Bank Square Books' current location.

Bank Square Books, Mystic, Conn., is moving this September a mile and a half to a site that has 6,000 square feet of space, about the same size as its current location downtown, but with an open floor plan. The new location is at 80 Stonington Road, with neighbors that include Nest, Mystic Yoga Shala, Giabonni's & Co, and Board & Brush Creative Studio, all across from a Big Y supermarket.

Owner Annie Philbrick, who is also v-p of Binc, explained, "We love the downtown location and the visibility we have received. The current floor plan is a little too divided for our needs, making it difficult to run special events such as our author series, book signings, etc. The new wide-open floor plan gives us added visibility and site lines within the store with better opportunities to merchandise books and gifts as well as host events."

Bank Square Books has signed a five-year lease and has put its downtown building up for sale.

Philbrick added, "We're looking forward to providing a more encompassing experience at the new location. We'll miss being on the corner, and an anchor store of downtown Mystic, but we're excited for what's next. We've told a few of our local customers, and they can't wait."

Arnaud Nourry

Arnaud Nourry, the former longtime head of Hachette Livre, has founded a publishing company, Les Nouveaux Éditeurs, which has entered into a first-look agreement for future editorial acquisitions with Simon & Schuster. Under the agreement, each company has the first opportunity to acquire projects for its market which satisfy certain parameters and for which the other company has acquired world rights. The agreement also provides for the two publishers to join forces in auctions, and to bid together for series, licenses and other multi-book acquisitions.

Noting its purchase of Dutch publisher VBK last month, S&S described the agreement with Les Nouveaux Éditeurs as "representative of its ambition to expand the scope of its international publishing efforts, in English, translated work, and foreign languages."

S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp called Nourry "one of the most dynamic and respected leaders in both French and international publishing. We are full of joie de vivre as we join what promises to be a significant and exciting new publishing enterprise, and to be extending our reach into a major market in which reading and literary culture are valued to an extraordinary degree."

Nourry said, "Jonathan Karp and I go back a long way. When the opportunity arose to work together again, I was thrilled. Jonathan is an outstanding publisher who runs the powerhouse that Simon & Schuster has become with authority and skill. As a leader on the American market, he wanted to extend his reach internationally at a time when I was planning the launch of Les Nouveaux Éditeurs. Talk about planets being aligned! The fact that this partnership is based on friendship makes it all the more propitious."

Nourry left Hachette Livre in 2021 after 18 years as chairman and CEO. According to the Bookseller, Les Nouveaux Éditeurs is "an independent, free-standing and innovative" group of publishing houses for French authors, publishers and creatives. The company will give publishing talents a "substantial minority stake" in the publishing house and aim to offer "best in class" contracts. Les Nouveaux Éditeurs will also use "leading edge technologies," including AI, for production, marketing and distribution, from print runs to promotion and publicity.

Barnes & Noble made the top initial bid for the Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo., BusinessDen reported, citing "a source familiar with the process." As BusinessDen put it, "No bid has been approved and Barnes & Noble could still lose out or back out. But if approved by the company's board of directors and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge, the sale is sure to send shockwaves through the nation's publishing and bookselling industries."

Tattered Cover, which filed for bankruptcy last fall, is in the middle of a process to sell the company. It had scheduled an auction for yesterday, but cancelled it on Tuesday.

The final day of Children's Institute 2024 began Wednesday morning in New Orleans, La., with a keynote breakfast spotlighting Black publishing.

Kwame Mbalia, author and publisher of Freedom Fire Books, Bria Ragin, editor at Joy Revolution, and Cheryl Willis Hudson, author and publisher of Just Us Books, convened to share their experiences, insights, and hopes for the industry. Britt J. Camacho, the American Booksellers Association's DEIA and communications senior copy editor, moderated the discussion.

Hudson and her husband founded their publishing company in 1988, at a time when there were "only a few" Black authors and illustrators being published by the major houses. Just Us Books rose from their desire as parents to find "good books for our children," and after self-publishing a book of their own, they decided to do it full-time. The name, which people often note can be read as "Justice Books," was inspired by the fact that it really was "just the two of us," Hudson recalled. Their aim has been to publish authentic stories that feature "regular children doing regular things" and share the joys and the wonders of being a kid.

Left to right: Kwame Mbalia, Bria Ragin, Cheryl Willis Hudson, and Britt J. Camacho

Mbalia, who writes the Tristan Strong series of middle-grade books, said that his journey to being a publisher "all comes back" to being a "young reader who just wanted more, more, more stories." After years of championing and highlighting Black books through book clubs and newsletters, his editor eventually approached him and asked if he wanted to work together on starting an imprint designed to uplift Black stories. The imprint's name, he remarks, is meant to evoke the freedom to read and the feeling a child gets when they pick up a book and feel like it was written just for them. "We want to spark a change. We want to ignite again that love for reading."

Ragin shared that her desire to publish Black authors and stories began in high school. She was an avid YA reader but didn't see herself in those books, and from early on wanted to "get into publishing and do YA romance." She studied creative writing in college, worked as a bookseller at a chain bookstore, interned at a literary agency, and worked at HarperCollins for about four years. In October 2020, when she saw the announcement for the Joy Revolution imprint, which publishes "swoony" teen romance novels featuring characters of color, she thought, "was this made for me?"

Camacho noted that in her DEIA work, she sometimes encounters people who question the need of bringing up identity at all, who suggest that it is better to simply call oneself a publisher rather than a Black publisher; she asked the panelists what it means to them to put their identity out there.

Hudson responded that it "really is important to put that out there." She wants people to know that Just Us is a publisher that is authentic and is part of the community that it represents. She also pointed out that those sorts of questions inadvertently highlight the assumptions and biases of the people asking them. As an example, she mentioned that a story featuring a white child can be considered universal and relatable to anyone, but replace that child with a Black or Asian child and suddenly the same story is not universal. It becomes identified as a Black book, or an Asian book, or whatever the character's identity may be, even though it is still "universal and talks about the human experience."

Mbalia brought up an analogy that was inspired by his four-year-old son and which he returns to often: "When you go to a birthday party that is not for you, you still have fun." You'll get some cake, play some games, possibly walk away with a goodie bag, and "you're going to have fun. But the day is not for or about you." Nevertheless, everyone is having a great time. "So when we say we're publishing books about uplifting and celebrating Black culture and Black stories, that doesn't mean that you can't read them and enjoy them."

Ragin mentioned the concept of equity in publishing and explained that it is "not saying that I'm the same as my white counterparts, my white editors and colleagues, it's giving me the extra resources and support so that I can be as successful as them knowing that I'm fighting many battles." She also discussed how people sometimes talk about reading diverse books like it's a reminder to eat one's vegetables. "These are commercial stories that anybody would love," she said. "This is not homework. I want this to be like you are reading this book just as you would a Sarah Dessen book. That's what I want to get to."

The keynote talk concluded with the panelists sharing ways independent booksellers can help support Black publishers and authors. Mbalia suggested they reach out to publishers about schools in their area that are "hungry" for author visits, especially in the middle-grade space. Hudson said that so many valuable connections have come from booksellers and librarians, and she encouraged indies to "buy our books, invite us to your stores" and keep doing what they're doing to forge connections with their communities.

As a former bookseller, Ragin highlighted how vital and powerful handselling is, and encouraged indies to host as many events as they can and display diverse titles in prominent positions. "You guys are really, really vital to making all of our books a success." --Alex Mutter

A group of independent U.K. retailers have filed a £1 billion (about US$1.3 billion) damages claim against Amazon alleging the company has been pushing them out of its online marketplace. The Guardian reported that the claim, brought by about 35,000 sellers and headed by the British Independent Retailers Association, "asserts that between October 2015 and the present day, Amazon used non-public data belonging to the retailers to inform the launch of its own rival products." The claim also alleges that Amazon manipulated access to its "buy box" to divert shoppers away from independent retailers to its own items.

Bira said Amazon was already charging its members a "non-negotiable 30% commission on every product sold on the site" and claims that, by "misusing their proprietary data to bring to market rival products that are sold cheaper, Amazon is effectively pushing many of the U.K.'s independent retailers out of the market.... The consequences of Amazon's abusive conduct have been to inflate its profits and harm the U.K. retail sector, especially the smaller independent retailers who are struggling at a time of difficult economic circumstances."

Bira CEO Andrew Goodacre commented: "One might ask, why would an independent retailer use Amazon if it is so damaging to their business? In reality, we have seen a significant shift in consumer buying behavior and, if small businesses want to sell online, Amazon is the dominant marketplace in the U.K. As a result, for small retailers with limited resources, Amazon is the marketplace to start online trading."

A spokesperson for Amazon said: "We have not seen this complaint, but based on the reporting so far we are confident that it is baseless and that this will be exposed in the legal process. Over 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses in the U.K. sell on Amazon's store, more than half of all physical product sales on our U.K. store are from independent selling partners, and the fact is that we only succeed when the businesses we work with succeed."

--- 

The Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland has launched several initiatives addressing two of its key priority areas: sustainability in bookselling and offering support to booksellers who work on their own.

This includes the third phase of its Bookseller Sustainability Grant, with £40,000 (about $50,920) available to booksellers for projects in the final installment of the £100,000 (about $127,305) the trade body has invested over two years. 

As a part of this initiative, Amber Harrison of FOLDE Dorset in Shaftesbury has been appointed the BA's inaugural "sustainability mentor," while Debbie James, owner of Kibworth Books in Leicester and v-p of the BA, has been named its "sustainability champion."

BA managing director Meryl Halls commented: "Sustainability has been a crucial point in our agenda for some time now, and in addition to the third batch of our Sustainability Grant, we're delighted to appoint Amber and Debbie as sustainability mentor and champion respectively. They'll be able to offer additional advice and guidance to booksellers who want to take concrete steps towards making their shops more sustainable."

The BA is reconvening its Sustainable Bookselling Group to act as a driving force in the search for ways in which booksellers can identify relevant issues in this space, conduct research and gather data, help each other solve problems, and source innovative ideas and initiatives. 

The association is also creating a Lone Working Group to assist those booksellers who frequently work alone. It is intended to be a self-help group, and will be primarily operate as a Facebook Group where booksellers can communicate with others facing similar challenges. The BA has set up the group in response to the increasing number of booksellers who are operating without full time supporting staff, to share experiences and advice or to bounce ideas off someone in a similar situation.

Halls added: "In addition, with the Lone Working Group, we are keen to offer assistance to any bookseller who spends significant amounts of time working alone. The BA exists to create a network where booksellers can come together to share experiences and tips, and we believe that a dedicated group for booksellers working solo will help build a stronger sense of community."

--- 

Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand released the results of the organization's Booksellers Pulse Survey--Autumn 24 #001, which has two parts: the first includes four key metrics that will be repeated each survey to help understand business performance, industry confidence, well-being, and advocacy. The second part of the survey allows Booksellers Aotearoa NZ to explore a different theme, beginning initially with supply.

"All our members operate in a local community and have local challenges that are often unique and difficult," the association noted. "This survey does not capture those specifically, but it does capture some of the bigger, macro themes that are affecting our membership and therefore informing the work we do to help bookshops survive and thrive. We'll be pulsing three times a year and over time we'll begin to see trends; for now we have some clear benchmarks." --Robert Gray

T.D. Allman (photo: Cheng Zhong Sui)

T.D. Allman, "a free-spirited journalist who challenged American mythmaking in pointed, personal reporting over five decades on topics as varied as the Vietnam War and contemporary Florida," died May 12, the New York Times reported. He was 79. His "colorful reporting from all over the globe--for Harper's, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, National Geographic and other publications--combined close observation with sharp conclusions that often pointed the finger at U.S. misdeeds or at others abusing power."

"Tim was good on the ground in dodgy republics as he covered their leaders like Arafat, Sihanouk and Qaddafi," former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter recalled. "He spent a good amount of time in Haiti, at which point we worried that we had lost him to the spirits down there. Regardless of the hardships, he always returned with rich, operatic epics that were memorable. And expensive."

Describing Allman as "funny, irreverent, insightful, opinionated," Jonathan Randal, a former Washington Post correspondent, told the Times that he admired Allman "for his courage and his quick tongue.... He cultivated a kind of foppish screwball persona to go along with his acerbic pen."

After graduating from Harvard in 1966, Allman joined the Peace Corps in order to avoid the Vietnam War draft. He broke his first big story in 1968 when he exposed the CIA's secret war against the Communists in Laos. His dispatches led to Congressional investigations in the U.S., and he went on to document the CIA's involvement in the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia, then helped rescue massacre victims there during the Pol Pot regime. He later was briefly kidnapped in Beirut and witnessed first-hand the events in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. As foreign correspondent for Vanity Fair, he interviewed the likes of Yasser Arafat, Boris Yeltsin, Helmut Kohl, and Manuel Antonio Noriega.

Allman was also an author, writing books that focused on American foreign policy and on Florida, where he had been born. His first book, Unmanifest Destiny, critiquing America's approach to foreign policy, was published in 1984. It was followed by Miami: City of the Future (1987), Rogue State: America at War with the World (2004), and Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State, which was published by Grove Atlantic in 2013 and longlisted for the National Book Award. 

His last project, In France Profound: The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People, will be published this summer. It explores his house in the southwest of France, the village in which it is located and the deep connections he discovered there with France's past.

Grove Atlantic executive editor George Gibson said, "I feel honored and privileged to have worked with Timothy on In France Profound, which we will publish this August. As a writer, he could make connections nobody else would even imagine, and his prose has a special clarity. He would have relished bringing his beloved French mountain town of Lauzerte to life in the promotion of In France Profound, something we will now do in his honor."

"He was a man of tremendous courage," his partner, Cheng Zhong Sui, told the Times. "He would definitely face it. T.D. doesn't yield. He's not a negotiator. And he had the best charm."

Tiffany D. Jackson (l.) discussed her latest book, Storm: Dawn of a Goddess (Random House Books for Young Readers), with book buyer Kim Brock at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Powell's City of Books, Portland, Ore., shared a photo of the shop's recent "Land Back isn't a metaphor" chalkboard design from a display of curated titles on decolonization. The art is by Syan Lunsford, bookseller lead. 

Ember (The Tier One Thrillers) by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Blackstone Publishing).

Tomorrow:
Today Show: Nicole Vignola, author of Rewire: Break the Cycle, Alter Your Thoughts and Create Lasting Change (HarperOne, $29.99, 9780063349797).

Drew Barrymore Show: Sara Jane Ho, author of Mind Your Manners: How to Be Your Best Self in Any Situation (Hachette Go, $29.49, 9780306832833).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, June 15
9:30 a.m. Diana Carlin, Nancy Kegan Smith, and Anita McBride, authors of Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America's History-Making Women (Cognella Press, $29.95, 9798823313193). (Re-airs Saturday at 9:30 p.m.)

Sunday, June 16
9:05 a.m. Garrett Bucks, author of The Right Kind of White: A Memoir (‎Simon & Schuster, $27.99, 9781982197209), at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, Wis. (Re-airs Sunday at 9:05 p.m.)

10 a.m. Ernesto Londoño, author of Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics (Celadon Books, $29.99, 9781250878540). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

2 p.m. Travis Rieder, author of Catastrophe Ethics: How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices (Dutton, $30, 9780593471975), at the 2024 Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, Md.

2:45 p.m. McKay Coppins, author of Romney: A Reckoning (‎Scribner, $32.50, 9781982196202), at the 2024 Gaithersburg Book Festival.

3:34 p.m. Carlos Lozada, author of The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians (‎Simon & Schuster, $29.99, 9781668050736), at the 2024 Gaithersburg Book Festival.

6:50 p.m. Jen Psaki, author of Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World (Scribner, $28.99, 9781668019856).

The winner of the €25,000 (about $27,115) German Nonfiction Book Prize is Tausend Aufbrüche. Die Deutschen und ihre Demokratie seit den 1980er Jahren (A Thousand New Beginnings. Germans and Their Democracy Since the 1980s) by Christina Morina.

The prize jury said: "There is a broad consensus that democracies around the world are in crisis. Yet the question of what it actually means to live democracy is often pushed into the background. Using sources that have received little attention to date, Christina Morina shows how a very different understanding of democracy developed in East and West Germany since the 1980s. Her methodically sophisticated and eye-opening contemporary historical analysis based on letters, petitions and leaflets gives a voice to citizens of East and West Germany. With this book, Morina offers surprising and necessary insights to spur current social debate. Her book risks a great deal, but without polarizing--democracy is a process, not a condition."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, June 18:

On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci (Viking, $36, 9780593657478) is a memoir by the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

The Legend of Mad Max by Ian Nathan (Palazzo Editions, $32, 9781786751423) is a guide to and celebration of the Mad Max film series.

Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass by Ramin Setoodeh (Harper, $32, 9780063139909) chronicles Trump's reality TV years.

When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30, 9780374605445) explores a pivotal point in modern American history.

Red Sky Mourning: A Thriller by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bestler, $29.99, 9781668047071) is the seventh thriller with Navy SEAL James Reece.

Middle of the Night: A Novel by Riley Sager (Dutton, $30, 9780593472378) follows a man whose long-missing childhood friend may have reappeared.

Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs (Ace, $30, 9780593438985) continues the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series.

The Next Mrs. Parrish: A Novel by Liv Constantine (Bantam, $30, 9780593599921) is a sequel to the bestselling The Last Mrs. Parrish.

Sandwich: A Novel by Catherine Newman (Harper, $26.99, 9780063345164) follows a family during a week's stay on Cape Cod.

Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopoulou (Razorbill, $19.99, 9780593528747) is the sequel to Threads that Bind, featuring a teen with the powers of the Greek Fates.

Masquerade of the Heart by Katy Rose Pool (Holt, $20.99, 9781250846686) is the final book in the author's Garden of the Cursed duology.

Live Free, Eat Well: Elevated Cuisine for Outdoorsy Travelers and Modern Nomads by Adam Glick (DK, $32, 9780744099454) is a cookbook for making meals in unconventional spaces.

Paperbacks:
Well, This Is Me: A Cartoon Collection from the New Yorker's Asher Perlman by Asher Perlman (Andrews McMeel, $19.99, 9781524892050).

Small Talk: 10 ADHD Lies and How to Stop Believing Them by Richard Pink and Roxanne Pink (Ten Speed Press, $16.99, 9780593836996).

Call It What You Want: A Novel by Alissa DeRogatis (Sourcebooks Landmark, $17.99, 9781464223365).

A Deceptive Composition: A Lady Darby Mystery Book 12 by Anna Lee Huber (Berkley, $18, 9780593639412).

Invisible Loss: Recognizing and Healing the Unacknowledged Heartbreak of Everyday Grief by Christina Rasmussen (Sounds True, $19.99, 9781649630070).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Swiped: A Novel by L.M. Chilton (Gallery/Scout Press, $27.99, 9781668045701). "Twisty, smart, and kept me guessing until the very end--and the absolute skewering of dating apps is so entertaining. I felt breathless page after page as Gwen races around town to find a serial killer. Loved it!" --Carolyn Hutton, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts, Berkeley, Calif.

Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir by Zoë Bossiere (Abrams, $27, 9781419773181). "A moving memoir that illustrates what it feels like to be othered when your way of being doesn't align with societal norms of masculinity and femininity. Bossiere captures the hot, dusty wildness of Cactus Country, a wildness mirrored in young Zoë." --Bryanne Hoeg, Powell's Books, Portland, Ore.

Paperback
Beyond That, the Sea: A Novel by Laura Spence-Ash (Celadon, $18.99, 9781250854391). "When a family takes in a young British girl during World War II, she changes their lives and they change hers. Summers on a Maine island add to the wonder of the story. Told over decades and on both sides of the ocean, this story captured me." --Sue Boucher, The Cottage Book Shop, Glen Arbor, Mich.

Ages 2-5
Up High by Matt Hunt (Nosy Crow, $18.99, 9798887771090). "Whether way up high or down below this charming title will be sure to grow your heart three sizes big. Filled with beautiful illustrations, Hunt's latest picture book is the perfect way to show kids to look at things from a different lens." --Jess Fuentes, Wild Rumpus, Minneapolis, Minn.

Ages 9-12
The Things We Miss by Leah Stecher (Bloomsbury Children's Books, $17.99, 9781547613021). "Remember 7th grade? The body changes, cliques, first fight with your BFF, and P.E. What would you do if all those uncomfortable moments could just be skipped? The Things We Miss is a time travel coming-of-age story that reminds us what it means to be present." --Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, Ga.

Teen Readers
The Vanishing Station by Ana Ellickson (Amulet Books, $19.99, 9781419764226). "Ruby knows that ever since her mother died, her father has changed. As the book opens, Ruby follows her father in an attempt to find out what is really going on, only to discover a magical underworld full of secrets, art and trains. An outstanding debut!" --Shannon Alden, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Mich.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

"Bookstores, even the little ones, can shape the world around them. They already have," writes Evan Friss in The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, a fantastic journey that delves into the impact of independent bookshops on the social and cultural fabric of the United States. And they are bookshops, as Friss points out, not bookstores--venues that navigate a careful balance between community and commercial spaces. The Bookshop traces these places, from Benjamin Franklin's existence as a "shopkeeper who sold books," whose efforts "can be viewed as attempts to unite the colonies through knowledge," through Boston's Old Corner in the 1800s and its introduction of browsing into bookshop culture, and all the way up to the modern day and the people who fight to keep these places open.

Bookshops have always been under threats--commercial and existential--that have included public libraries, radio, movies, television, mass-market paperbacks, superstores, e-books, and Amazon. Friss likens them to "endangered species," with only 5,591 independent bookshops in the nation, or one for every 59,283 people in 2021, down from 13,499 bookshops in 1993. But they have also adapted to times and political climates, uniting communities across geographies, and shaping societies around them, through revolution, abolition, Pride, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Friss explores not only historical moments in the rise of the bookshop, but also significant bookshops that have become communities unto themselves. He writes about how shops became both refuges and organizing spaces, how subcultures both found a center around which to meet and became targeted through these spaces. He also illustrates how bookshops supported and directed publishing markets through the establishment of publisher fairs and how Frances Steloff of NYC's Gotham Book Mart created the Writers' Emergency Fund, versions of which still provide needed aid today.

Friss (On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City) reminds readers that above everything, people go to bookshops because they "often just want company," and that these hybrid "literary playgrounds and capitalist enterprises" are also "critical sites for intellectual, social, political, and cultural exchange" that "nurture existing communities and foster new ones." The Bookshop argues persuasively that not only are these institutions a crucial part of U.S. social and political history, but that they are also worth fighting for in the face of a new generation of technological and financial threats. Be sure to find a copy through your local independent bookshop. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: Evan Friss's history of independent bookshops reminds bibliophiles why these spaces are the ideal places to get lost and escape reality.