Semicolon Books is opening a new location in downtown Chicago, Ill., this week, Block Club Chicago reported.

Danielle Mullen outside the new store.

Located on the ground floor of the Wrigley Building at 400 N. Michigan Ave., the bookstore will sell candy along with books and feature a comfortable lounge area where shoppers can sit and relax. The book inventory will be broader and more mainstream than at other Semicolon locations, and the candy selection will include things like gummies.

A grand-opening celebration is scheduled for tomorrow, July 12, and store owner Danielle Mullen told Block Club she expects the downtown location to be open until at least January. She plans to start hosting events there in August.

Mullen opened the store in partnership with the Magnificent Mile Association, and the store's rent is being covered by a Storefront Activation Program grant, which is issued by the City of Chicago. She explained that the downtown store is meant to introduce Semicolon to a wider audience: "This is just to introduce the world to us, this space."

Semicolon has a location in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, at 1355 W. Chicago Ave., which debuted in April and focuses primarily on young adult titles. At the same time, another location is in the works for the Garfield Park neighborhood. Originally slated to open earlier this year, that project has been slowed down by construction delays. Last year, Semicolon switched from a for-profit model to a nonprofit model.

"The three spaces in Chicago will be it for us," Mullen told Block Club. "And I'm happy that they're all in three completely different spaces and have three completely different purposes."

Hares & Hatters Bookshop hosted a grand-opening celebration last month at 200 S. Main Street, Suite G, in Pocatello, Idaho. Co-owners Nicki Stanton and Jamie Wood had launched their business in December 2022 as an online store and holiday pop-up, with the goal of eventually opening a physical storefront.

The genesis for the new bookstore's name came from the owners' desire "to evoke the magic of stumbling upon a hidden gem in a European alley. Inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the name stuck and became a beloved part of the store's identity," BYU-Idaho Radio reported. 

"I just kind of joined on a whim and really became super interested in this idea of having an independent bookstore in Pocatello, especially after traveling around and seeing all of the amazing things that bookstores do for their community," Stanton said. "I really underestimated the amount of time and effort that it would take to redo the space. We touched every surface, we redid floors, ceiling, electrical. It took us about five weeks instead of four, but we were there every day doing construction. So, it's amazing now being able to go into the space, lock the door and leave and not have to go home and scrub paint out of my hair."

After finding a location, they still had to renovate the space, then learn how to navigate the complexities of the bookselling industry, which they're still trying to master. Although these challenges proved difficult, the community and other booksellers from the American Booksellers Association were there to help, BYU-Idaho Radio wrote.

"We didn't actually know how to get books, which is really funny. It took us about six months," Stanton said. "I'd get onto these ABA conference calls and there's all these seasoned booksellers talking about real problems and then I'd type my question, 'How do you guys buy books?' And so, it was a really funny process."

She also emphasized that Hares & Hatters isn't just about selling books; it's about fostering community in their town. The bookstore has already hosted some local vendors and plans on holding several author visits and book signings. "We have two authors that are already scheduled to come in August. We're really excited about that," she said. "We've had other authors reach out and we're just trying to find a good fit with schedules and times."

Green Heron Bookshop, a new and used bookstore in San Marcos, Tex., will move to a new location in August at 504 Burleson St. from its current W. Hopkins St. space, where the shop opened last February, Community Impact reported.

Wade Vetiver

Observing that the new location will have more space for events and inventory, owner Wade Vetiver said he wants to "amp up" his poetry on the porch and book clubs, and offer story time for children. There will also be a lounge area. In addition to books, Green Heron sells San Marcos-related postcards, Texas art, and stickers.

Announcing the impending move in an Instagram post recently, Vetiver called the new location "a historic steam-boat Victorian home built in 1865!!!! July is the last month we will be at the current location on Hopkins, please come see us before we go. A huge thank you to this wonderful community who has made it possible to take the bookshop to a new level, full of magic. Many blessings."

Penguin Random House's Random House Publishing Group is acquiring BOOM! Studios, the comic book, graphic novel and licensed storytelling publisher and studio. BOOM! Studios will join Random House Worlds, which includes Del Rey, Inklore, and the RH Worlds licensing program. The companies said that BOOM! Studios will retain its editorial and publishing independence, and its titles will continue to be distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors to the direct market and Simon & Schuster to the bookstore trade. There are no plans to relocate the BOOM! Studios offices in Los Angeles, Calif.

Founded in 2005 by chairman Ross Richie, BOOM! Studios has four imprints: BOOM! Studios, BOOM! Box, KaBOOM!, and Archaia. It has published such original work as Keanu Reeves's BRZRKR, Something Is Killing the Children, and Lumberjanes and licensed work involving Power Rangers, Dune, The Expanse, Garfield, Firefly, Labyrinth, and Dark Crystal. BOOM! Studios has also produced many feature films and TV series, including 2 Guns (2013), The Empty Man (2020), Just Beyond (2021), and Mech Cadets (2023). It is currently in production on Butterfly, a live-action series for Amazon Prime Video starring Daniel Dae Kim and Reina Hardesty.

Richie commented: "It's every entrepreneur's dream to launch a company, build it, and sell it to the best. I'm excited to hand the reins of BOOM! over to the best and largest publisher in the world. Their focus on readers and retail partnerships will build upon our work and help our creators achieve even more success. Personally, it's time for me to take some much-needed time off with my family and explore what's next."

Scott Shannon, president of Random House Worlds, said, "Over the past several years Random House Worlds has partnered with BOOM! Studios on various projects and had the benefit of seeing first-hand their best-in-class comic publishing. Ross and his team have built a dynamic, imaginative home for a diverse and talented roster of creators. We are thrilled to welcome BOOM! Studios to our house, and now work side-by-side with this imaginative team. The acquisition of BOOM! Studios is a major step in Penguin Random House's expansion of support to the direct comics market and a key part of our commitment to being the best publisher for creators across all categories."

Robert Irwin

Author, scholar and historian Robert Irwin, best known for a series of 10 historical and fantastical novels, died June 28. He was 77. The Guardian reported that his first book, The Arabian Nightmare, was already written in the late 1970s when Irwin attended a writing course at Morley College in London.

It was there he met another aspiring novelist, Eric Lane, who would go on to found Dedalus Press and publish The Arabian Nightmare as one of Dedalus's first three books.

"There was great excitement when Hatchards in Piccadilly had sold a copy of The Arabian Nightmare," Lane said, "but unfortunately it was later found out of position in the bookshop." The novel was later republished by both Penguin and Dedalus, and has been translated into 20 languages.

In addition to novels such as The Limits of Vision (1986), Irwin also published a series of nonfiction works about the Middle East and Islam, including The Arabian Nights: A Companion (1994), Islamic Art (1997), Night and Horses and the Desert: The Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature (1999), The Alhambra (2004), Mamluks and Crusaders (2010), and Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography (2018).

The most controversial of Irwin's works was "his polemical study For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their Enemies (2006), published in the U.S. as Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents. There he took issue with Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) and its pervasive influence," the Guardian noted.

Irwin studied modern history at Merton College, Oxford, and then worked on a thesis about the Mamluks, which remained incomplete. He converted to Islam at this time and, as he recalled in Memoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics and the Sixties (2011), entered a Sufi order as an initiate, in the Algerian town of Mostaganem.

In London "he tried LSD, anarchism, theosophy and everything else that the '60s had to offer," the Guardian wrote, adding that these early experiences and others served as material for novels like Satan Wants Me (1999), The Runes Have Been Cast (2021), and Tom's Version (2023); the latter two were two-thirds of a trilogy that Irwin was working on at the time of his death.

"His love of books, meanwhile, led to the creation of a library that was, he confessed, more abundant than orderly," the Guardian noted. His study "ran not only to an astrolabe, purchased in a Damascan souk, but a Qur'an stand 'bought very cheap in an auction in Scotland in the 1970s,' a number of Venetian carnival masks, a brass celestial globe 'bought in a street market in Mumbai' and an armillary sphere 'which came from a church jumble sale.' "

On Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer road-tripped across the state to support indie bookstores while signing copies of her new book, True Gretch (Simon & Schuster), before flying out to promote the book in New York. On social media, Whitmer shared video highlights of the tour, as well as pictures from Schuler Books in Okemos, Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Book Beat in Oak Park, and Source Booksellers in Detroit. 

Congratulations to Chapter One Book Store, Hamilton, Mont., which is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a block party this Saturday, July 12, 5-8 p.m. The party will include music by the Mudflaps, plus "food provided by House of Ferments, drinks courtesy of the Hamilton Downtown Association and authors ready to sign books. The kids will have plenty to do between the dunk tank, sprinklers and face painting. Oh and there will be ice cream. So put on your best from 1974...."

The store added: "We couldn't have made it this far without you! Thank you for your continued support and here's to the next 50 years!"

The most popular book club titles at Reading Group Choices in June were The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer (Flatiron Books) and Such a Bad Influence by Olivia Muenter (Quirk Books).

In the Hachette Book Group children's sales group:

Danielle Cantarella has been promoted to executive director, children's sales. She joined the group in 2018, serving as Barnes & Noble national account manager, associate director, and liaison for Workman Kids. 

Yesenia Corporan has joined the children's sales team as educational wholesale sales manager, selling to accounts that include Mackin, Great Minds, Scholastic, and Literati. She joined HBG from Workman in 2022.

Allison (Allie) Stewart has been promoted to associate national account manager and will continue selling to Books-A-Million while adding Target to her account mix.

Katharine (Katie) Tucker, senior national account manager for Baker & Taylor and Ingram, will add Follett and Booksource to her selling responsibilities.

Anna Herling, senior national account manager, will continue to manage all Readerlink serviced accounts and add children's sales at airport retailers.

The UFO Paradox: The Celestial and Symbolic World of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena by Keith Thompson (Bear & Co.).

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.

Sunday, July 14
9 a.m. Karl Weber, editor of Why Books Still Matter: Honoring Joyce Meskis‎ (Rivertowns Books, $19.95, 9781953943309). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m.)

10 a.m. Soraya Chemaly, author of The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth After Trauma (‎Atria/One Signal, $28.99, 9781982170769). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

2 p.m. Tricia Rose, author of Metaracism: How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives--and How We Break Free (Basic Books, $30, 9781541602717).

4:40 p.m. Anna S. Mueller, author of Life under Pressure: The Social Roots of Youth Suicide and What to Do About Them (‎Oxford University Press, $29.99, 9780190847845).

5:46 p.m. Sarah Thornton, author of Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us about Breasts (W.W. Norton, $28.99, 9780393881028), at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.

Nathanael Lessore and his editors, Ella Whiddett and Ruth Bennett of Hot Key Books, won the 2024 Branford Boase Award for Steady For This. The award honors the author and editor(s) of a debut novel for young people. The author gets £1,000 (about $1,285) for the win, and he and the editors receive engraved trophies.

"Every book on this year's shortlist represents the very best of children's literature and shows how the publishing industry is adapting to the needs of children and young people today," said Christine Pillainayagam, the 2023 winner and a judge this year. "Despite strong competition, Steady for This was a unanimous winner. A bright, funny, moving story that felt joyful and fresh, we couldn't wait to read more of Nathanael's work."

Lessore said: "My publisher Hot Key Books and my editors Ella and Ruth have played the role of genie in a lamp granting wishes. The best thing about this award is that I get to share it with my genies. Together, we've produced a book that brings a smile to people's faces, and I will forever be grateful to the Branford Boase Award for choosing Steady for This as this year's winner." 

Whiddett commented: "We knew Nate was a very special writer from the first page of this extraordinary story about an ordinary boy living and laughing through the growing pains of teenage-hood. Years after that first read, Steady for This continues to bring such joy to my life, so to be shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award with this book in particular was truly special."

Bennett added: "It's such an incredible honor for the editorial partnership between Nate, Ella and me to be recognized by the judges. Working on bringing Nate's unforgettable characters and unique storytelling skill to readers has been a satisfying and hugely enjoyable experience from start to finish."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, July 16:

The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur by Lev Grossman (Viking, $35, 9780735224049) is a new reimagining of the King Arthur legend.

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Shadow by Brian Freeman (Putnam, $29.99, 9780593716458) is the 19th thriller with Jason Bourne.

White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power, edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker (Tor Teen, $20.99, 9781250861269) is a YA anthology of horror stories by BIPOC authors in which every kid of color "survives the first kill."

The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld by Dan Slater (Little, Brown, $32.50, 9780316427715) examines organized crime in pre-World War I New York City.

Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age by Kathleen Sheppard (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250284358) explores female Egyptologists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great by Rachel Kousser (Mariner, $35, 9780062869685) chronicles Alexander the Great's final campaign.

The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession by Amy Stewart (Random House, $32, 9780593446850) includes 50 illustrated vignettes about people obsessed with trees.

Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist by Jasmin Graham (Pantheon, $28, 9780593685259) is the memoir of a young Black scientist.

The Lost Story: A Novel by Meg Shaffer (Ballantine, $29, 9780593598870) follows two friends who went missing in a Narnia-like land for six months as children.

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones (S&S/Saga Press, $29.99, 9781668022245) is a slasher horror novel set in 1980s Texas.

The Black Bird Oracle: A Novel by Deborah Harkness (Ballantine, $32, 9780593724774) is book five in the All Souls fantasy series.

Gamerville by Johnnie Christmas (HarperAlley, $15.99, 9780063056817) is a middle-grade graphic novel that features a young video-game player who, having just qualified for a championship, is instead sent by his parents to a summer camp where electronics are forbidden.

Paperbacks:
The Body in the Backyard: A Riley Thorn Novel by Lucy Score (Bloom Books, $18.99, 9781464216558).

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto (Forever, $17.99, 9781538740910).

The Birds, the Bees, and the Elephant in the Room: Talking to Your Kids About Sex and Other Sensitive Topics by Rachel Coler Mulholland (Union Square, $18.99, 9781454953708).

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce (Berkley, $19, 9780593548424).

Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann (Bloom Books, $13.99, 9781464218682).

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

Hardcover
Margo's Got Money Troubles: A Novel by Rufi Thorpe (Morrow, $28, 9780063356580). "Thoughtful, funny, empathetic. Margo's deep fears of not being a 'good' person resonate. Her career on OnlyFans felt original and exciting without minimizing the prejudice and violence that surround sex work. An ultimately uplifting read." --Maggie Kane, Little City Books, Hoboken, N.J.

Devil Is Fine: A Novel by John Vercher (Celadon, $28.99, 9781250894489). "I held my breath while reading Devil Is Fine; struck by the utter tangibility of everything unfolding. Vercher channels the weight of grief, racism, individual frailty, and communal failure into a novel that also elicits humor and humanity." --Stephanie Jones-Byrne, Malaprop's Bookstore/Café, Asheville, N.C.

Paperback: An Indies Introduce Title
Zan: Stories by Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh (Dzanc Books, $17.95, 9781950539932). "Zan is a collection of stories that puts me in the heart of Iranian women's lives. Beautifully written, tragedy captured--there is much to learn from stories like these." --Matt Aragon-Shafi, West Side Books, Denver, Colo.

Ages 4 to 8
What Love Looks Like by Laura Obuobi, illus. by Anna Cunha (HarperCollins, $19.99, 9780063222434). "Just gorgeous. And magical. I love the journey that she goes on with her father. There is a little nod to Where the Wild Things Are--a safer, gentler version, but filled with imagination no less." --Jessica Devin, Brewster Book Store, Brewster, Mass.

Ages 10+
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko (Knopf Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 9781524718923). "Hank and his little sister Boo must fend for themselves when their mom doesn't come home. The circumstances are so painful but the characters are so endearing and vulnerable, the writing so clear and believable. Another winner from Choldenko." --Robin Stern, Books Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

Teen Readers: An Indies Introduce Title
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell (Heartdrum, $19.99, 9780063318670). "This book is a powerful and thought-provoking story about the importance of community, the search for belonging, and the heart-wrenching realities of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). This book will leave you on the edge of your seat, challenging you to see through the smoke and discover the killer." --Kromeklia Bryant, Solid State Books, Washington, D.C.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Rumaan Alam (That Kind of Mother; Leave the World Behind) offers a slow-burning, insidiously creepy study of money and culture in his quietly distressing novel Entitlement.

Native Manhattanite Brooke, at 33, feels hopeful about her new job at a charitable foundation, following nine unhappy years spent teaching at a charter school. "People heard the Bronx and thought lead paint, asthma, trucks, and whores at Hunts Point," but it wasn't funding that was the issue, exactly. She's not professionally ambitious so much as she yearns for a little more than she has. The new job is initially just that--until she forms a special bond with the octogenarian billionaire, the famously self-made Asher Jaffee, whose money she disburses. Brooke embraces his advice to "Demand something from the world. Demand the best. Demand it." As she sinks into the sumptuous life Asher invites her into, Brooke becomes increasingly confident in the demands she makes of the world, sure that she is doing good and doing well. With Alam's signature tone of building foreboding, however, the reader becomes less and less sure.

Money is at the heart of Entitlement: what money can and cannot buy; how to give away Asher's; where Brooke can find more for herself. Her financial status is, if not perfectly secure, not uncomfortable (even if nothing like her dear friend Kim, whose trust fund runs to the unspecified millions). Meanwhile, race is a more understated part of her story. Brooke, a Black woman with a white mother and a white brother (she's adopted), "spent most of her time with white people, who never discussed the allegiance of race, because they did not need to." Moreover, "Brooke didn't care to defend the fact that she felt more loyalty to an old white man than a Black woman her age."

Her difficulties with priorities and identity are most apparent in conversations with a robust cast of family and friends, and with the woman whose humble but humming community dance school Brooke would like to fund: the older Black woman is self-assured, yet resists Brooke's help in a way she doesn't comprehend. "Brooke didn't know how to phrase it. Would the money not make them happier? Wasn't that how money worked?"

Entitlement explores the difference between "wants" and "needs" through Brooke's contrast to the dance school proprietor, who insists she does not need Asher Jaffee's money. Alam is ever adept and incisive with the subtle examination of interpersonal as well as systemic issues: race, class, ambition, avarice. Entitlement provides a deceptively silky backdrop for the kinds of thrillingly uncomfortable questions at which Alam excels. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: With an atmosphere that is sexy, enchanting, and unsettling, Rumaan Alam's expert fourth novel probes concepts of privilege, wealth, value, and morality.