fifth round of the RISE Booksellers Exchange Program have opened, the European & Independent Booksellers Federation's Newsflash reported. The initiative, which takes place under the scope of RISE Bookselling, EIBF's project co-funded by the EU, aims to connect booksellers with colleagues and industry experts around the world, enabling them to share experiences and explore new initiatives within the industry. 

Selected participants will be granted a three-day stay in a bookshop abroad, with all the exchanges in the fifth round expected to take place no later than by the end of September 2024. The deadline to apply is March 31. For more information and to apply, click here. --Robert Gray

Kirk Reedstrom, a former bookseller at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Tex., returned to the store to launch his debut early reader graphic novel series, Duck & Moose (Disney-Hyperion).

Anna Rose Carleton at Well-Read Moose Bookstore.

In the spirit of college basketball's March Madness, the Well-Read Moose Bookstore, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has created a Moose Madness Book Bracket competition featuring some of its bestselling books of 2023. Voting will take place all month long to choose customers' favorite book of the year. 

The bookstore is featuring a large display with the physical book bracket that will be updated as the competition progresses. There is a voting station set up in-store, and people can vote on social media as well. Updates on the competition will be posted on the bookshop's Instagram page.

Independent Publishers Group is handling sales and distribution for five academic and professional publishers:

Universitas Press, Montreal, an academic press that publishes the work of academics and independent researchers in the humanities and social sciences as well as editions of literary classics and regional Canadian titles. (IPG, global distribution, effective March 1.)

The Nordic Institute for Asian Studies Press, acquired by the National University of Singapore Press in 2023, publishes in all areas of Asian studies, focusing primarily on research in the social sciences and history with a geographical focus on East or Southeast Asia. (Eurospan, exclusive distribution in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and Central Asia, and non-exclusive in South Asia, effective January 1.)

TCU Press, which has focused on the history, culture, and literature of Texas and the American West with a distinct focus on the discovery and preservation of local history. (Eurospan, worldwide distribution, excluding North America, effective March 1.)

Griffin Publishers, which publishes specialist and university books by Italian authors for the training and updating of doctors and their teams under the imprints Timeo and ActaMedica. (Eurospan, worldwide distribution, effective March 1.)

Spanish publisher dr.Herriot--named after the pen name of the British veterinary surgeon James Herriot--which publishes books in the field of veterinary science. (Eurospan, worldwide distribution, effective April 1.)

Editor's note: because of a mixup on our part, some of these job changes appeared out of order in the last two issues of Shelf Awareness, so we are repeating them here correctly. Our apologies!

At Running Press:

Kara Thornton has been promoted to director of publicity.

Rebecca Matheson has been promoted to marketing and publicity manager, Running Press Kids.

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At Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Peachtree:

Tracy Miracle has been promoted to v-p, publicity. She was formerly senior executive director of publicity and marketing campaigns at Candlewick Press.

Michelle Montague has been promoted to v-p, trade marketing. She was formerly executive director, marketing at Holiday House, Peachtree, and Pixel+Ink.

Karen Walsh has been promoted to v-p, consumer and brand marketing. She was formerly executive director of marketing and publicity, brands, and key titles at Candlewick Press.

Lilith by Eric Rickstad (Blackstone Publishing).

Tomorrow:
The View: Dan Harris, author of 10% Happier Revised Edition: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story (Dey Street, $17.99, 9780062917607).

Bravo's Watch What Happens Live: Kate T. Parker, author of Force of Nature: A Celebration of Girls and Women Raising Their Voices (Workman, $19.99, 9781523505524).

Showtime has released the official trailer A Gentleman In Moscow, based on the bestselling 2016 novel by Amor Towles, Deadline reported. The eight-episode series, which debuts March 29, stars Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Anna Urbanova; Alexa Goodall as Nina; Johnny Harris police officer Osip; and Fehinti Balogun as Mishka.

Additional cast includes Leah Harvey, Paul Ready, John Heffernan, Lyès Salem, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Dee Ahluwalia, Anastasia Hille, Daniel Cerqueira, Leah Balmforth, Billie Gadsdon, and Beau Gadsdon.

A Gentleman In Moscow is produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Paramount. Ben Vanstone serves as executive producer and showrunner on the series, which comes through Lionsgate's first look deal with Tom Harper's company Popcorn Storm Pictures. Harper will also executive produce alongside Ewan McGregor, Sharon Hughff, Pancho Mansfield, Moonriver TV's Xavier Marchand, and Towles. Sam Miller is directing select episodes and executive producing. Sarah O'Gorman also serves as director.

Finalists have been selected for the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The winner, who will be named in early April, receives $15,000, while the remaining four finalists each get $5,000. All five authors--along with this year's PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion--will be honored on May 2 at the PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration in Washington, D.C. This year's finalists are:

Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Open Throat by Henry Hoke (MCD)
What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez (Grand Central)
Absolution by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Users by Colin Winnette (Soft Skull)

"With an astonishingly varied range of protagonists--the ghosts of New York City, U.S. military wives in wartime Saigon, Staten Island Latinas, a virtual reality designer, and a mountain lion living under the Hollywood sign--this year’s finalists offer definitive proof that fiction, to invoke Walt Whitman, contains multitudes," said committee chair Louis Bayard. "We can’t wait to celebrate these gifted authors and their unique contributions to our art form."

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The shortlist has been selected for the second annual Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, which honors "the commitment of independent presses to fiction of exceptional literary merit." The winner of the prize, which has separate judges and prizes from the U.K. prize of the same name, will be announced March 19.

A total of $35,000 will be distributed to the presses, authors, and translators. Each press included in the longlist receives $2,000. The five shortlisted books will be awarded an additional $3,000 each, split equally between the publisher and author, or publisher, author, and translator, where applicable.

The five shortlisted books and their independent presses are:

The Long Form by Kate Briggs (Dorothy, a publishing project)
Two Sherpas by Sebastián Martínez Daniell, translated by Jennifer Croft (Charco Press)
The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, translated by Daniel Levin Becker (Transit Books)
Lojman by Ebru Ojen, translated by Aron Aji and Selin Gökçesu (City Lights Publishers)
The Box by Mandy-Suzanne Wong (Graywolf Press)

Founder of the prize and jury chair Lori Feathers said: "It was difficult to narrow our superb longlist to a five-title shortlist. But after careful deliberations, our jury determined that these books best exemplify the creativity and risk taking that makes the work of small publishers so indispensable in today's literary landscape."

A Zoom party celebrating the longlist with publishers, authors, and translators took place on February 27. To view it, click here.

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The longlist has been selected for the £30,000 (about $38,120) 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction, championing "ambitious, inspiring and thought-provoking novels written by women in English." The shortlist will be announced April 24, the winner on June 13. To see the 16 longlisted titles, click here.

Chair of judges Monica Ali commented: "With the strength and vitality of contemporary women's fiction very much in evidence, reading the entries for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction has been a joyful experience. Each one of these books is brilliant, original and utterly unputdownable. Collectively, they offer a wide array of compelling narratives from around the world, written with verve, wit, passion and compassion."

photo: David Gonzalez

Andrew Boryga grew up in the Bronx and now lives in Miami with his family. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic, and been awarded prizes by Cornell University, the University of Miami, the Susquehanna Review, and the Michener Foundation. He attended the Tin House Writer's Workshop and has taught writing to college students, elementary school students, and incarcerated adults. Victim (Doubleday, March 12, 2024), his debut novel, follows a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the veneer of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the odd currency of identity.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

A Bronx kid pimps out his identity to achieve his dream of being a successful writer, but loses himself in the process.

On your nightstand now:

I'm about to finish An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy, which is an excellent and extremely stylish noir mystery I've been meaning to peep. Up next is Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez, which I talked my way into getting an advanced copy of because I love Xochitl's work. I'm also looking forward to picking up Oye by Melissa Mogollon, too, a highly anticipated debut (out May 14).

Favorite book when you were a child:

Goodnight Moon when I was little, little (I still have the beat-up board book from back then, and read it to my kids sometimes.) The first novel I can remember falling in love with though was Slam! by Walter Dean Myers.

Your top five authors:

Junot Díaz, Paul Beatty, Mat Johnson, Patricia Engel, and Justin Torres.

Book you've faked reading:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Just one of those books I always felt like I should read, and I think started a few times, but could never actually get through it. Maybe one day.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty. That book is wayyy too slept on. Satire and social commentary wise, it pointed out odd things around representation and identity commodification in 1996 that most writers, myself included, are only coming around to grasping now. Granted, I was a child in 1996, but still. My point is that Beatty was ahead of the curve then, and still is. Also, the book is just straight-up hilarious. Humor is very important to me, and Beatty is a master at it on the page.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Mister, Mister by Guy Gunaratne. I honestly don't know much about the novel or the author, but the cover of that book is fire. It's also on my TBR.

Book you hid from your parents:

None, honestly. My mom was mostly pleasantly surprised--probably relieved--that I was into books and not other vices or activities I could have easily been into. Also, given that she bought me explicit rap CDs quite young, I'm not really sure there were any books that would have been off limits.

Book that changed your life:

Reading Drown by Junot Díaz in college was basically my gateway drug to becoming a writer. If I hadn't read that book, I'm honestly not sure I would have even thought it was possible for me to write fiction in the way I wanted to. After I read it for the first time, I was so inspired that I sat down one blissful night and wrote like 40 straight pages about my own childhood, my family, and my neighborhood--little scenes and anecdotes that turned into my first stories and even some things that made it into Victim.

Favorite line from a book:

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' " --from On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

Five books you'll never part with:

Drown by Junot Díaz (see above); Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez, because it's a certified hood classic; Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, because you always gotta learn from the OGs; The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty because it's incredible (as previously mentioned); and We the Animals by Justin Torres because I still can't understand how the hell he packed all of that beauty into, what, 150 pages? Wild.

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

Loving Day by Mat Johnson. I devoured that book and I remember realizing while reading it that it was a perfect model for the type of novel that I wanted to write. It's entertaining, funny, moving, and is packed with wit and smart, sly commentary--but it never once feels heavy-handed. Mat Johnson's touch is just spectacular and it'd be dope as hell to get reacquainted with the feeling of understanding and deeply appreciating his precise formula for the first time again.

Book you most enjoy reading to your kids:

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, James Dean, and Kimberly Dean. It's such a fun book to read--and sing--and one of the only books I don't mind repeating over and over again at night.

The gritty, luminous Sheine Lende, a prequel to Darcie Little Badger's acclaimed first novel, Elatsoe, features stouthearted Shane (grandmother to Elatsoe's Ellie) who uses the family's ability to raise ghosts to find three people, one of whom is her own mother.

The women in 17-year-old Shane Solé's Lipan Apache family line know how to reach deep into "the world Below" to "raise the ghosts of animals." Shane and her mother, Lorenza, are known for their tracking abilities; they and their two living bloodhounds, along with a single shimmering ghost dog, are often called upon to find missing people. Although Shane knows her small family would benefit from being paid for these services--just a few short years ago, they lost their home, father, and grandparents in quick succession--Lorenza "never charge[s] people money for rescue jobs."

When 16-year-old Donnie and 10-year-old Bobby go missing, Lorenza is called to help. Then Lorenza herself disappears. Shane, her younger brother, Marcos, and her grandpa Louis rush to help locate what has become three missing people. The unconventional band of trackers find an abandoned cabin with a "circle of ash-gray ground" outside. Grandpa Louis identifies it as a "mimic" fairy ring, a hazardous phenomenon that is capable of transporting humans to undisclosed locations using "extradimensional magic."

Shane is too late to realize she is standing inside a "well-hidden, hula-hoop-sized circle." She's whisked several hundred miles away, where she finds a bedraggled and grateful Donnie. Shane sends up a flare, whereby the girls are rescued, and while they wait for Grandpa Louis to come for them, Shane and Donnie suspect that Bobby may have been transported to the underworld. Shane determines to solve the linked mysteries of the mimic rings, where Bobby has gone, and her mother's disappearance.

Little Badger's beguiling novel includes stories within stories that enrich the main narrative, telling tales whose monumental purposes are "to be shared and remembered." She entices readers by creating a world where monsters and "powerful magics" exist alongside actual history. Rovina Cai once again gracefully illustrates Little Badger's work with delicate line drawings that act as chapter headings. Intergenerational relationships (with relatives both alive and Below) form the basis of this wonderful novel, as does Shane's sense that her family--and their ghost animals--are looking out for her. Here's hoping readers will receive more sequels, prequels, or spin-offs that take place in this fresh, compelling world. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author

Shelf Talker: Darcie Little Badger's beguiling prequel to Elatsoe features a young woman who uses her family's ability to raise ghosts to find three people, one of whom is her mother.

The bestselling Libro.fm audiobooks at independent bookstores during February:

Fiction
1. The Women by Kristin Hannah (Macmillan Audio)
2. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Penguin Random House Audio)
3. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (HarperAudio)
4. Bride by Ali Hazelwood (Penguin Random House Audio)
5. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (HarperAudio)
6. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (Recorded Books)
7. Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Penguin Random House Audio)
8. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (Penguin Random House Audio)
9. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (Penguin Random House Audio)
10. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Recorded Books)

Nonfiction
1. One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy (Macmillan Audio)
2. The Wager by David Grann (Penguin Random House Audio)
3. All About Love by bell hooks (HarperAudio)
4. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Tantor Media)
5. Die With Zero by Bill Perkins (HarperAudio)
6. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein (Macmillan Audio)
7. Be a Revolution by Ijeoma Oluo (HarperAudio)
8. Come Together by Emily Nagoski (Penguin Random House Audio)
9. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (Brilliance Audio)
10. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis (Tantor Media)