At Heartland Fall Forum this week, an incredible trend of growth emerged as the common theme between both regional cohorts, with executive director Carrie Obry citing MIBA membership at a high of 321 this year and executive director Larry Law noting that GLIBA membership is at 353, with new stores opening regularly. Law added, "I think that shows the quality of work that the board does, the quality of bookstores that are opening, and the mentorship that we offer to keep these stores going."

February Spikener

At the GLIBA membership meeting, executive coordinator February Spikener opened with an original poem, one she chose after recently processing both personal and communal grief and loss, and recognizing the importance of community resilience and resistance. "Loving one another is really what sustains us when the world collapses around us," she said, thoughtfully introducing a piece about roaches, whom she admires for their determination to survive.

Pam French, executive director of BINC, spoke briefly about the foundation's safety-net grants, professional development, and free mental health-care programs. She also highlighted the urgent work the organization is conducting in the southeastern region of the United States, responding to 23 individuals and 11 stores who have been impacted by hurricanes. BINC also awarded the first Susan Kamil Scholarships for Emerging Writers this year to five booksellers who are aspiring writers. Details for 2025 are still being worked out, and the scholarship opportunity will continue into the future.

Gary Lovely and Janet Jones

Three GLIBA members have participated in choosing National Book Awards recipients, and two of them were on hand to speak about their experiences. Gary Lovely of Two Dollar Radio HQ, Columbus, Ohio, judged works in translation this year and remarked on his passion for "bringing literature into the Anglosphere from other parts of the world." Janet Jones of Source Booksellers, Detroit, Mich., judged the nonfiction category in 2022 and described the process as "an honor, a lot of fun, and a lot of work," pointing out that evaluation was not just a matter of what the judges liked "but what would benefit the whole country." Javier Ramirez of Exile in Bookville, Chicago, Ill., who was not present, judged the fiction category in 2019.

After heartfelt farewells to retiring board members Melissa Weisberg and Tim Smith, Law introduced new programs inspired by their contributions. The Tim Smith Educational Travel Scholarship will launch in 2025, aiming to foster mentoring partnerships between a new store and a veteran one, with both stores receiving funds to cover the cost. The other new program is the GLIBA Sabbatical Scholarship, awarded this year to both Weisberg and Smith. This scholarship will be awarded annually at Heartland to booksellers who have gone above and beyond, whether by lifting up underrepresented voices, working on censorship issues in the community, or being a mentor to fellow bookstores. Funds can be used to attend Heartland events, or for personal use to take time off. In future years, the recipient will join the board in deciding whom to award next.

Spikener handed out certificates to 11 stores celebrating milestone anniversaries this year: Bike Trail Books of Loveland, Ohio, one year; Honest Dog, Bayfield, Wis., five years; RoscoeBooks, Chicago, Ill., and Bookends & Beginnings, Evanston, Ill., both celebrating 10 years; Two Dollar Radio HQ, Columbus, Ohio, 15 years; The Book Cellar, Chicago, Ill., 20 years; Loganberry Books, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 30 years; Bookies, Chicago, Ill., 35 years; Women & Children First, Chicago, Ill., 45 years; The Bookman, Grand Haven, Mich., 50 years; Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, Ill., 90 years.

Then, Smith presented the first-ever Great Lakes Bookstore of the Year Award to Lynn Mooney of Women & Children First, praising the Chicago store as "a place for all people to feel seen and supported through books, which is what we all strive to do." In accepting the award, Mooney stated, "Through it all, we stay committed to our mission to center underrepresented voices while also evolving to a more inclusive feminist future, both within our workspace and the wider world."

Next year's Heartland Fall Forum will be held October 12-16 in Indianapolis, Ind. --Dave Wheeler

Starting off the second day of MPIBA programming on Tuesday in Denver, Colo., the six authors of the books featured at the Novel Narratives keynote breakfast underscored the double meaning of the word "novel," showcasing their distinct approaches to fiction.

Pictured (l.-r.): Johnny Compton (Devils Kill Devils, Tor Nightfire); Nickolas Butler (A Forty Year Kiss, Sourcebooks Landmark, Feb. 4, 2025); Karen Russell (The Antidote, Knopf, Mar. 11, 2025); Jonathan Evison (The Heart of Winter, Dutton, Jan. 7, 2025); Michael Idov (The Collaborators, Scribner, Nov. 19, 2024); and Nnedi Okorafor (Death of the Author, Morrow, Jan. 14, 2025). (photo: Tori Henson)

Nnedi Okorafor described the metafictional aspect of her Death of the Author (Morrow, Jan. 14, 2025), some of which mines aspects of her own life--such as a surgery at age 19 for an aggressive case of scoliosis that left Okorafor, a semi-pro tennis star, paralyzed and relearning how to walk (an experience she chronicled in her memoir Broken Places & Outer Spaces). Her original angle is that the novel imagines what could happen if an author's--in this case heroine Zelu's--book were to be taken over by forces outside of her. Okorafor said the title comes from an essay by Roland Barthes that discusses how "the author and the author's work must be separate. I hate that essay." She calls Death of the Author a "literary Nigerian family saga set in Chicago" combined with "a post-human robot fable."

Johnny Compton's interest in horror began with the story of The Golden Arm. While his debut novel, The Spite House dealt with "shadows and voices in the dark," Compton said, his second novel, Devils Kill Devils (Tor Nightfire) features Sarita, watched over by a guardian angel she calls Angelo. Or is it a devil? The book opens with Angelo killing Sarita's husband on their wedding night. Compton's unusual take is his approach to horror: "Who is the real villain?" he asks. After all, in The Golden Arm, "an artifact of extreme value is buried with the corpse," Compton points out. "Often the graverobber is a family member who needs the valuable object." With that framing question, who is the villain in Devils Kill Devils?

Jonathan Evison's mother celebrated her 90th birthday on Monday. She was a single mother whose husband left when Evison was five years old, after a freak accident killed their daughter. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with jaw cancer. Evison became emotional describing what she's gone through, raising him alone. "I decided to write my mom the love story she deserves," he said, imagining an alternate narrative for her. The Heart of Winter (Dutton, Jan. 7, 2025) tells of Abe and Ruth's 70-year marriage "that weathers everything my mother did alone," Evison said. Loss of a child, marital improprieties, and differing politics. "It's somewhat about the culture wars. I want this country to heal," Evison said. "If Abe and Ruth can do it, we can do it."

The Antidote (Knopf, Mar. 11, 2025) by Karen Russell, in an original twist, overlays a sense of magic over the events of the 1935 Dust Bowl in a small Nebraska town. "It's about collapse and restoration," she said. "I joked that I was writing the sequel to Swamplandia!--'Drylandia!' " Townspeople can deposit a secret via an earhorn--the 1930s equivalent of a hearing aid, shaped like a gramophone--into the ear of the "Prairie Witch," who will hold them like a vault. Russell spoke of the research she did, including the government-funded Dorthea Lange photos familiar to many, and the "holepunched" photos buried by the politicians, the clearing of the plains that contributed to conditions ripe for a dust storm, and the flooding rains that followed. "I wanted to tell a story that would lead to solutions," Russell said, "to open the aperture and take a longer view of history."

A conversation that Nickolas Butler overheard on September 22, 2022, while sitting at the bar in the Tomahawk Room in Chippewa Falls, Wis., inspired A Forty Year Kiss (Sourcebooks Landmark, Feb. 4, 2025). A man and a woman in their 60s engage in a conversation, and at one point, he says, "I still dream about you. Can I kiss you?" Will it be a chaste kiss, Butler wondered, pretending not to eavesdrop? No. "It was super passionate. I start blushing," he recalls. "I felt I'd been given something from beyond." So begins Butler's story of Charlie and Vivian, in their 60s, meeting up again 40 years after a passionate three-year marriage dissolved due to Charlie's drinking. Butler calls it "a story of second-chance love."

Michael Idov, whose fourth novel is The Collaborators (Scribner, Nov. 19, 2024), was born in Russian-occupied Latvia to a Russian-speaking Jewish family. They came to the U.S. in 1992 and settled in Cleveland. Idov graduated from the University of Michigan, then moved to New York City, where he became a journalist and worked for New York magazine. He moved to Russia to become editor-in-chief of GQ Russia, where he lived from 2012-2014. There he made friends with Alexei Navalny and Pussy Riot, and "had a front-row seat to a country descending into madness," Idov recalled. Next was Berlin, and then back to the U.S., in Los Angeles. He wanted to write a spy novel based on his own experiences living in these countries. But he is not a spy. He had what he called two hard rules: "1) No scene will take place anywhere where I haven't lived. 2) At no point will any character speak a language I don't speak." As a follower of what he deemed "spy-fy," Idov said he was surprised by the number of CIA agents who get the details of the city they're writing about wrong. He claims you could map Moscow from his novel The Collaborators: "But don't go while Putin is in charge!" --Jennifer M. Brown

Binc director of development Kathy Bartson (l.) announced that MPIBA had raised $1,500 for booksellers during the conference. Binc development coordinator Jennifer Rojas (r.) was also on hand to celebrate. Dara Landry (center) from Class Bookstore in Houston, Tex., won the Binc Heads or Tails Game and a $250 prize.

A dozen creators presented a Buffet of Books at Tuesday's luncheon. Pictured: (front row, l.-r.): Carole Lindstrom (The Gift of the Great Buffalo, illus. by Aly McKnight, Bloomsbury Children's Books, Feb. 25, 2025); Sarah Gerard (Carrie Carolyn Coco, Zando); Joanna Cacao (The Squad, written by Christina Soontornvat, Graphix, Nov. 12); Yamile Saied Méndez (The Beautiful Game, Algonquin Young Readers); (back row) Buddy Levy (Realm of Ice and Sky, St. Martin's Press, Jan. 28, 2025); J.E. Thomas (The AI Incident, Levine Querido, June 10, 2025); Laurie Lee Hall (Dictates of Conscience, Signature Books, Nov. 20); Megan E. Freeman (Away, Aladdin, Feb. 11, 2025); Derek Lewis (Survive and Advance, Page Two, Jan. 28, 2025); Ethan Long (Hugs for Pug, Holiday House, Nov. 5); Richard Kyte (Finding Your Third Place, Fulcrum Publishing).

Fourteen authors local to MPIBA's 14-state region made the rounds to booktalk their titles to booksellers. Pictured: (front row, l.-r.): Laura Krantz (Do You Believe in Magic?, Abrams Books for Young Readers); Andrea Eames (A Harvest of Hearts, Erewhon Books, Mar. 4, 2025); Amalie Howard (Lady Knight, Joy Revolution, Apr. 1, 2025); Cynthia Levinson (Who Owns the Moon?, Margaret Quinlin Books, Jan. 7, 2025); Lydia Reeder (The Cure for Women, St. Martin's Press, Dec. 3); Nyasha Williams (Saturday Magic, Running Press Kids); John Janovy Jr. (Life Lessons from a Parasite, Sourcebooks); Marci Kay Monson (The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Gibbs Smith); Callie Fuqua (Goodnight, West Texas, Brown Books Kids, Nov. 12); (back row) David R. Slayton (Rogue Community College, Blackstone, Oct. 15); A. Kendra Greene (No Less Strange or Wonderful, Tin House, Mar. 4, 2025); Janet Sumner Johnson (The Winterton Deception 2: Fault Lines, Pixel+Ink, Nov. 12); Kristin Koval (Penitence, Celadon Books, Feb. 18); Lindsey Drager (The Avian Hourglass, Dzanc Books).

Day two of the conference closed on a high note with an MPIBA favorite: Literary Trivia, in which bookseller teams compete to come up with the title that answers the clue. Featured here is team "The Fellowship of the Quiz," with members (l.-r.): Allison Senecal (Old Firehouse Books, Fort Collins, Colo.); Jeanne Costello (Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colo.); Laura Sharp (Literally, A Bookshop, Chandler, Ariz.); Kay Brizzolara (Chapterhouse Bookstore, Amarillo, Tex.); Rebecca Leber-Gottberg (Rediscovered Books, Boise, Idaho); and Joy Rhodes (Stardust Books, Clarkdale, Ariz.).

Annie Philbrick

After almost 20 years of ownership, Annie Philbrick is selling Bank Square Books in Mystic, Conn., to two longtime employees: store manager Douglas Riggs and bookkeeper Robert Lee. 

In a message to customers and community members, Philbrick wrote: "For years, I have thought of the bookstore 24/7 and begun writing blurbs in my head as I read new releases, and while I will miss many of those habits and patterns, it has become clear to me that selling the store will usher both me and your beloved community bookstore into their flourishing next chapters."

While the sale is effective immediately, Philbrick will remain involved as a consultant for approximately six months.

Robert, she said, "will continue to pay the bills and curate his own relationships with the publishers and vendors while wearing one of his many kilts and bringing in donuts and coaching Little League. Douglas is a champion of the small presses, making the selection in the stacks even more eclectic.

"In these past 18-plus years, together with our thoughtful and creative staff, we have grown Bank Square Books into what it is today, bringing us great satisfaction and respect for the work. I have complete confidence in Douglas and Robert to continue to ensure that Bank Square Books remains one of the most well-known, locally owned and fiercely independent bookstores."

Philbrick noted that she prefers the term "rewiring" to "retiring." She has relocated to the Pacific Northwest, where "the next chapter will come to me as it came to me when the time was right in 2006 to buy the bookstore in Mystic."

She thanked Riggs, Lee, and "all of our past and present creative staff for their hard work and dedication to our bookstore; Dan, in particular, as the longest employee of Bank Square Books. Thank you to the publishers, credit reps, sales reps, publicists, and editors who have supported our store through the years. Everyone in this ecosystem of independent bookstores makes the magic happen. No one can do this alone."

As Hurricane Milton heads toward Florida and recovery efforts continue across six states in the wake of Hurricane Helene, Sourcebooks is matching all gifts made to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation up to $10,000, regardless of size. You can donate here.

As of Monday, October 7, Binc had already received 34 calls for help from 11 stores and 23 individuals, with many more expected; and free mental health wellness is being offered to anyone in need.

"We hear from more book and comic people every day," said Binc executive director Pam French, "and we know from experience that the need will continue to grow as the waters recede, power and cell phone signals return, damage can be assessed, and the cleanup begins. We are especially grateful for the support of our friends at Sourcebooks as we watch a second hurricane take aim at Florida."
 
The foundation receives requests every day from book and comic store employees and owners experiencing unforeseen emergency financial, medical, and mental health hardships, and has helped stores around the country recover after natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"We're incredibly grateful to Binc for their crucial work," said Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks publisher and CEO. "Sourcebooks is proud to uplift our bookselling partners in any way we can, and we hope our support helps local booksellers and their families in this time of great need for so many communities." 

Hurricane Milton is now threatening Florida even as the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene is still being dealt with throughout the Southeast. 

In North Carolina, Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville has launched a $1,000 GoFundMe campaign to help "in recovery for our ability to operate & recoup even a small amount of lost revenue. Despite our setbacks, we continue to work in the community to provide mutual aid & relief during these difficult moments. Thank you, AVL for decades of love. We hope to be here for many more." As of this morning, the fundraiser has exceeded $6,000.

In an earlier post, Malaprop's recommended that those wanting to help "consider donating to BINC [Book Industry Charitable Foundation]. They don't just help one bookstore in times of crisis; they help every indie in the nation when they can. And more importantly, they help booksellers. My grandmother used to say as all grandmothers do 'this too shall pass' and it will. Our booksellers will still be here because BINC helped them in some small way. Not only that, but other bookstores in WNC can also use those funds. We want to make sure that they and theirs can do this too. This isn't a situation that will end in a week, but donating to BINC can ensure that some of the strain is eased."

Highland Books, Brevard, N.C., checked in offering refuge: "We are here to help in any way that we can! We are open every day during our regular hours." A sidewalk chalkboard sign outside the store noted: "We love you, Transylvania County! We're in this together, so stop by if you need electricity to charge your devices or any information. Need a book, but are struggling? Ask us to show you our free book cart."

In Florida, many bookstores were closing for storm prep ahead of Hurricane Milton. Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg, posted an update yesterday: "Storm surge is expected to be 8-12 feet in our area. The good news, everyone, is that the bookstore is 30 feet above sea level! It's a cinder block building, built in the '50s and thanks to friends and booksellers we are boarded up. Now, we wait."

Blinking Owl Books in Fort Myers, which is still dealing with flood damage from Helene, posted on social media: "Once again, we find ourselves struggling to put what we want to say into words, because y'all showed up for us in such a big and wonderful way this past week! You graciously gave us your time, your labor, your emotional support, your boxes and bags, your water and treats, and, also, your monetary support. Y'all showed us the very best of what being in community with one another can be, and we're ever so grateful to you for that.

"For a myriad of logistical reasons, we'll not be returning to our storefront at 2150 W. First St. But don't fret, we PROMISE we're not going anywhere!! We're simply on the hunt for a new space in Fort Myers to call home! As we work to complete this quest, we're so excited that we'll also have the opportunity to pop-up and share stories with y'all at some of the truly remarkable events happening all over Fort Myers this Season!"

Lore Segal, "a virtuosic and witty author of autobiographical novels of her life as a young Jewish Viennese refugee in England and as an émigré in America," died October 7, the New York Times reported. She was 96.

Lore Segal

In 1938, she was one of 500 Jewish children who boarded a train in Vienna as part of the British-organized Kindertransport, and would live with four families over seven years. Her parents followed her there in 1939, entering the country on domestic servant visas. Segal eventually settled in New York, where "she found her métier by telling tales of her exile," the Times noted. 

Segal worked as a clerk, a secretary, and a textile designer, taking night classes at the New School. In 1961, she married David Segal, who was then working in his father's textile company, but went on to be an editor at Knopf. 

Other People's Houses, her memoir-disguised-as-a-novel, first appeared in serial form in the New Yorker before it was published as a book in 1964. She became a regular contributor to the magazine. 

The book established Segal's place in the city's literary ecosystem, and "she went on to skewer, uproariously, the chattering, questing, anxious tribe in which she found herself. Lucinella (1976), a fantasy-satire, took on Yaddo, the writer's retreat in upstate New York, of which she was an alumna, among other familiar settings," the Times wrote. Her 2007 novel Shakespeare's Kitchen was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

"I want to write about the stuff--in the midst of all the stew of being a human being--that is permanent, where Adam and Eve and I would have had the same experiences. I really am less interested in the social change," Segal told the Associated Press in 2011.

In Her First American (1985), Segal wrote about a young European Jewish refugee and her love affair with a charismatic and catastrophically alcoholic middle-aged Black intellectual, inspired by her own five-year relationship with Horace R. Cayton, a Black sociologist who died in 1970. 

The book took 18 years to write. "I knew my Horace, I knew my Carter Bayoux, and I was raring to go," Segal said in a 2022 interview. "But I had no idea how to make a character out of the Ilka person. I settled on making her a newcomer and a naïf because I wanted to trace her Americanization and her growing sophistication by the use of her language."

Segal taught creative writing at Columbia, Princeton, Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington, Ohio State University, and the University of Illinois Chicago, to which she commuted from New York City for 14 years. Her fifth novel, Half the Kingdom, was published in 2013. She was also a prolific children's book author and a translator of the Bible and of Grimm's fairy tales, which she adapted into contemporary English in a collaboration with Maurice Sendak, titled The Juniper Tree (1973).

Melville House published Segal's books for the latter part of her career, including her last novel, Half the Kingdom; the novella Lucinella; an anthology collecting her fiction and nonfiction, The Journal I Did Not Keep; and her final book, the story collection Ladies Lunch.

Valerie Merians, Segal's editor at Melville House, said, "Lore was a woman of great charm and curiosity--about others, about all of life. Even at the end. Everything interested her. As she would say, 'Everything is copy.' And you can see it in her writing--so alive with inquiry and compassion. How wonderful that we have her brilliant work to visit with, though she herself is gone."

Heyday, based in Berkeley, Calif., is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a publisher in 2024, and Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, Calif., put together this display showcasing a selection of Heyday's publications, new releases and backlist gems.

Posted on Instagram by BookPeople, Austin, Tex.: "I feel like you're just here for the tote bags."

Emily Canders is promoted to associate director of publicity, Dutton.

---

Nina Leopold has been promoted to associate publicist at Ecco.

---

At Macmillan:

Gwyneth Bechunas has been promoted to associate manager, national accounts on the trade sales e-books team.

Kelsey Gallotte has been promoted to associate national account manager on the e-book retail & library team.

Christina Venkatesh, national account manager, has moved from the e-books team to the Barnes & Noble team.

Make a Little Wave by Kerry O'Malley Cerra (Carolrhoda Books).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Yvette Manessis Corporon, author of Daughter of Ruins: A Novel (Harper Muse, $18.99, 9781400236114).

The View: Trevor Noah, author of Into the Uncut Grass (One World, $26, 9780593729960).

The Talk: Wilmer Valderrama, author of An American Story: Everyone's Invited (Harper Select, $29.99, 9781400336579).

Late Night with Seth Meyers: Alice Paul Tapper, author of Use Your Voice (Penguin Workshop, $18.99, 9780593752142).

Anne Hathaway is returning for Princess Diaries 3, based on Meg Cabot's bestselling YA and adult Princess Diaries book series, Deadline reported. Hathaway, who confirmed her return on Instagram, first played teen Mia Thermopolis in the original Princess Diaries film (2001), and followed that up in 2004 with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

The new movie will be directed by Adele Lim, who wrote Disney's animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), made her directorial debut with Lionsgate's R-rated comedy Joy Ride (2023). Lim's credits also include being a writer-producer on One Tree Hill and Lethal Weapon as well as co-showrunning Star-Crossed. She also wrote the Jon Chu-directed rom com Crazy Rich Asians, based on the book by Kevin Kwan.

Debra Martin Chase will produce Princess Diaries 3. Executive producers include Lim's producing partner Naia Cucukov and Melissa Stack. Flora Greeson is writing the screenplay. Other original cast have not yet been confirmed to return to the third installment.

The shortlist for the $15,000 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize has been selected. Each shortlisted author receives $1,000. The winner will be named December 10 at the Center for Fiction Annual Awards Benefit. This year's shortlisted titles are

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel (Viking)
The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao (Flatiron Books)
They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar (Zando/SJP Lit)
Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich (Knopf)
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty (Tin House)
God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas (Grand Central Publishing)
Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga (Tin House)

---

Shortlists have been released for the £2,000 (about $2,615) Polari Prize, the £1,000 (about $1,305) Polari First Book Prize, and the £1,000 Polari Children's and YA Prize, the Bookseller reported. The U.K. awards, honoring emerging and established LGBTQ+ writers, are sponsored by FMcM Associates, DHH Literary Agency, and Ash Literary Agency. The winners' prize ceremony will be held November 29. This year's shortlisted titles are: 

Polari Book Prize 
Killing Jericho by William Hussey 
The Gallopers by Jon Ransom 
The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants by Orlando Ortega-Medina 
Forty Lies by David Shenton 
Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado, translated by Jamie Richards 
Hard Drive by Paul Stephenson 

Polari First Book Prize 
Neon Roses by Rachel Dawson 
Local Fires by Joshua Jones 
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle 
Bellies by Nicola Dinan 
Greekling by Kostya Tsolakis 
Transitional: In One Way or Another, We All Transition by Munroe Bergdorf 

Polari Children's and YA Prize
Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn 
Out of the Blue by Robert Tregoning 
The Fights that Make Us by Sarah Hagger-Holt 
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
Away With Words by Sophie Cameron 

photo: JJ Geiger

Lilliam Rivera is a MacDowell fellow and an award-winning author of nine works of fiction: a forthcoming horror book, four young adult novels, three middle grade books, and a graphic novel for DC Comics. Her books have been awarded a Pura Belpré Honor, been featured on NPR, the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and multiple "best of" lists. Rivera is a Bronx, N.Y., native, and currently lives in Los Angeles. Tiny Threads (Del Rey Books, September 24, 2024) marks her adult debut, a chilling tale set in the world of fashion.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

Tiny Threads is a dark thriller about an ambitious woman who goes to work for a legendary Californian fashion designer and encounters nightmarish visions instead.

On your nightstand now:

I'm currently reading Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, and it is triggering how the writer captures the disturbing monotony and rage of being a first-time mother. A raw and funny take on the collective mother as a monster.

Favorite book when you were a child:

My favorite book as a child was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. There's something quite dark about a young girl chasing after a talking bunny while taking drugs.

Your top five authors:

I want to give flowers to the authors currently writing beautiful and innovative work, so my top five authors are Angie Cruz, Caro De Robertis, Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, and Esmeralda Santiago. These authors have been so generous, have opened doors for so many, and have helped shape the writer I am today.

Book you've faked reading:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a book I thought I've read. I certainly know what happens in the book, but maybe it's because I've seen movie adaptations of the book.

Book you're an evangelist for:

If there's any book I'm obsessed with it is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I read it every year. Shelley cleverly introduces the question of who the real monster is with one who only wants to be accepted by his creator.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton was published to coincide with an exhibition of the fashion designer's work at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. When I was writing Tiny Threads, I thought of McQueen a lot and how each of his collections drew from such dark and sensuous places. The 3D cover of Savage Beauty is also both chilling and gorgeous.

Book you hid from your parents:

All the kids at St. Simon Stock Elementary School in the Bronx, New York, were sharing a copy of Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Looking back now, it's so strange to remember how captivated we all were and way too young to understand the gothic story.

Book that changed your life:

The book that changed my life is Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son. As a person who's been sober for over 20 years, when I read this short story collection I felt such an affinity to the lost souls he depicts. It's also the reason why I wrote Tiny Threads, to find a way of chronicling a Latina's ascent into addiction and paralleling it to the haunted city she moves to.

Favorite line from a book:

My favorite line from a book comes from our most treasured writer Jesmyn Ward and her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing: "I like to think I know what death is." Ward's works, but particularly this novel, use genre to explore traumatic experiences as a person of color, something I strive to do in my own work.

Five books you'll never part with:

The five books I'll never part with all fall under the tent of the horrific history of colonialism. Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor is a gut-wrenching fairy tale of sorts that is relentless in its prose. While They Sleep (Under the Bed Is Another Country) by Raquel Salas Rivera is a collection of poems about Puerto Rico and the aftermath of Hurricane María. War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony by Nelson Antonio Denis is a powerful account of the island's 1950 revolution and the United States's intervention. The Annotated Frankenstein, edited by Susan J. Wolfson and Ronald L. Levao, is a reminder of the destruction of science and power. And finally, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is about colonization that still reflects our current times.

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

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez has a beautiful first line about scented almonds and unrequited love. I was in college when I first read the translated book and went on to read it several more times. It's an epic tale of romance.

Hilary Horder Hippely (A Song for Lena) champions courage and kindness while presenting a difficult and relevant topic--unhoused families--in I Know How to Draw an Owl. Award-winning illustrator Matt James (The Funeral) elevates Hippely's heartfelt story with his richly layered, deeply saturated art.

"Today we're drawing owls," Ms. Rio announces. Among her students' results, Belle's work is especially notable: "Belle's owl almost looks alive!" Belle merely shrugs in response; she knows exactly why, but she's hardly ready to tell. Once upon a time, Belle and her mother had their own house, "with a table and chairs and a sleepy cat." But these days, they live in their "old blue car," in a "shady park." Belle's mother assures her it's "the perfect place... when it gets dark." They're lucky, too, Mom insists, because of a nearby hoot owl keeping watch over them. One night, Belle finally meets their avian guardian: "He stayed with me for a long, long time, I think to say--I'm glad you're here. I like sharing my home with you." And that's why Belle can "draw an owl so well." With the owl's wisdom to guide her, she knows just how to welcome the new kid, recognizing he, too, is likely unhoused. "I understand," she promises. "I'll keep my eye on you."

Hippely's rhythmic text gently reveals the heavy reality happening on the page. As a teacher, Hippely's experience with unhoused students is personal, and her descriptive story depicts "the bravery of the students who come to school each morning, and the bravery of the parents who try tirelessly to keep hope alive." James's stupendous spreads, created with acrylic paints, never downplay the hardships children and their families face. As the bus delivers students home, soft brightness bathes classmates' homes; where Belle lives, darkness falls, offering shelter, yes, but not without anxiety of the unknown. Mom sleeps while Belle lies awake trying to adjust to a "strange, new place." The "big and wild" owl, as he flies toward Belle, takes up a whole spread, his wings spanning far beyond the pages. James uses artful details to add to the story, showing kitty-less Mom and Belle, cracks in the wall around a classroom windowpane, and fading car paint. Challenges abound, but a caring hand and unexpected friendship are empathetic antidotes to uncertainty and fear. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: The challenges of being unhoused are gently revealed in this empathetic picture book, exquisitely enhanced by superb illustrations.