Flame & Fable, a new fantasy and romance bookstore, recently hosted its grand opening celebration at 13439 Detroit Ave. in Lakewood, Ohio. Cleveland Scene reported that as "Northeast Ohio's first bookstore focused solely on romance and fantasy, a stage was properly set. Red roses and chocolates festooned the front windows. Shelves of scented candles neighbored those displaying books by the likes of Brandon Sanderson. Patrons ate branded sugar cookies while holding novels centered on sex-craved dragon flyers."

"We had 600 people show up throughout the weekend. I'm talking a two-hour-long line out front," said owner Nickie Lui. "It's a movement."

Lui, who became a romantasy genre aficionado during the past five years, told Cleveland Scene that opening up Flame & Fable "in the thick of an American romantasy craze isn't just some capitalistic grab. It's also, she said, a method of growing community around an ethos that's undeniably political."

"There's a movement among women in the millennial age group in particular, where we're kind of like reclaiming romance for ourselves," she observed. "Because romance has historically been a very attacked genre. It's predominantly women [that] publish romance.... And especially in today's political climate? There are some issues with, well, certain books being sold."

She added: "That's why it's really important for readers in this particular space that the romance and the fantasy romance space to have community like this. It's really hard to be excited about books that are under attack all the time."

Her goal for the bookshop "is to leverage the romantasy craze into that communal push: hosting book signings of local and touring authors; starting book clubs; maybe hosting readings one day," Cleveland Scene wrote. "And, above all, ensure that Lakewood gets its fix."

I Love You So Much Books has opened in Richmond, Va., CBS 6 reported.

Mariela Gavino

Located at 119 W. Brookland Park Blvd., the bookstore carries new and used titles, along with used CDs, vinyl records, and DVDs. Owner Mariela Gavino held a soft opening party for the store on Valentine's Day, followed by a grand opening market on Saturday, February 15, that featured music, a tattoo pop-up, and coffee.

Gavino spent about six months getting I Love You So Much Books ready to open, and she told CBS 6 that "it's been a dream to open a bookstore since I was a kid. I just thought about doing book pop-ups. There wasn't really a person or people doing that around here before, so I thought I would try fitting into that niche."

She hopes I Love You So Much Books will become a gathering place for the community, and her event plans include poetry nights and other activities. Gavino identified her store as part of a "big wave" of new businesses coming to Richmond, and she wants to "introduce a place where people could stay and also experience other shops in the neighborhood that they may not have thought about visiting if they were just passing by."

The American Booksellers Association has announced the names of the 31 booksellers who will receive scholarships to attend this year's Children's Institute (Ci2025) in Portland, Ore., June 12-14.

The scholarship covers registration fee, a hotel room, and up to $600 reimbursement for travel expenses. The full list of scholarship winners can be found in Bookselling This Week.

A record number of submissions has led to 72 indie bookshops across nine different regions and countries being named regional and country finalists for the 2025 Independent Bookshop of the Year at the British Book Awards (the Nibbies), the Bookseller reported. The prize, which is sponsored by Gardners and supported by the Booksellers Association, celebrates bookshops "that reach beyond the literary landscape and bring books to the heart of local communities." See the complete list of finalists here.

Regional and country winners will contend for the overall prize, which will be announced May 12 at a ceremony in London. The Independent Bookshop of the Year winner will receive £5,000 (about $6,300) from Gardners and also be in the running to be Book Retailer of the Year.

BA executive director Meryl Halls said, "From being trusted curators, to championing authors, to fostering communities of like-minded individuals, to bringing local jobs and essential footfall to shopping districts, the role that independent bookshops play within the book trade, wider society and economy is more vital than ever. We are delighted to see this superb selection of finalists, and their invaluable contribution, recognized as cornerstones of the book industry." 

Tom Tivnan, managing editor at the Bookseller, noted that "independent bookshops are beacons of hope amid the gloom. I have been judging this award for a decade and a half and I have never seen such depth of quality and energy in the submissions, from the newcomers to most venerable stores."

Ruth Gardner, Gardners' U.K. sales manager, added that indies "are at the heart of the book world, bringing communities together and championing the joy of reading."

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BookNet Canada celebrated Valentine's Day by releasing a study exploring sales of Canadian romance and erotica titles over the last five years, using Canadian contributor data to determine whether the author, illustrator, translator, or editor (in the case of an edited collection of material) was Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of the country.

From 2020 to 2024, sales of Canadian romance titles were up 404%. BookNet noted that while sales were down 45% from 2020 to 2021, they increased steadily from 2021 to 2024, up 814%.

Overall, sales of Canadian erotica titles were up 176% from 2020 to 2024, despite a 59% decrease from 2020 to 2021. As with romance titles, this dip was followed by a sharp 567% increase from 2023 to 2024.

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Ari Gísli Bragason, owner of Bókin bookstore in Reykjavík, Iceland, told the interview show Kastljós on RÚV that he considers books to be thriving among readers and collectors, and "reading to be a public health issue, espousing its healing power and ability to leave lasting impressions on readers," Iceland Review reported. 

Bragason, who has owned Bókin since 1997, "returned to Iceland from studying in the U.S with the sole purpose of helping out his father in the bookstore. Having published a handful of his own poetry books before taking over as Bókin's owner, Ari described books as being his 'joy and sorrow,' " Iceland Review wrote. He added that many younger readers frequent his shop, illustrating that reading books is growing in popularity: "Books are on the rise everywhere." 

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Wintry sidewalk chalkboard: "We're pretty sure the word 'books' is under that layer of snow," Curious Fox Books, Berlin, Germany, posted on Instagram. --Robert Gray

British author Simon Mawer, whose "most famous book was his Booker Prize-shortlisted and Walter Scott Prize-winning The Glass Room," died February 12, the Bookseller reported. He was 76. 

Mawer's other works include Swimming to Ithaca; Mendel's Dwarf, which was a Los Angeles Times Award finalist; Tightrope; Prague Spring; and Ancestry. In 2013, he became one of only three authors to have made the Booker shortlist and been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club (for The Girl Who Fell from the Sky). Mawer's Chimera won the McKitterick Prize for the best first novel by an author over 40; and The Fall won the Boardman Tasker Award (for mountain literature). 

Richard Beswick, managing director of Little, Brown imprint Abacus and Mawer's publisher for 25 years, said, "Spending time with Simon was as stimulating and enjoyable as an editor-author relationship can possibly be. He was, quite simply, wonderful company--warm, funny and hugely knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects. There are not many writers who can take you convincingly from 16th-century Malta to the Russian invasion of Prague, and, like the author himself, his characters were always original and compelling, often displaying his natural empathy with the underdog.... We've lost a very special writer and man."  

Mawer's agent, Charles Walker, said: "It has been my greatest privilege to have known and represented Simon from the arrival of his first novel, Chimera [Hamish Hamilton], 36 years ago. Each new work was a joy to receive and set a new standard. He was a brilliant writer and delightful man whose work and friendship added enormously to my life and should continue to enrich all who read him." 

Village Well Books & Coffee in Culver City, Calif., hosted the launch of Tracey Gee's The Magic of Knowing What You Want (Revell). Gee (front, kneeling) was in conversation with her editor, Grace P. Cho.

Reading Group Choices has released the 30th anniversary Reading Group Choices 2024-2025, which includes more than 50 book recommendations in three sections (fiction, nonfiction, and young adult). Each title has been selected specifically for reading groups, and includes discussion questions to facilitate lively group discussions. Prices: 1-4 copies, $7.95 each; 5-24 copies, $4.75 each; and 25 or more copies, $3.95 each. For more information about Reading Group Choices 2024-2025, click here.

Valerie Pierce has been promoted to executive director, retail marketing and creative services at Sourcebooks.

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Tim McCall has been promoted to senior v-p of sales & marketing at Independent Publishers Group. Before joining IPG in 2023 as v-p of sales, he worked at Dover, Melville House, Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, and for 21 years at Penguin, where he became v-p, online sales & marketing, digital sales.

In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life It Brings by James C. Scott (Yale University Press).

Today:
Fresh Air: Anne Applebaum, author of Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (Doubleday, $27, 9780385549936).

Tomorrow:
The View: Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (Penguin Press, $30, 9780593652824).

Teton Ridge Entertainment has acquired the rights to the late Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove tetralogy. Variety reported that the deal "was made between the entertainment company and the author's estate and covers all rights except publishing, which remain with the novels' publisher, Simon and Schuster."

In a release, Teton Ridge said that development will begin with the first book in the series, Lonesome Dove, followed by Streets of Laredo, Dead Man's Walk, and Comanche Moon. The books could inspire a series of films or TV shows--or both.

Thomas Tull and Jillian Share from Teton Ridge Entertainment will produce, along with Jon Jashni; Curtis McMurtry, the author's grandson; and Diana Ossana, his long-time writing and producing partner. Lonesome Dove was previously adapted into the award-winning 1989 miniseries starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. 

"Lonesome Dove is an epic work that perfectly embodies the enduring spirit of the American West," Tull said. "We are immensely grateful to the McMurtry estate for partnering with Teton Ridge Entertainment to bring its timeless themes to new generations of viewers."

Share commented: "We are dedicated to bringing to life diverse stories within the western genre with authenticity and soul, and are honored that the McMurtry estate has entrusted us with what we see as one of the most important properties in entertainment history." 

Curtis McMurtry noted that Lonesome Dove "has always been cinematic in scope (and indeed, began its life as a screenplay before being rewritten as a novel). I am glad that this story will once again be adapted for the screen to be experienced by new audiences and long-time fans alike."

Ossana added that "Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are Larry McMurtry. Those characters are an amalgam of Larry the man. I cannot conceive of more passionate and fitting stewards for reimagining Larry's beloved Lonesome Dove universe than Thomas Tull and Teton Ridge Entertainment."

Jonathan Mingle's book Gaslight: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Fight for America's Energy Future (Island Press) was the book category winner of the 2025 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Awards. Presented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, the awards honor "writers whose work demonstrates the power of writing to capture critical environmental issues facing Southern communities."

In the journalism category, Jared Kofsky, Maia Rosenfeld, and Steve Osunsami were recognized for their ABC News investigation, "Our Inheritance Is Washing Away," which revealed how a highway widening project in Alabama disproportionately harmed the predominantly Black community of Shiloh.

The winners will be honored March 21 during the Virginia Festival of the Book.

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The shortlist has been announced for the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre at the Department of Culture and Tourism--Abu Dhabi. Each finalist receives $10,000, and the winner receives another $50,000. The winner will be announced April 24. The shortlist:

Danshmand by Ahmed Fal Al Din (Mauritania)
The Valley of the Butterflies by Azher Jirjees (Iraq)
The Andalusian Messiah by Taissier Khalaf (Syria)
The Prayer of Anxiety by Mohamed Samir Nada (Egypt)
The Touch of Light by Nadia Najar (UAE)
The Women's Charter by Haneen Al-Sayegh (Lebanon)

photo: Little Blue Canoe Photography

Nancy Reddy is the author of the poetry collections Pocket Universe and Double Jinx, a winner of the National Poetry Series. With Emily Pérez, she's co-editor of The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood. She also writes the newsletter Write More, Be Less Careful. Her most recent book is The Good Mother Myth (St. Martin's Press, January 21, 2025), which unpacks and debunks the bad ideas that have for too long defined what it means to be a "good" mom.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

If you think your actual kids are pretty great but "being a mom" is kind of a scam, The Good Mother Myth is for you.

On your nightstand now:

Louise Penny's The Grey Wolf. I started reading her Armand Gamache series when I was on a trip with my husband to Montreal and Quebec City, and I've been a huge fan ever since. They're such perfect cozy mysteries: twisty and well-plotted with delicious food--so many amazing sandwiches and pastries! And I really love how the characters and their relationships to each other have evolved across the series.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I remember being totally transfixed by Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell and Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, which I'm realizing now are both about kids who have to fend for themselves. My childhood was a safe one, but I did often feel like an oddball, and I think the idea of a kid main character being totally on their own and handling it so well must have appealed to me.

Your top five authors:

Anne Carson, Louise Glück, and Anne Sexton are the poets who first shaped what I thought writing could be. I remember picking up Anne Sexton's Love Poems at the library when I was probably 16 and just being riveted.

I really admire how Katherine May is able to interweave narrative with reflection and research. Her books feel so organic, but I know they're the result of really deep thinking. I particularly loved Wintering, and I'm waiting for the right moment to reread Enchantment.

Jenny Odell, who wrote How to Do Nothing and Saving Time, is one of my favorite thinkers. She puts wildly different things alongside each other--Thoreau, Beavis and Butthead, philosophy--in a way that feels compelling and produces genuine insights. I developed a class, "Resisting the Attention Economy," based on How to Do Nothing, and every time I read the book with students, I discover more in it.

Book you've faked reading:

I realized the other night that I don't think I've ever read any Charles Dickens. I was a writing major undergrad, so my education in literature is a little scattershot. I took an amazing course in realism and the history of the novel when I studied abroad in Dublin, and the professor really made me love Eliot's Middlemarch and Jane Austen. But I think we stopped there, historically. There's a lot of classic and contemporary literature I've read really deeply--and also things I've just totally skipped over!

Book you're an evangelist for:

I loved Dani McClain's We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood when it came out in 2019 (I wrote about it for Electric Literature) and it honestly feels even more relevant and important now. McClain's argument--that instead of fighting to ensure that our kids have the most and the best, motherhood can be a springboard into public service, and that Black mothers in particular show us how to work on behalf of all the kids in our community--is essential for the years ahead.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I didn't buy it for the cover--I was already a big fan--but Virginia Sole-Smith's Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture has a gorgeous one. It's super bold and graphic, and it makes what can be at times really tough subject matter feel bright and important. I love a cover that can suggest something about the content and the mood of a book, and I think Fat Talk's does.

Book you hid from your parents:

I don't think my parents ever paid much attention to what I was reading! Though I remember getting in trouble once at my grandmother's house for reading a trashy paperback she thought was too grown-up for me--though in my defense, I'd pulled it off the bookshelf in my mom's old room!

Book that changed your life:

I bought a used copy of Carolyn Forché's The Country Between Us, which is about her time in El Salvador in the late '70s, when I was visiting my best friend in New Zealand. I remember reading it as I sat outside at a coffee shop in Wellington, feeling like I was perched on the edge of the world, all the way in the Southern Hemisphere. I'd come to poetry, as so many teenagers do, mostly to work out my own feelings, and those poems showed me that writing could also be a way of attending to the world--that you could turn that gaze outward. It showed me that if I wanted to keep writing, I needed to do something with my life, that it wouldn't be enough to just stay in school and keep having feelings and writing about them.

Favorite line from a book:

"Hating my body remains a waste of my time," from Angela Garbes's Like a Mother, the book I recommend to every newly pregnant friend.

Five books you'll never part with:

Annie Dillard's The Writing Life is always on my desk. Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House because it's a guide to the possibilities of memoir, and Claire Dederer's Monsters as a guide to the possibilities of criticism. When I was a teenager, I took Anne Sexton's The Complete Poems with me everywhere, and it's still got a treasured spot on my shelf. I stumbled across Megan Stielstra's The Wrong Way to Save Your Life during a writing residency years ago, and I may have snuck it into my suitcase for the trip home. Since then, I've read it, studied it, and taught from it; I hope the depth of my attention to it makes up for how I got it.

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

I loved Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, and I keep giving people In the Woods in the hopes that they'll get sucked into it, too. They're so twisty and smart, and French does an amazing job across the series of inhabiting the sensitivity of really different narrators. Now that I think of it, maybe it's been long enough that I could reread. Maybe I should try.

Newbery Honor-winning author Lauren Wolk (Wolf Hollow; Echo Mountain) explores loss, creativity, honesty, and friendship with grace and restraint in Candle Island, an elegant, engrossing novel about a girl adjusting to her new home on an island off the coast of Maine.

A few months after 12-year-old Lucretia's father's sudden, tragic death, she and her mother, both artists surviving on the now-famous paintings her mother sells in New York, seek a fresh start on tiny Candle Island. The island seems riddled with secrets but Lucretia (named for Lucretia Mott, "a fierce Quaker" from the 19th century) has a secret or two of her own.

Tensions have always run high between the wealthy (and, frankly, villainous) summer people and the islanders, and no one knows where to place these newcomers at first. Consequently, Lucretia's initial encounters with both groups are confrontational. Undaunted, she explores the island--inadvertently adopting an osprey chick along the way--and attempts to connect with townies Bastian and Murdock, each of whom has a secret artistic talent. It's only when the strain between island factions reaches a breaking point that the three finally begin to come together in tentative friendship.

Lucretia is notably mature for her age, and her relationship with her mother reflects the way they have adapted to life with shared secrets, grief, and passion for art. Her mother affords Lucretia a surprising amount of independence even though mother and daughter still struggle with anxiety and nightmares about the speed with which accidents can happen. The fact that Lucretia sees the world through an artist's lens gives the author plenty of opportunities to showcase her poetic way with words. When listening to a mystery singer hidden somewhere in a rocky bluff overlooking the ocean, for example, the girl is moved by the music: "He was singing a story. A sad one that suddenly became something else and then something else again, the colors changing as the story did, from a radiant magenta to some kind of violet. And then a gold I rarely heard."

Lauren Wolk writes about knotty subjects with delicacy and great care. Characters are frugal with their secrets, divulging them measuredly only after finding recipients worthy of their trust. The complexity of class dynamics is revealed adroitly through interactions with and the attitudes of the residents of the island as the tweens formulate their own identities as artists and citizens of the human race. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor

Shelf Talker: Newbery Honor author Lauren Wolk showcases her superbly lyrical writing in this novel featuring a 12-year-old artist who confronts grief and manages secrets on her new island home in Maine.