"It's a strange time to be alive. It's a very strange time to be a writer," said author Elif Shafak (There Are Rivers in the Sky; The Bastard of Istanbul), during the Frankfurt Book Fair's opening press conference yesterday.

Shafak contrasted the current moment, one she called full of "tribalism, destruction, and othering," to the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union, when there was a "sentiment of optimism in the air." At the time, some of the most optimistic voices belonged to the tech industry, who "told us that through the proliferation of digital technology," people around the world would become informed citizens making informed decisions, and liberal democracy would inevitably "spread all across the globe."

She noted that while these optimistic voices claimed that history was linear, something that "could only move in one direction," storytellers knew better. "We never treat time like that. For us, time is more cyclical. And we know that time sometimes moves forwards, but sometimes it moves backwards."

Elif Shafak

Jumping back to the present, Shafak described a "troubled world" that "remains deeply polarized and bitterly politicized, and torn apart by inequality and wars, and the cruelty that we're capable of inflicting upon each other but also on Earth." At the same time, while there is more information at our fingertips than ever before, there is "little knowledge and even less wisdom."

Although "snippets of information rain on us every day," Shafak continued, filling our social media feeds, "we have no time to process." Hyper-information "gives us the illusion of knowledge," but real knowledge "cannot be rushed." At the same time, this deluge of information cannot help us build emotional intelligence or empathy. Amid such a state of affairs, Shafak wondered, "what can writers and poets even hope to achieve?"

For cultivating knowledge and wisdom, she said, for building empathy and emotional intelligence, "we need literature." Storytelling is something "universal and ancient" that "cannot be confined." It is "all about connections," and the literary mind "cannot be isolationist."  "If we care about water scarcity," said Shafak, "we have to care about gender inequality. If we care about gender inequality, we have to care about racial inequality, and so on."

Writers of course "adore stories," but Shafak said she believes they are as "equally drawn to silences, the things we cannot easily talk about." Writers "organically move" toward anyone "whose story has been erased, pushed to the margins, or forgotten." Literature "brings the periphery to the center," and has the ability "to re-humanize people who have been dehumanized."

Writers must "become memory keepers" and, like archeologists, "dig deep through layers of history and layers of silences." And in a time of hyper-information, instant gratification, and climate destruction, Shafak said, "I think literature is and has to be an act of hope and an act of resistance. Not resistance through force, but through its capacity to remind us of our shared humanity."

Shafak acknowledged that it is "not easy" to keep one's faith in literature when "existential angst affects us all." But lots of seemingly negative emotions like anxiety, anger, or resentment, can actually be seen "as sources of raw energy" for actions that are constructive and positive. "The only emotion that really, really frightens me is the lack of all emotions," she said. If this "age of angst were to become an age of apathy," the world will become a much more dangerous and broken place.

"The moment we stop caring, the moment we stop writing, and the moment we stop talking about what's happening in Gaza today, what's happening in Ukraine today, what's happening in Sudan today, the moment we become desensitized and atomized and indifferent and numb," Shafak said, we will have reached "what the philosopher Hannah Arendt has warned us about."

Shafak added that she knows writers cannot stop wars nor erase hatred. "But what we can do is keep the flame of peace, and coexistence, and empathy, and human dignity alive." --Alex Mutter

Foxes & Fireflies Booksellers hosted its grand opening celebration last weekend at 1401 Tower Ave., Superior, Wis. The store had soft launched late in the summer.

Owner Maria Lockwood told WDIO she wants the store to become a community hub: "An independent bookstore can be like the heartbeat of a town. It's where people can come to meet and get together and talk and share ideas and just find inspiration.... We want this to be a community space, not just a place for you to buy books, but a place for you to sit down, read a few books, talk to some friends, play a game of checkers, just have this as a community hub for Superior."

In a Facebook post during the festivities, Lockwood noted: "Hello, readers. It's been a whirlwind weekend, and the fun keeps rolling Sunday with prize drawings at 4 p.m. Come on down and put your name in the bucket, and look through the stacks of books at your Superior bookstore. Keep the pages turning."

Prior to the soft opening at the end of August, the Duluth News Tribune reported the store would be offering a mix of new and used books, focusing on local authors and community preferences. Located in the former federal post office space, Foxes & Fireflies "will be part of the Superior Entrepreneurship Center, which has three business incubator spots managed by the Development Association, a nonprofit that also manages the Douglas County Revolving Loan Fund."

"This is our starter space. We're hoping that people love it so much that we outgrow it real fast," said Lockwood, adding that she plans to hosts events like book clubs, book parties, and story times. "We'd love people to come and utilize our space for their knitting group, or they could start their own book club. Or if kids want to come and do a chess night here, an art club night."

Lockwood also explained the origin of the bookstore's name: "I wanted a name that reflected the community I grew up in. Fireflies are just pure magic, when you catch a glimpse of them in the summer. To me, that thrill of catching sight of a firefly is the same feeling I get when I find and read a good book. Foxes are a beautiful part of our Northland home, and they are so often found in classic literature. Foxes are known for their intelligence and curiosity, the same traits that bring people to books."

Emerson Sistare, owner of the Toadstool Bookshops in Keene and Peterborough, N.H., has purchased ALRAN Books, an educational bookseller based in Harrisville, N.H., the Keene Sentinel reported.

Emerson Sistare

Founded by Alison Weber nearly 30 years ago, ALRAN Books sells directly to public schools both within N.H. and around the country. It offers trade books, educational material, and professional development materials for teachers and administrators, sourced from more than 350 publishers.

The sale closed last month, and Weber plans to stay on as a consultant for three years to help Sistare learn the idiosyncrasies of the business. Weber noted that the acquisition will allow Sistare to "diversify his market" and reach educators outside of N.H.

"It's been a great experience," Weber told the Keene Sentinel. "There's a good time for things to come to an end, though. Emerson, he's got a lot of great energy, and I'm excited for where he'll take things."

Last year, Sistare and his family purchased two Toadstool Bookshops from Willard and Holly Williams. The Williams family founded the bookstore in 1972.

Barnes & Noble will officially open its new bookstore in Bull Run Plaza at 10776 Sudley Manor Dr. in Manassas, Va., today, Wednesday, October 16. The grand opening festivities will feature author Maggie Stiefvater cutting the ribbon and signing copies of her books. 

"We are so pleased to return to Manassas in time for the holiday season," B&N said. "When we vacated our previous Sudley Road location earlier this year, it was a top priority to find a new home in this community. Now it is our great pleasure to open this beautiful new Barnes & Noble just five minutes away from where we spent the last 25 years."

John Gierach, "beloved fly-fishing author and original 'trout bum,' " died October 3, Fly Fisherman magazine reported. He was 78. His many books include Trout Bum; All Fishermen are Liars; Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders; Sex, Death, and Fly Fishing; No Shortage of Good Days; Even Brook Trout Get the Blues; The View from Rat Lake; Still Life with Brook Trout; and Fool's Paradise. 

John Gierrach (photo: Michael Dvorak/@mikedflyphotography)

Gierach's "down-to-earth prose, easy-reading style, and serious-fishing-but-light-hearted approach endeared him to generations of anglers, and made him feel like everyone's fishing buddy," Fly Fisherman noted. "One of his titles, All the Time in the World, has sadly proven false. Rest in peace, John. We're better off for having your words."

"Some people seem timeless. until they're not," said longtime friend and fishing artist Bob White. "I imagine John is sitting in a wonderful coffee shop, perched over a river, surrounded by all the friendly dogs in the neighborhood. That'd be heaven for him."

Author Matthew L. Miller posted on social media: "Rest in peace, John Gierach. I've been reading Gierach's books for more than 30 years. He captured the experience of fly fishing with wit and wonderful turns of phrase. One of the best."

In addition to his books, Gierach wrote countless magazine articles and columns for publications ranging from TROUT magazine to Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Starting in 1992, he wrote the back-page column for Fly Rod & Reel, with each piece illustrated by White. After the magazine folded in 2017, Gierach and White continued their writing and illustrating partnership at TROUT magazine.

Hatch magazine wrote: "For many, Gierach's was the voice they heard in their heads when they fished. His simple, yet thoughtful approach to fly fishing resonated with fly fishers all over the world. Through his books, articles and columns, he reached millions. Yet, within the tightly knit fly fishing community, Gierach was eminently approachable and, as his collaborator and friend White said on Friday, 'he was the same way in real life as he was in his writing.' "

"I've been lucky to get to spend some time with him over the years," added White. "He was the real deal. He was honest and sincere. He had a sharp sense of irony. You knew exactly what you were getting when you talked with John."

Kensington celebrated Emily Rath's upcoming North Is the Night (December 17), a fantasy epic based on Finnish mythology, with a bookseller dinner at Freemans Restaurant in New York City. Pictured: (l.-r.) Chandlar West (PRH), Shireen Zacharius (Kensington), Noa Segal (Shakespeare & Co.), Emily Giglierano (Astoria Bookshop), author Emily Rath, Mindy Chen (WORD Bookstores), Karen Brissette (Shakespeare & Co.), Adam Zacharius (Kensington). (photo: Matt Johnson)

"Things have been mighty hectic at the bookshop this fall," Cavalier House Books, Denham Springs, La., posted on Facebook, adding: "We decided to have a PJ reading party for morale. It was a cozy day the only problem is we all were a little sleepy! Now we just need a snack."

"Love and Books. Congrats to Nir and Sarah who got engaged at BookPeople recently! We were so appreciative to help put this magical moment together," BookPeople, Austin, Tex., posted on Instagram.

At Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing:

Amelia Johnson has been promoted to assistant manager, marketing operations and events. She was most recently a marketing coordinator.

Amaris Mang has been promoted to assistant marketing manager for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Beach Lane Books and Paula Wiseman Books. She was most recently a marketing associate.

Karina Itzel has been promoted to marketing coordinator for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Beach Lane Books and Paula Wiseman Books. She was most recently a marketing assistant.

---

Simon & Schuster's Special Markets team:

Jennifer Lipman has been promoted to associate director, special markets.

Sophia Gutierrez has been promoted to sales associate, corporate & premium sales.

Jordan Moslowski has been promoted to sales associate, special markets.

The Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade by Nicholas Nugent (Brandeis University Press).

Tomorrow:
The View: Stanley Tucci, author of What I Ate in One Year (and related thoughts) (Gallery Books, $35, 9781668055687). He will also appear on the Kelly Clarkson Show.

Tamron Hall: Venus Williams, author of Strive: 8 Steps to Find Your Awesome: Discover Venus Williams's Secrets to Success and Wellness in this Must-Read Self-Help Book (Amistad, $29.99, 9780063278233).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Bob Woodward, author of War (Simon & Schuster, $32, 9781668052273).

Apple TV+ has released a trailer for the second season of Silo, the hit series based on Hugh Howey's sci-fi stories, including the novellas Wool, Shift, and Dust. Created by Emmy-nominated screenwriter Graham Yost, who also serves as showrunner, the 10-episode season 2 will premiere globally November 15 on Apple TV+ with the first episode, followed by one new episode every Friday through January 17, 2025.

Starring and executive produced by Rebecca Ferguson, the second season of Silo has added Steve Zahn (The White Lotus, Treme) to a returning cast that includes Tim Robbins, Common, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, Avi Nash, Alexandria Riley, Shane McRae, Remmie Milner, Clare Perkins, Billy Postlethwaite, Rick Gomez, Caitlin Zoz, Tanya Moodie, and Iain Glen.

Silo is produced for Apple TV+ by Apple Studios. The series is executive produced by Yost, Michael Dinner, Nina Jack, Joanna Thapa, Ferguson, Morten Tyldum, Howey, Fred Golan, Rémi Aubuchon, and AMC Studios.

Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been named this year's International Writer of Courage. Presented to a writer "who is active in defense of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty," the honor was announced by 2024 PEN Pinter Prize winner Arundhati Roy. Alaa Abd el-Fattah was selected as co-winner by Roy in collaboration with English PEN's Writers at Risk Program. Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, accepted the award on Alaa Abd el-Fattah's behalf. Roy also said that her share of the prize money will be donated to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund. 

A British-Egyptian writer, software developer, and activist, Alaa Abd el-Fattah is "one of the most prominent political prisoners in Egypt and has spent most of the past decade behind bars. He was most recently arrested in 2019 and was sentenced in December 2021 after spending two years in pre-trial detention," English PEN noted. "Despite completing his unjust five-year sentence on September 29, 2024, the Egyptian authorities have refused to release him, failing to account for the time he spent in pre-trial detention, in defiance of international legal norms and Egypt’s criminal law."

Roy commented: "Why did I choose the jailed writer and blogger Alaa Abd el-Fattah as the Writer of Courage to share the PEN Pinter Prize with? For the same reason that Egyptian authorities have chosen to keep him in prison for two more years instead of releasing him last month. Because his voice is as beautiful as it is dangerous. Because his understanding of what we are facing today is as sharp as a dagger's edge."

Accepting the award on behalf of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Attalah said: "For those of us who are engaged in a quest of truth finding, through writing or journalism or other avenues, Alaa's courage lies somewhere there. It is, as orated by Bertolt Brecht in an anti-fascist gathering, the courage of recognizing the truth when it is hidden, the skill to turn it into something we can fight with, the cunning of finding in whose hands to put it and spread it. In his writing; newspaper articles, social media posts, and prison letters, Alaa was finding the truth in and through language; and he has always been doing it not as a self-serving act of contemplation, but as an invitation to learn, think along and move on with it. In prison, his writing became a fugitive body on incarceration as the ultimate underside of state management. Such were the politics of his writings that are worthy of this recognition."

Naomi Klein, who delivered the encomium, added: "Alaa Abd el-Fattah embodies the relentless courage and intellectual depth that Arundhati Roy herself so powerfully represents, making her selection of him as the Writer of Courage profoundly fitting. Despite enduring a series of unjust sentences that robbed him of over a decade of freedom, his liberation continues to be denied. This prize, shared between two vital voices, reminds us of the urgent need to continue to raise our own in a call to 'Free Alaa' at long last." 

photo: Kip Carroll

Sophie White is a novelist, essayist, and podcaster from Ireland and holds a degree in sculpture from the National College of Art and Design. Her first four books--Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown, Filter This, Unfiltered, and The Snag List--have all been bestsellers and award nominees. Her memoir, Corpsing, was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Michel Déon Prize for nonfiction. Where I End (Erewhon Books, September 24, 2024) is a modern gothic horror novel in which a young woman falls into a dark obsession after a new artist and her baby arrive on her small Irish island. It won the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel.

Handsell readers your book:

Where I End is the batshit love child of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so if messed-up families, creepy houses, and bad dinner parties are your thing... dive in!

On your nightstand now:

Right now I am reading The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell. It's a layered and vivid family drama about the Bird family who live in a rambling, seemingly idyllic house in the Cotswolds in England. But all is not well with the matriarch, Lorelei, and as Jewell takes us deeper into the troubled heart of this family, things get grimmer and grimmer.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I devoured the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine--that guy is a legend.

Your top five authors:

Stephen King, Meg Wolitzer, Celeste Ng, Maggie O'Farrell, Marian Keyes.

Book you've faked reading:

I faked reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown! Mainly because there was a period of time when you couldn't MOVE for people asking if you'd read it! The world went cuckoo for this book. I remember sitting on a train and counting 12 people in the one carriage reading it. Anyway, in 2003 if you said that you hadn't read it, people would start nagging at you saying "you HAVE to read it," which I hate--feels like being given homework--so I just started saying I had.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Possession by A.S. Byatt. Possession is one of my all-time favourite books. I have reread it three or four times, and every time I stand in awe of what Byatt made. It's practically four books in one: it's a contemporary mystery, a Victorian love story, and a "collected works" of two very different poets. It follows two young scholars researching the lives of two Victorian poets. As they trawl through old letters, journals, and poems, a fascinating examination of passion and obsession emerges. An absolute banger.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. The cover is in the style of Japanese artist Hokusai, and it is so epic. Then of course the book is one of my favourites of the last five years. It follows Sam and Sadie from the time they meet as kids and bond over their shared love of video games to adulthood when their friendship must weather fame and betrayal and tragedy. The rich world Zevin has rendered is addictive--not unlike the worlds of the video games that so much of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is preoccupied with. If you, like me, never got into video games, do not be put off. I adored the insights and found a new appreciation of an art form I am totally ignorant of. Also, Sam and Sadie are now my favourite (platonic) literary couple of all time!

Book you hid from your parents:

Probably The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Not because they were Catholic or anything like that but because I always remember my mum really sternly telling me that I was NEVER EVER to do a ouija board. I naturally went on to kind of do one. Yes, you can "kind of" do a ouija board!

Book that changed your life:

I think it was Carrie by Stephen King. I loved books when I was a kid but it wasn't until first year of secondary school that I got ahold of this book and felt my world opening wider. Not only was Carrie utterly compelling and frightening, it's also a really accessible read and the perfect gateway drug to King's formidable back catalogue. I was obsessed with the book's structure--it's a sort of meta-narrative that uses newspaper clippings, letters, and excerpts from other books to tell Carrie's story of being a teenage girl coming into her (supernatural) powers and exacting revenge on her sadistic classmates and mother. I think a good indicator of how much you love a book is if you can remember where you were when you read it. The books I'm reading always colour my days. When I think of reading Carrie, not only is the book vivid but so is my 13-year-old self reading it. I remember what it felt like skulking in the stacks of the new "grown up" library at my new "grown up" school and feeling as lost as Carrie, though thankfully not as homicidal!

Favorite line from a book:

There are so many quotable lines from Andy Weir's books but I particularly love this from The Martian:

"He's stuck out there. He thinks he's totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man's psychology?" He turned back to Venkat. "I wonder what he's thinking right now."

LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! Makes no sense."

Five books you'll never part with:

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Possession by A.S. Byatt
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Shining by Stephen King
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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

I'd love to read Great Circle again by Maggie Shipstead. I just loved the vastness of this story, and it is just so well told. It's a long book, and I never wanted it to end.

Do you believe in reading every book to the end whether you're enjoying it or not?

For years I used to force myself to finish every book I started, but then it occurred to me that there is a finite amount of books in every lifetime. For the average reader like me, I may only ever manage to cram in about four and a half thousand books. With that realisation, I promptly started abandoning books that weren't doing it for me. It's very liberating; I highly recommend. I usually give the book 100 pages before I'll call it. Then it's on to the next one!

In Goodbye, Hello: A Going Home Travel Adventure, author Angela H. Dale (Bus Stop) and artist Daniel Wiseman (When Your Llama Needs a Haircut) infuse a weighty topic with charm and joy: the separation and reunion of U.S. military families. Dale and Wiseman add a significant layer by revealing a breadth of diversity--in this family, there are two mothers of clearly different ethnicities who are parents to two BIPOC children. Given the not-so-long-ago U.S. military policy of "Don't ask, don't tell" for LGBTQ+ military personnel, Goodbye, Hello certainly underscores progress toward growing acceptance and empathic inclusion.

On a New York City sidewalk, a mother and her two young children are ready for transit, saying goodbye to the grandparents as a yellow-cab driver begins to load their luggage: "One last hug./ Strap and click./ Airport, please./ Quick, quick, quick." A long journey awaits the trio, through the international terminal, long lines, and a "hustle, bustle" to reach their gate. Once on board, it's soon "Wheels go round./ Rumble, whoosh./ Goodbye, ground/ Cars and buildings/ shrink--goodbye./ Hello, clouds,/ sun, and sky." After playtime, dinnertime, sleeptime, waketime, and snacktime, the family lands in Tokyo for more "hustle, bustle" through lines at immigration, baggage claim, and another shuttle: "Tired travelers./ Tired heart. / It's so hard/ to be apart." After one "last big wait" at the Navy pier, the children spot their other parent: "Hello, Mama!/ 'Missed you so!' " Finally "we're four./ More to love."

Dale's succinct, measured verses are inspired by her own experiences as a U.S. Navy spouse. Her rhythmic text, with its distinct beat, should work as both a read aloud and as practice for beginning readers. The age-appropriate simplicity of Dale's writing and the step-by-step travel explanations it provides give Wiseman plenty of opportunities to craft a visual story. His whimsical, vibrant digital art depicts wonderfully colorful New York City street corners, the constant motion of all manner of airport travelers and staff, and the excited welcome-home crowds on the Navy pier. He further uses his endpapers as inviting interactive prompts, to spot "workers in uniform" at the beginning and watch for "ways to move people & things" at story's end. A few minute but specific details are problematic: for example, the Japanese in the Tokyo airport is inaccurate and direct flights from New York to Tokyo are out of Kennedy, not LaGuardia, as the arrival baggage carousel indicates. Small quibbles aside, the standout message here is all about family being together: "Goodbye, goodbyes,/ Hello, hugs." --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Angela H. Dale and Daniel Wiseman warmly celebrate a very special, very inclusive family reunion in their welcoming picture book, Goodbye, Hello.

In our story on Friday about applications opening for the second cohort of BincTank, Binc's business incubator pilot program to support BIPOC-owned retail bookselling businesses that are physically located in their community, we inadvertently had the wrong dates for the application period. Applications are open now through November 3, not November 13. Our apologies for the error.