Bookshop.org is matching up to $10,000 in donations to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation to support booksellers and comic retailers affected by the wildfires that have devastated Southern California this week.

"Binc already knows the fires have closed dozens of stores, forced many book and comic people to evacuate or shelter in place due to smoke, and taken the homes of three booksellers," said Erika Mantz, Binc's communication coordinator. "The devastation is widespread and ongoing, and we know the darkest days are yet to come."

"Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the tragic destruction of the California fires," said Bookshop.org CEO Andy Hunter. "To support those in our community of booksellers who have been affected, Bookshop.org is pledging $10,000 in a donation matching grant to help raise awareness and funds for those in need."

Donations can be made here.

Romance-Landia Bookstore opened earlier this month in Centreville, Md., the Bay Times reported.

Staci Hicks

Owner Staci Hicks held a grand opening celebration for the bookstore, which carries a wide assortment of romance titles from traditionally and independently published authors, on January 4. The store is located at 204 Banjo Lane, Suite C, and in addition to books carries a variety of gifts, store-branded merchandise, and other sidelines. Hicks also offers a self-service coffee bar for customers.

Hicks, whose professional background involved promoting self-published authors, plans to host plenty of local indie authors at the store, and book clubs are held once per month. Later this month she'll host a release party for Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, as well as a plant-cutting swap. 

Prior to opening the bricks-and-mortar location, Hicks ran Romance-Landia as a pop-up store for around eight months. She told the Bay Times: "Anybody can find something if they open themselves up to it."

The Imaginary Bookshop, Greenfield, Mass., will be closing at the end of January after more than two years in business. Co-owners Crista DeRicco and Maura MacDonald announced their decision in a Facebook post last week.

"In the immortal words of Kermit the Frog, 'life is made up of meetings and partings,' " they wrote. "We have LOVED operating the bookshop--meeting so many new people, talking about our favorite thing (books!), hosting author readings, weird photo sessions, puppy adoption events, sharing writing prompts, & seeing your kids' wonderful art. You're all the best of the best and we're so thankful that you have chosen to support our shop and spend time with us."

The owners cited several reasons for their decision to close, noting that while the bookshop had a successful first two years of operation, 2024 proved more challenging: "We hoped it was a temporary blip caused by the downtown construction, but bookstores nationally are struggling with low sales and price increases--one book's price went up a full $8 from one order to the next & that's not sustainable for anyone. Sadly, we simply don't have the reserves to hope things improve, and a planned exit seemed much better than allowing an emergency situation to arise."

Although a final closing date has not been finalized, the Imaginary Bookshop will be open regular hours on Saturdays and Sundays through the end of January, with possibly a few additional weekends into February. The store's bookshop.org and libro.fm pages are also active.

The owners added: "We're sad, but not everything lasts forever and that's okay. We’ve loved getting to know you and what you’re reading, and we look forward to seeing you out in the world!"

The Crown Publishing Group is launching Storehouse Voices, an imprint committed to elevating Black voices. Developed in partnership with entrepreneur and philanthropist Tamira Chapman, Storehouse Voices will publish a range of nonfiction and fiction and promote "the richness of Black storytelling through intentional acquisitions and hiring efforts, strategic partnerships, and authentic, equity-minded community outreach," according to the company, which added that it was founded "with a mission of bridging the representation gap of authors of color in the publishing industry."

Chapman, who will serve as publisher of Storehouse Voices, is the founder and CEO of Storehouse in a Box, a global merchandising company. Through her multiyear association with Penguin Random House, she has supported numerous publications by hosting large virtual events with authors, including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and poet Amanda Gorman. 

Tamira Chapman

Porscha Burke, who most recently served as senior editor and director of DEI strategy for the Crown and Random House Publishing Groups, has been named associate publisher of Storehouse Voices. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the publishing industry.

Jennifer Baker, who previously served as senior editor at Amistad Books and who most recently was senior program manager at Narrative Initiative, has been appointed as editorial director of Storehouse Voices, effective February 10. 

Also joining the Storehouse Voices editorial team will be Chelcee Johns as executive editor, effective February 3. She has 15 years of editorial and digital content strategy experience in book publishing, digital media, and online magazines, and is currently a senior editor at Ballantine.

"We're creating a home for Black voices and celebrating the richness of diverse storytelling," said Chapman. "I'm deeply grateful to the tens of thousands of Black women whose passion and dedication to excellence in literature made this moment possible, and to David Drake, Porscha Burke, and Penguin Random House for their leadership and belief in the importance of amplifying Black voices. Diverse authors have a home here, and we call on the brightest talent in publishing to join us in reshaping the narrative. Together, we will tell bold, inclusive stories that honor our experiences, amplify our voices, and redefine the future of storytelling for generations to come."

David Drake, president of the Crown Publishing Group, noted that Chapman "has long demonstrated an unwavering commitment to developing content that speaks to the experience of the audiences she serves and that fosters an authentic sense of community. Crown is honored to partner with her and the talented team at Storehouse Voices to break some publishing molds that have long needed to be broken to better serve diverse authors and readers."

Burke added: "It is not lost on me that Toni Morrison, as an editor at Random House, still needed to get the approval of others in order to acquire books for her list. The curatorial power Tamira and Storehouse will enjoy--and our collective deep roots in both reader communities and traditional publishing structures--is the fruit of such incredible ancestors' labor. It is an honor to be able to expand the impact of their work in such fresh and exciting ways."

Baker said, "For many of us, books are our lifeblood as well as our life's work. Storehouse Voices represents an innovative way to share stories of the African diaspora; Storehouse's mission also speaks to so much of what I've loved about the arts and its many intersections.... It's a true honor to collaborate and dream with this team."

Johns said that Storehouse Voices is "answering a felt need in the industry for both authors and readers alike while making innovation and authenticity key cornerstones. I look forward to being a part of the foundation-building of such an imprint and bringing books to the world that impact, uplift, and entertain."

Meryl Halls

The Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland has warned of "harsher winds to come" for booksellers after recorded foot traffic in 2024 was down 2.2% year-on-year, the Bookseller reported, adding that the cautionary note "comes despite a positive year end for bookshops which saw trading on the up during the Christmas period."

BA managing director Meryl Halls said, "While anecdotally the Christmas gifting period started slowly but ended positively for many of our bookseller members, the continued footfall decline on our high streets is a potential harbinger of harsher winds to come for British bookshops--who already face a myriad of challenges in 2025 from increased costs of goods, services and labor and the reduction of retail rates discounts to the rise in national insurance contributions.

"Therefore, the Booksellers Association strongly supports the British Retail Consortiums' urging of the government to ensure that their proposed reforms are implemented in a way that eases the burden for all who need it on the high street, and with assurances that no vulnerable bookshops will be placed in jeopardy."

--- 

The French book industry "has taken a step nearer to a long-awaited book tracker in France by creating a company to run it," the Bookseller reported. Filéas (Fils d'informations libraires, editeurs, auteurs) was set up by eight groups, including the National Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l'Edition, SNE), the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française, SLF) and the Permanent Writers Council (Conseil Permanent des Ecrivains, CPE).

The goal is to develop a portal offering sales figures free of charge to authors and by subscription to publishers and distributors, drawing on existing tools to create its bibliographic database. It will start with a weekly indicator using data from market research firm GfK, followed by a daily indicator put together from sales information provided initially by more than 700 booksellers, the Bookseller noted.

The system is scheduled to start operating this year and will be presented at the next Paris Book Festival in April. Filéas chair Alban Cerisier said it will provide "a better knowledge of the sales of their titles," and ultimately be a "tremendous decision-making tool for fine-tuning reprints in response to environmental and economic concerns." Harriet Seegmuller is the director of Filéas.

--- 

Editis, the second-largest French book publisher, has acquired Delcourt, the third-largest graphic novel publisher, the Bookseller reported, adding that the deal "strengthens Editis' position in the buoyant sector of graphic novels and manga, and gives Delcourt the resources to continue its development." Guy Delcourt, who founded the publisher 40 years ago, will remain at the helm. 

---

Congratulations to Canadian bookseller Blue Heron Books, Uxbridge, Ont., which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary. Owner Shelley Macbeth told Quill & Quire that bookselling "has changed in and out, up and down, all over the place but what hasn't changed is the reader. What they want to read has changed, yes, but if you're a reader, you're a reader. And that's what's so delightful, is being in there at any given time and experiencing that joy of putting the book into the person's hands, and feeling good about it, knowing they're going to go away and have a great experience from reading that book." --Robert Gray

Martin Palmer, a publishing sales director who spent 18 years at HarperCollins before setting up his own company, has died. He was 68. The Bookseller reported that Palmer had senior sales roles with HarperCollins before moving to the History Press, where he was group sales and marketing director. He also worked as sales and marketing director at Constable & Robinson. In 2014, he formed Martin Palmer Publishing Services Ltd., representing a wide range of independent publishers.

Martin Palmer

"Martin was a kindhearted, dedicated and supremely valued part of the publishing landscape for many years," said Katherine Rhodes, head of sales and operations at MPPS. "His mischievous humor and warmly infectious personality meant that he was loved across all facets of the trade, and news of his passing leaves us all deeply saddened. Those of us who knew Martin well will struggle to fill the void left in our lives by his death, and I will lament the loss of my dear friend, colleague and one of the true gentlemen of publishing. My thoughts go to his family and friends at this difficult time."

Bridget Shine, CEO of the Independent Publishers Guild, commented: "We were desperately sorry to hear of Martin's death. He was a warm and generous man who helped so many IPG members over the years. Martin was right at the heart of the growth of The History Press and Constable & Robinson and put his sales skills to great use for a remarkable variety of independent publishers since starting his own agency. His retail knowledge and contacts were second-to-none. Martin was a consummate publishing pro and a friendly face at IPG events. We will miss him very much and our thoughts are with his family, colleagues and friends."

Jack Jewers, managing director of Moonflower Books, added: "In the world of indie publishing, Martin was like everyone's favorite uncle. He was as patient and kind as he was knowledgeable--and he knew everything there was to know about selling books. To say he will be missed is an understatement."

As devastating wildfires continue to burn in Southern California, Octavia's Bookshelf in Pasadena is serving as a mutual aid hub and gathering place for community members affected by the Eaton fire, which destroyed parts of nearby Altadena earlier this week.

Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager has chosen The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight (Pamela Dorman Books) as her January Read with Jenna book club pick. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus is "a novel about a first-year college student in Scotland searching for the answers to her family secrets," Today said.

"This is a book about friendship, motherhood and finding ourselves with mystery and romance at its core. This debut novel will sweep you up your feet."

Knight, who has previously published two cookbooks, said The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus was five years in the making. "I sort of did it in secret and at night, then in the margins of my life, until after my second daughter was born. I just had this realization that you only get one shot at life, and that if I wanted to show these two little girls that they could do anything they wanted, I'd better set an example."

Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, Pa., shared a photo on Instagram of the store's seasonal chalk art message: "Stay cozy and curl up with a good book this winter." 

"Due to today's snow, will be curling up with a good book at home instead of at the shop. Stay safe, stay warm, and we'll see you when the snow melts," Bookish, Fort Smith, Ark., posted on Facebook. 

Bridget Thoreson has joined Simon & Schuster Publisher Services as director, client publishing operations. Thoreson was previously v-p of operations at Ulysses Press.

---

Loren Jaggers has been promoted to executive publicist at Berkley.

Tom Holland (Spider-Man) will star in and produce The Partner, a film adaptation of John Grisham's 1997 novel, for Universal Pictures, Deadline reported. Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) is writing the script. 

The Partner "was once set up to be John Lee Hancock's follow-up to The Blind Side at New Regency, which made A Time to Kill, The Client and The Runaway Jury," Deadline noted, adding: "It stalled and the rights eventually came free. Rideback bought them, and set up the project at Universal. Holland just set up a new production label, Billy17, along with brother Harry Holland and Will South, and they're joining Rideback as producers."

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai (Mariner Books) has won the $5,000 Crook's Corner Book Prize for the best debut novel set in the American South. The prize was founded as a collaboration between the Southern restaurant Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, N.C., which closed in 2021, and the Crook's Corner Book Prize Foundation.

This year's judge, Megan Mayhew Bergman, called Banyan Moon "a striking debut novel that will captivate readers with its stunning prose and lush descriptions of the surrounding world. Through the compelling narratives of three generations of Vietnamese American women--who are destabilized by the death of their matriarch--Thai reveals the family's inherited burdens and secrets in gorgeous sentences and smart dialogue. With deeply developed characters, this incredibly moving book invites us to explore the complex bonds of love and family, making it a deserving selection for the Crooks Corner Book Prize."

photo: Beowulf Sheehan

Elizabeth Harris is an award-winning reporter at the New York Times, where she covers books and the publishing industry. Her debut, How to Sleep at Night (Morrow, January 7), is a witty and whip-smart novel about love, marriage, and family ties stretched thin by ambition. And as a longtime reporter, she finds it very strange (though also delightful!) to be on the other side of an interview.  

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

It's a novel about marriage and ambition that offers some hope to those who need it in these incredibly divided times. Plus, good sex scenes.

On your nightstand now:

An author I admire recently told me to read anything by E.L. Doctorow to study structure, so I just started Ragtime. I'm also reading Information Desk by Robyn Schiff, a book-length poem inspired by her time working at the information desk at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Lots of people asked her where to find the bathroom.)

One excellent feature of my job is that I get advance reader copies of books that have yet to be published, so I have a few of those on my nightstand, as well. Among them are two debut novels: Sleep by Honor Jones and Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis. I haven't read them yet, but they're at the top of my list.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Mooch the Messy by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, illustrated by Ben Shecter. Mooch is a very messy rat who lives in a hole under a hill in Boston. One day, his father, who wears a dapper little fedora, comes to visit Mooch in his hole and is appalled by the mess, so Mooch cleans up so his father will have a nice visit. When his father leaves, Mooch dumps all his clothes and shoes and various other things back out on the floor.

I probably found this book validating because I was a messy child. I think I'm better now, but my wife may disagree.

Your top five authors:

Virginia Woolf. Louise Glück. James McBride. Lauren Groff. Ada Limón.

Book you've faked reading:

In high school, I once wrote an essay on To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf without finishing it. My teacher was not fooled! I've never faked reading a book again.

Virginia and I had a renaissance not long after when I read/reread several of her novels and a big, fat book of her letters. She remains one of my favorite authors. I've probably reread Mrs. Dalloway more than any other book.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Spirit of the Waynes by Ethan Cooper, a moving novel about the decline of aging parents. But I'm completely biased on this one. Ethan Cooper is my dad.

Another is The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Easily one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read, and one every American should read.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. Though maybe that was more for the title.

Book you hid from your parents:

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, which is a coming-of-age story about a lesbian in England. I was in high school at the time, and I was convinced that if my parents saw the book, they would immediately intuit that I had a girlfriend.

Book that changed your life:

I don't know if it changed my life exactly, but one book that helped me grow into my own taste was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I tried to read it in high school and again in college, and I just couldn't get through it. I hated it. That helped me realize that books aren't "good" or "bad." Those judgments are subjective, a matter of taste and, often, what's fashionable. There is nothing wrong with loving a book other people think is trashy or being unable to finish a classic.

Favorite line from a book:

"You saved me, you should remember me."

That is the first line of Vita Nova, a collection of poems by Louise Glück. I remember reading that line for the first time in college and feeling like someone had grabbed me by the shoulders and shaken me.

Mind if I share another line? Okay, great!

"Longing, we say, because desire is full of endless distances."

That one is from "Meditations at Lagunitas," a poem by Robert Hass. I almost got the last line of that poem ("blackberry, blackberry, blackberry...") tattooed on my arm in college. I wimped out. But a friend of mine went through with it, and that feels like a great compromise to me.

Five books you'll never part with:

This question was a tough one. I have a hard time parting with books I love--and I've loved a lot of books! (I told my wife I needed to make a list of five, and she laughed.) Three books I dip into pretty regularly are Louise Glück: Poems 1962-2012, The Carrying by Ada Limón, and Emily Dickinson's Poems: As She Preserved Them. I will always have a copy of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff.

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

Because it's fresh in my mind, I'll say Middlemarch by George Eliot. I finally read it for the first time last year, and it was so wise and surprising and funny. I couldn't help but go around saying to people: "You know what's a great book? Middlemarch!" Which was ridiculous.

Elyse Durham's poignant debut novel, Maya & Natasha, follows the intertwined stories of the titular twin sisters, born on the eve of the siege of Leningrad to an unwed ballerina mother who dies soon after. Raised by their mother's dear friend, Katusha, both girls spend their childhoods studying at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, the prestigious Soviet ballet school their mother also attended. But as they grow into teenagers, their smooth pas de deux develops a hitch in its rhythm. When the girls, at age 16, learn that the state will not allow two members of the same family to leave the country together, they realize the implications for their burgeoning ballet careers. Soon afterward, a terrible betrayal fractures their relationship entirely, leaving them to build separate lives. The dance of the following decades forms the centerpiece of Durham's narrative, as she explores how the sisters--even from thousands of miles apart--manage to shape one another's lives.

Durham draws the harsh realities of Soviet life in sharp relief: the pervasive grayness of buildings, clothes, and spirits is only occasionally relieved by the color and light found in the ballet. The seductive appeal of the West, personified in a group of stilyagi--young people who dress in garish black-market Western clothes and dance to forbidden music--is always present, but is mostly a pipe dream for the sisters until other events (and their own choices) make it a tantalizing possibility. As Natasha tests the boundaries of teenage love and rebellion against the state, and Maya struggles with the pain of living in her sister's shadow, both young women will make decisions that have echoing implications for their futures.

After their separation, the narrative lens widens: Durham delves into the Soviet film industry through one sister's starring role in War and Peace, and the physical and mental challenges of becoming and remaining a professional dancer. She connects the sisters' stories to that of George Balanchine, who famously defected from the Soviet Union to build a life and career in the U.S., and imagines his inner emotional challenges when he returns to his homeland for the first time in decades. Through the stories of Maya, Natasha, and their supporting cast, Durham explores the themes of freedom, loyalty, artistry, and motherhood, as well as the fundamental bond that ties the sisters together even after their cataclysmic break.

Heartrending, elegantly told, and full of fascinating detail about the worlds of professional dance and Soviet-era daily life, Durham's debut is a stunning ballet of love, loss, and unbreakable loyalty. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Elyse Durham's elegant debut follows the intertwined stories of twin sisters born under the Soviet regime as they navigate love, betrayal, and the world of professional ballet.

Time is running out but if you want to purchase a signed/personalized copy of any of Willy's books check out Two Rivers Books [Portland, Ore.]. It's the gem of St. Johns and remember if you support an independent bookstore you'll probably get into heaven first!

--Willy Vlautin, author most recently of The Horse, in a December social media post

In a lovely end-of-year column for the Washington Post ("A long bookish marriage is still too short"), Ron Charles observed: "Books accumulate like stray cats that have found someone with a soft heart. Since 2005, we've lived in a small house in Bethesda, Maryland, that now weighs approximately three times what it weighed when we moved in. (I have serious concerns about the integrity of the second floor.) I used to think of the swelling piles of books in every room as literary stalagmites, but now that they've merged, they're more like a great coral reef of literature."

We have just such a literary coral reef in our house, too. 

For book people, the turn of the year is often a time for taking stock of favorite reads from the previous 12 months and/or setting goals for the next 12--the proverbial ghosts of reading past and reading future. 

There is also, of course, the ghost of reading present, and for me that particular spirit resides in the last 10 days or so of each year, when Shelf Awareness takes its annual holiday break. So what does a professional reader do with all that downtime? 

You got it. In my case, I finished three very different and amazing books: The Horse by Willy Vlautin (Harper), Lion by Sonya Walger (NYRB, February), and Richard Flanagan's 2023 Booker-winning Question 7 (Knopf). As an early year gift, I'll offer you a taste of each, lines that nudged me to pick up a pen and bracket:

Vlautin:

"And why are all your songs sad? Every single one of them."
He shrugged. "They've always been that way. Even when I was a kid, I wrote them like that. I don't know why exactly, but that's the way they come out."

Walger: 

I read and read and read. I cannot read enough. There are not enough books for my hunger, I cannot keep up with myself. I read beyond my years, deep into the years ahead. I am unreachable in my book. I am alone and in company. No one asks you what you're doing with a book in your hand. No one asks you if you're okay. No one asks you anything at all. 

Flanagan:

Yet words exist to grasp the world and if every day afresh the world eludes them, every tomorrow they are condemned to begin their crazy dance again: words to anchor, the world to fly; words to say it is so, the world to say it is not. And so they tango eternally, words and the world, writers no more than dancing shoes sliding between the dancer and the dance floor.

As 2024 was winding down, I noticed several articles trumpeting the notion that reading is getting, well, cooler. USA Today reported: "Like any online community, bookish spaces come with their own lingo.... If you're new to BookTok, Bookstagram or BookTube, you'd better study up so you can fully immerse yourself into the world of book commentary. Here's your definitive guide to the bookish slang and acronyms you'll come across."

Architectural Digest featured a piece headlined "Book Clubs, Book Bars, and BookTok: Examining Why Everyone Suddenly Wants to Be Perceived As Well-Read." The subhead really nailed the point home: "From the sexy librarian aesthetic to bookshelf wealth, immersing in the literary world has never been more on trend."

"If you're not an active member of a book club are you even relevant?" the article noted. "Play your connections right and you can even make a professional career out of book curation for residential, hospitality, and retail spaces. Book bars have made their way into the cultural zeitgeist as well, offering metropolitan bookworms a taste of nightlife more in line with their sensibilities. What could be better than getting buzzed on books and booze? Now that's what I call paradise."

At Village Bookstore, Pleasantville, N.Y.

Fast Company highlighted a study that found "people who read for fun have different brains." It ended with a cautionary note: "Finally, it's worth considering what might happen to us as a species if skills like reading become less prioritized. Our capacity to interpret the world around us and understand the minds of others would surely diminish. In other words, that cozy moment with a book in your armchair isn't just personal—it's a service to humanity."

We began with Willy Vlautin, so let's end with a story I've told before. I met him at the 2017 MPIBA Fall Discovery Show in Denver, where he said at an author breakfast: "I really appreciate bookstores. I'm kind of a bookstore addict. Every town I go to I end up buying tons of books.... And any town I go to you know you have a safe place to hang out and someone that's a weird book lover. And anyone that's a little cracked is all right in my book. So, I'm sure I'd like all you guys."

That seems like a good place to begin reading our way into 2025 and wherever stories take us next.