Welcome to the first edition of Shelf Awareness Extra!, which are special issues that focus on a particular subject and will appear once a month. This inaugural edition focuses on the upcoming American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute, to be held February 23-26 in Denver, Colo. For a lot more about that, keep reading!

Wi2025 is the 20th iteration of what has become the preeminent booksellers event in the U.S. Nearly a thousand booksellers are expected for four days of events, programming, publisher presentations, social gatherings, chances to meet and listen to many, many authors--and, of course, the kinds of serendipitous meetings that take place only in person.

We're sure that the ABA staff, led by CEO Allison Hill, will put on another wonderful conference--and we want to thank them in advance for all they've done and are doing to make the event run smoothly. We know it's a huge project! (Attendees should thank ABA staffers for their efforts!)

As always, Shelf Awareness is looking forward to Winter Institute. We feel a special bond with the Winter Institute: Shelf Awareness was founded not long before the first Winter Institute, so we're both happily celebrating our 20th anniversaries this year.

On a daily basis, Winter Institute will feature a booksellers lounge, a quiet area, affinity group meetups, an interfaith prayer and meditation room, and a lactation room. The ABA board holds office hours repeatedly during the conference. And there are plenty of user sessions for Bookmanager, IndieCommerce, Bookshop.org, Batch, IBID and Wordstock, Square, Pubnet and PubEasy, and more. One of the most popular daily attractions is the Galley Room, open Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., where a range of ARCs of upcoming titles are available. A FedEx desk will be onsite for shipping galleys.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) is again holding a heads or tails fundraiser featuring a $500 grand prize, with proceeds going to help booksellers. Attendees can purchase blinkee pins--aka chances to win--for $20 each or $35 for two; available in advance or from Binc representatives at registration or at the Binc vendor showcase location. The drawing takes place on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Founded in 2023, the Bookseller Oral History Project returns to Winter Institute for its second time, and will have its own room open Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., where booksellers are encouraged to tell their stories. Participants can sign up in advance (via Google calendar on the Project's website) or just drop by; they can also come and schedule interviews after Winter Institute. Organizer Lanora Jennings says that interviews usually last 30-50 minutes, and occasionally she calls for a followup interview. She also emphasizes that she's flexible. "If booksellers want to interview each other, a group can come in. I'd love it if a younger and older bookseller came in and interviewed each other."

Jennings emphasizes that the Bookseller Oral History Project is "for all booksellers, former or current, old or new, every color of the rainbow. Everyone has a different experience, but we're all part of an amazing story. I don't want anyone to be left out."

Following are program highlights, roughly in chronological order. To see the full, official schedule, click here.

A highlight on Saturday is the pre-Wi2025 debut of IGNITE, a free conference for BIPOC booksellers (including those who won't be attending Winter Institute) that is designed to "emulate similar programs in colleges and universities to welcome and acclimate students of color to campuses at predominantly white institutions," the ABA wrote. "This was created in our continuing effort to support booksellers of color and our commitment to antiracism, equity, access, and representation."

IGNITE programming includes a rep picks session and an authors and editors reception as well as discussions on empowering BIPOC booksellers in white-dominated spaces and entrepreneurial obstacles and opportunities.

Sunday programming includes bookstore tours, a Paz & Associates seminar on opening a bookstore, several in-depth sessions on budgeting, Edelweiss360, inventory management, cash flow projection, a crafting gathering. From noon to 4, the Indie Press Summit, sponsored by the Independent Publishers Caucus, features a keynote, town hall, and educational panels, all focusing on the "indie-to-indie" connection between indie publishers and indie booksellers. Booksellers are welcome to attend.

The Winter Institute's Grand Opening Reception will be held Sunday 5:30-7 p.m. at the Fillmore Auditorium at 1510 Clarkson St., about 0.7 miles from the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, the Winter Institute hotel. The reception will celebrate three bookselling milestones: the 125th anniversary of the founding of the ABA; the 20th annual Winter Institute; and the fifth anniversary of the launch of Bookshop.org. Shuttle buses will be provided.

On the occasion of Wi's 20th anniversary, it's fitting to remember that Winter Institute was the idea of Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books, with five stores in south Florida, who was ABA president at the time. The concept centered on having a counterpoint to the old BookExpo America shows, which were held in late May and usually moved around the country. Most booksellers didn't want to travel far for BookExpo. Thus Winter Institute would be held in cities at some distance from BookExpo's location that year and be held during the winter. Perhaps most important, unlike at BookExpo, booksellers would be the focus, not just one of many book world constituencies.

The first Winter Institute was held in Long Beach, Calif., in 2006. The ABA was so concerned that it might not attract many booksellers that it scheduled other meetings in conjunction with Winter Institute to be sure of adequate attendance. Under then-CEO Avin Domnitz, the ABA staff put on the first of many smooth, exciting shows. Nearly 400 people attended, and the verdict was quick and positive: everyone welcomed the event, particularly booksellers, who weren't used to being treated so well at national events. For example, at one luncheon, publishers and media people had to wait until booksellers were seated before they could find spots.

Ocean Vuong

Monday's Opening Breakfast Keynote features Ocean Vuong, who will speak on the subject of Alternative Truths: the bookstore and library as sites of counter knowledge, play, inquiry, and freedom. Vuong is the author of the poetry collections Night Sky with Exit Wounds and Time Is a Mother, as well as the novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. A recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant," the Whiting Award, and the T.S. Eliot Prize, Vuong has also worked as a line cook, tobacco harvester, nursing home volunteer, and fast food server, the latter becoming inspiration for The Emperor of Gladness, which Penguin Press will publish in May.

Also on Monday are panels and seminars on a variety of subjects including boosting romance and pre-order sales, optimizing inventory, bookstore diversification (adding other non-book businesses within stores), consumer trends. There's the Editors Buzz Lunch, a rep picks speed dating session, and a romance evening event.

Char Adams

The Tuesday Breakfast features a panel that will discuss the legacy and future of Black-owned bookstores. The moderator is Char Adams, a reporter for NBC News and former reporter for People. Her writing on race and identity has appeared in the New York Times, the New Republic, Oprah Daily, Vice, Teen Vogue, and Bustle. She is the author of Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore, which Tiny Reparations Books will publish in November. The book expands on an article she wrote in 2020 for the website Mic about the revolutionary history of Black-owned bookstores.

Panelists are:

Janet Webster Jones

Janet Webster Jones, founder of Source Booksellers in Detroit, Mich. She entered the bookselling business in 1989, opening her first bricks-and-mortar store inside the Spiral Collective, a shared space with three other woman-owned, African American businesses in Detroit's Midtown area in 2002. In 2013, the bookstore moved across the street to its current location. In 2022, she served on the nonfiction panel for the National Book Awards. She is a retired educator from the Detroit Public Schools, where she spent a 40-year career. In 2023, the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association and the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association honored Jones with the Voice of the Heartland Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations who "uphold the value of independent bookselling and have made a significant contribution to bookselling in the Midwest."

Jake Cumsky-Whitlock

Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, co-founder and co-owner of Solid State Books in Washington, D.C. Since 2017, Solid State has been selling new children's and adult books, stationery, and other book-related gifts at two locations. Cumsky-Whitlock's bookselling career began in 2004 at Kramerbooks & Afterwords, also in Washington, D.C. He serves on the boards of the ABA and Bookshop.org.

DJ Johnson

DJ Johnson, founder of Baldwin & Co. bookstore in New Orleans, La., which is inspired by and pays tribute to Black activist and author James Baldwin. Johnson is also the founder of NOLA Art Bar and the Baldwin & Co. Foundation, which addresses disparities in education and income through scholarships and financial literacy initiatives. Baldwin & Co. is considered one of the city's best bookstores and is an important cultural hub for dialogues on race, justice, and progress.

Maura Cheeks

Maura Cheeks, owner and manager of Liz's Book Bar in Brooklyn, N.Y., which opened in June 2024 and has a strong emphasis on classics, particularly on fiction and nonfiction titles by Black authors that have been overlooked. In February 2024, Ballantine Books published her debut novel, Acts of Forgiveness, in which a Black mother navigates the first ever federal reparations program. (Acts of Forgiveness was released in paperback this week.) Her other work has been published in the Paris Review, the New York Times, the Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Tin House, Lenny Letter, and others. In 2019, she was awarded the Masthead Reporting Residency for the Atlantic's first residency program, where she worked on the article that inspired Acts of Forgiveness.

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Panels and seminars on Tuesday cover such topics as book bannings, sidelines attractive to Gen Z and Gen Alpha readers, tracking financial data, how authors can best work with indie bookstores, how to deal with middle graders reading less, profitable pop-up and mobile extensions of bookstores. In addition, the day's schedule includes the Indies Introduce Luncheon and a rep picks speed dating session.

And from 5:30-7 p.m. is the Author Reception, always a major event at every Winter Institute, featuring a range of authors for booksellers to meet.

The Wednesday Breakfast featuring publisher rep picks is followed by panels such as succession planning for bookstore owners, the importance of being involved in state legislation, crafting events, how to establish a nonprofit, and understanding publishers' economics.

From 12:30-2 p.m., the Lunch Author Reception features a range of authors and illustrators who will talk with booksellers and sign copies of their forthcoming titles. Attendees will also receive free Shelf Awareness tote bags (see illustration), which celebrate our own 20th anniversary!

The Community Forum, to be held Wednesday from 11 a.m.-noon, will have a new structure this year. For about 30 minutes attendees will "gather at round tables for open conversation about the business of bookselling, their stores, and the industry." Open-ended questions will be provided as conversation starters, and writing pads and a QR code will be available at each table for attendees to share thoughts with the ABA board. Then for the next 20 minutes, with microphones attendees can speak to the gathering and the board, with a limit of two speakers for any topic "to ensure that as many topics as possible can be heard."

Brian Selznick

The Closing Keynote from 4:15-5 p.m. on Wednesday features Brian Selznick who will talk about how working at an independent children's bookstore in the early 1990s--the former Eeyore's Bookstore in New York City--taught him about stories, community, love, and survival. Selznick is best known for his genre-breaking thematic trilogy beginning with the Caldecott Medal-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret. He followed that with Wonderstruck and The Marvels. Selznick's most recent novels, Big Tree (inspired by an idea from Steven Spielberg) and Kaleidoscope, were both national bestsellers. His next book, Run Away with Me, will be published by Scholastic in April.