"I would say two things: book and comic stores becoming sustainable, and every community having their own bookstore. Those are things that I think about. Bookstores play an essential role in community, and not every community has the same access. I truly believe that every community deserves a place where ideas can be shared and explored, where people feel safe and valued, and where they can come together.

"And I hope that we can be a part of that conversation, and work together with not only ABA, but the regional associations, authors, agents, publishers, and suppliers, to make sure that every community has their bookstore."

In June, Barnes & Noble will take over trade book sales at the University Book Store in Seattle, Wash., the bookstore of the University of Washington, which will continue to manage non-trade book sales, according to KUOW and confirmed by a bookstore spokesperson.

Founded in 1900, the University Book Store is one of the oldest bookstores and was one of the largest college bookstores in the country. At one point it had at least nine locations, some at University of Washington campuses and others in Seattle suburbs and nearby cities that were like general trade bookstores, but with a strong UW section.

In the last decade, the University Book Store closed its branches, including the ones in Bellevue, Tacoma, Mill Creek, and Bothell. The University Book Store is a for-profit corporate trust that benefits University of Washington students, faculty and staff.

In some ways, the move by Barnes & Noble resembles its purchase last year of the Tattered Cover in Denver, Colo. It's also something like the approach taken by B&N College, a separate company. More information about the changes at the University Book Store should be available in the near future.

Blue Couch Bookshop, a woman-owned independent bookstore, will be opening this summer at 1445 Grandview Ave. in the Grandview Heights community, Columbus, Ohio.

Owner Corinne Keyes, a lifelong, avid reader with a passion for learning and information literacy, has worked as a librarian for the past 10 years in higher education. She said she believes that "communities and its members are made stronger through literacy, and that magical things can happen when people of all ages read, expanding their understanding and perspective of the world around them."

Her hope is that the Blue Couch Bookshop becomes "a classy, cozy refuge within the community, where booklovers of every kind can come together for discussion and discovery, and to feel a sense of belonging. A place that sparks, and continues to fuel, a lifelong curiosity for learning." 

The bookstore will offer new books in a variety of genres, including children's books, as well as gifts and other literary merchandise. In addition to traditional author readings, Blue Couch Bookshop is partnering with other local businesses to host events that cater to the surrounding community and its interests. 

"With its classy decor, modern fixtures, and cozy furniture, which of course includes the signature attraction--the Blue Couch--the bookstore aims to become a welcoming space in the community where its patrons will want to stay after they browse or attend an event, to sink into a good book," Keyes added. 

Millie Magoo's & The Fine Print bookstore will host a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting on May 30 at 229 Walnut Ave. in Lakeside, Ohio, featuring an author signing as well as family-friendly activities throughout the day, the Beacon reported.

"I am thrilled to continue the bookstore tradition here in Lakeside Marblehead," said owner Traci Richards. "We are the only bookstore in all of Ottawa County. Our new location is larger, so we are increasing the amount of inventory and plan to stay open year-round both in person and online through our relationships with Libro.fm and Bookshop.org. This allows us to cater to our community and its needs."

Millie Magoo's "seems right at home in its newly-renovated space, a 1930s cottage which previously housed an antique store and sold stone statuaries from its porch," the Beacon noted. The project of "bringing new life" to the property involved refinishing original floors and light fixtures, all new electric and adding a fresh coat of paint inside and out. In addition to books, the shop offers games, puzzles, art supplies and more. Richards also plans to create a flexible gathering space.

At The Bookshop in East Nashville, Tenn., customers can't seem to get enough stickers, reported store owner Joelle Herr. The store's offerings tend to be book-related or about social justice issues, with some favorites coming from ShopSourSweetener and Gibbs Smith, particularly the latter's "Bookstores Save Democracy" stickers. Herr and her team are also dipping their toes into creating stickers of their own, she noted. 

Keychains are a relatively new addition for the bookstore, with those made by Three Potato Four selling well. Hats are also "on the upswing," with Herr mentioning some great ones from Out of Print. "From day one," the bookstore has carried bookish games and card decks, such as Punderdome from Clarkson Potter. Enamel pins are another staple, with Rather Keen being a favorite supplier, as are bookish pinback buttons from suppliers like Gibbs Smith and Seltzer Goods.

Asked whether tariffs have affected the store's sidelines business, Herr said "not yet," though she pointed out that she mainly orders from suppliers based in the U.S. "I'm sure the tariffs will likely start affecting them soon, though, so we'll have to see."

---

For Meet Cute Romance Bookshop in San Diego, Calif., stickers are "really consistently a great seller," said owner Becca Title. The store has "a ton," with many sourced from vendors on Faire; Title pointed to Turtle's Soup as a favorite. Meet Cute sells lots of pens and bookmarks as well, with magnetic bookmarks being particularly popular, and Maeve chocolates are another perennial seller. Many of these items, Title noted, are also sourced through Faire, though she will order some items, like Decomposition notebooks or Out of Print products, directly.

Meet Cute recently brought in earrings, Title said, and they're "going pretty well" so far. She tries to keep earrings, and most of the store's sidelines, under $35, which works well for Meet Cute's customer base. Title added that the store used to sell store-branded T-shirts through Bonfire, but recently worked with a local printer to print new shirts. Meet Cute has had to "restock a couple times" now.

On the subject of tariffs, Title said she had to cancel a $300 order of enamel pins and stickers from a U.K. vendor after learning there'd be around $400 in tariffs. In the past Meet Cute had ordered from that vendor on a regular basis; now "we won't be able to order from there," Title remarked. She also expressed frustration with the difficulty of trying to keep track of minimums, exceptions, and other details related to the tariffs.

---

Book Nook Kit from Hands Craft

Erin Ball, store manager and gift buyer at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Wash., reported that the store is doing very well with greeting cards at the moment. She recently put together a "kind of political display" of greeting cards featuring words like "shitshow" and "dumpster fire" that "did really well." Though Ball orders from plenty of greeting card companies, she mentioned Smitten Kitten and Kendra Lee Miller Art as a couple favorites.

Stickers are doing so well at the Lake Forest Park store that Ball said, "if you don't have stickers, you're missing out." She has also had a lot of success with a local bath and body company called Twisted Tomboy, and Ball has recently brought in more journals specifically for the "scrap-booking crowd," as well as more art supplies. She added that Book Nook Kits from Hands Craft are strong sellers.

Asked about perennial favorites, Ball said, "You must have socks," and mentioned Out of Print and Sock It to Me as good options. Journals are another staple, and local candy, particularly chocolates, do really well. The store sells plenty of tote bags, including one that's store-branded. Without all those, she said, "we'd be in trouble."

When it comes to tariffs, Ball remarked that it's "hard to figure out what's happening," and said she's gotten "so many" e-mails from companies saying "they are or are not raising prices." With all the uncertainty, she is essentially trying to proceed as normal. She has heard some talk about doing fourth quarter orders as soon as possible, to avoid getting stuck empty-handed if larger retailers decide to "buy up everything before tariffs," but that would be very costly and demand a lot of storage space. "The industry is a little nervous," Ball said. --Alex Mutter

If you are interested in having your store appear in a future Sidelines Snapshot article, please e-mail alex@shelf-awareness.com.

Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., shared a photo of the shop's "Cozy Gore" display on Instagram, noting: "What do you get when you combine charm with danger, comfort with mystery, add a sinister dash and maybe a touch of the Gothic? Why, you get Cozy Gore, a super-fun way to indulge your sinister side without getting too, too dark. :)"

"It's a good day for a book!" That was the sidewalk chalk art message in front of Rooted Books & Gifts, Grand Island, Neb., which noted: "Pop in for a book or fun trinket and then embrace your inner child and decorate the sidewalks before you leave."

"Our cozy den features a curated collection of fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, & non-fiction, along with a growing collection of art & stationery supplies. We pack a lot of treasures into each room, inviting you to linger & discover something special," Bromley's Books, Marquette, Mich., posted on Facebook.

Cordelia Calvert has joined Grand Central as publicity director, fiction, managing the fiction team, handling major fiction authors and launches, and overseeing publicity for new Cardinal imprint. She was formerly a publicity director at Ecco.

---

Trish Adamik has joined the Random House Publishing Group's marketing department as director of creative strategy.

Simon & Schuster has posted the first episode of Bookstore Blitz, a new digital series in partnership with McNally Jackson bookstore in New York City. The first full episode features Anna Marie Tendler, artist and author of Men Have Called Her Crazy, and was filmed at McNally Jackson's Rockefeller Center store. Future guests will include Ed Helms and Bethany Joy Lenz.
 
Hosted by S&S executive editor Stuart Roberts, Bookstore Blitz gives guests five minutes to spend $100 at the bookstore. Roberts introduces the guest and lays out the rules, then the clock starts and they are off to make their choices from among the 57,000 books across two floors. 

After the five minutes are up, the guest takes their haul to the register to check out. If they go above the allotted $100 limit, they have to decide which books to put back and which to take with them. After they've checked out, Roberts interviews them about the books they chose and why. The episodes will appear on the Simon & Schuster flagship imprint's YouTube channel as well as Instagram and TikTok. Posts will be amplified by @mcnallyjackson. 

"The goal is to showcase artists and tastemakers across all creative mediums and entertainment sectors (actors, directors, musicians, comedians, models, visual artists, athletes, influencers, etc.) by diving into what our guests love to read, the series aims to showcase books as the real engines of culture," S&S noted.
 
"There is a video series for seemingly every kind of enthusiast," S&S publisher Sean Manning said. "Cinephiles have the Criterion Collection's Closet Picks. Music fans have Amoeba Music's What's in My Bag? Sneakerheads have Complex's Sneaker Shopping. Chili pepper masochists have Hot Ones. And now book lovers have Simon & Schuster's Bookstore Blitz. However, this series isn't just for devoted readers. It's also for people who don't regularly (or ever) read--aiming to counteract any notion that books are boring or pretentious, prove how much fun and enlightening they can be, and offer recommendations from notable authors, artists, entertainers and personalities about what to read next. While it might seem contradictory to use video to encourage reading, the enduring phenomenon of BookTok has shown just how powerful and persuasive video can be for initiating and energizing readers, and we at the Simon & Schuster flagship imprint hope Bookstore Blitz can do the same."

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, May 24
2:30 p.m. Fredrik Logevall, author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam (Random House, $23.99, 9780375756474).

3:55 p.m. Robert K. Brigham, author of Reckless: Henry Kissinger and the Tragedy of Vietnam (PublicAffairs, $37, 9781610397025).

5:45 p.m. Robert Edsel, author of Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and A Forever Promise Forged in World War II (Harper Horizon, $31.99, 9781400337811).

6:55 p.m. Rick Atkinson, author of The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (Crown, $42, 9780593799185), at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.

Sunday, May 25
8 a.m. Christine Menedis, author of Why the World Doesn't Make Sense: Reclaiming the Liberty You Didn't Know You Lost (‎Forefront Books, $26, 9781637634318), at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla. (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9:05 a.m. Jonathan D. Cohen, author of Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling (Columbia Global Reports, $17.99, 9798987053706). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:05 p.m.)

2:45 to 8 p.m. Coverage of the 2025 San Antonio Book Festival in San Antonio, Tex. Highlights include:

• 2:45 p.m. Kyle Paoletta, author of American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest (Pantheon, $30, 9780553387377).
• 3:30 p.m. Omar Valerio-Jiménez, author of Remembering Conquest: Mexican Americans, Memory, and Citizenship (‎The University of North Carolina Press, $29.95, 9781469675626).
• 4:10 p.m. Craig Garnett, author of Uvalde's Darkest Hour (‎Texas A&M University Press, $30, 9781648432996).
• 4:55 p.m. Catherine Coleman Flowers, author of Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope (‎Spiegel & Grau, $28, 9781954118683).
• 5:40 p.m. Benjamin Heber Johnson, author of Texas: An American History (Yale University Press, $35, 9780300226720).
• 6:20 p.m. Russell Cobb, author of Ghosts of Crook County: An Oil Fortune, a Phantom Child, and the Fight for Indigenous Land (Beacon Press, $32.95, 9780807007372).
• 7:04 p.m. Ted Genoways, author of Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico (W.W. Norton, $31.99, 9780393292596).

Your Presence Is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk (Bloomsbury Publishing), a first novel, has won the $100,000 2025 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, which, in association with the National Library of Israel, honors "exceptional work of emerging writers in the examination and transmission of Jewish life, culture and identity."

Organizers said: "Inspired by her own family history, Vasilyuk's novel explores the hidden costs of war, the legacy of silence and the complex moral terrain of Jewish life in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Ukraine."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, May 27:

Never Flinch: A Novel by Stephen King (Scribner, $32, 9781668089330) intertwines the stories of a vengeful killer and a stalker hunting a women's rights activist.

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250370853) follows an injured cop investigating a series of disappearances.

Return to Sender by Craig Johnson (Viking, $30, 9780593830703) is the 21st Walt Longmire mystery.

Steve Martin Writes the Written Word: Collected Written Word Works by Steve Martin by Steve Martin (Grand Central, $30, 9780306835735) contains new and previously published work.

Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley, $30, 9798217188123) is a romance set during a wedding in Sicily.

The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club: A Novel by Martha Hall Kelly (Ballantine, $30, 9780593354919) follows two sisters on Martha's Vineyard who start a book club for women during World War II.

Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power by Augustine Sedgewick (Scribner, $30, 9781668046296) explores fatherhood throughout human history.

1861: The Lost Peace by Jay Winik (Grand Central, $35, 9781538735121) chronicles the weeks leading up to the Civil War.

When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas (Riverhead, $30, 9780593544822) recounts a record-setting wildfire season with the Los Padres Hotshots.

Murdle Jr.: Sleuths on the Loose by G.T. Karber and Chris Grabenstein (Little, Brown, $15.99, 9780316582254) is the first novel based on the Murdle Jr. puzzle books.

Time After Time by Mikki Daughtry (Putnam, $19.99, 9780593533826) features two sapphic love stories a hundred years apart.

Paperbacks:
Releasing 10 by Chloe Walsh (Bloom Books, $15.99, 9781464248511).

It's a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (Putnam, $19, 9780593714102).

Pucked Off by Helena Hunting (Entangled: Amara, $17.99, 9781649378996).

Bono: Stories of Surrender by Bono (Vintage, $21, 9798217008230).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (MIRA, $28.99, 9780778368458). "For anyone who enjoys 2000s Japanese horror movies. This is the only work of fiction I've read that has successfully incorporated the COVID pandemic without feeling contrived. The commentary about anti-Asian racism is poignant." --Jennifer Kirnec, Old Ways Books, Bluffton, Ind.

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones (HarperOne, $26.99, 9780063411272). "Fans of Annie Jones will love this peek behind the scenes, but even for those unfamiliar with Annie's story, these essays are deeply relatable. Perfect for people who stayed in their hometowns, who lead a quieter life, and who have struggled with their faith." --Claire McWhorter, River & Hill Books, Rome, Ga.

Paperback: An Indies Introduce Title
The Sea Gives Up the Dead: Stories by Molly Olguín (Red Hen Press, $16.95, 9781636282718). "There is no getting away from death here. However, there's a subtlety that resonates throughout the wonderfully smooth and lithe prose that makes these tales a joy to read. Absolutely fantastic!" --Randy Schiller, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Mo.

Ages 3-5
Anything by Rebecca Stead, illus. Gracey Zhang (Chronicle, $17.99, 9781797215150). "As someone who moved around a lot as a kid, I wish I'd had this sweet and stunningly illustrated story. It captures the ache of change, hand in hand with the infinite possibilities of a new place, with all the magic and color of a rainbow." --Tabitha Klein, Still North Books & Bar, Hanover, N.H.

Ages 10-14: An Indies Introduce Title
Ollie in Between by Jess Callans (Feiwel & Friends, $17.99, 9781250331342). "Hand this to any kid who's experienced or will experience puberty, any kid who's navigating their gender, any who've endured shifting friendships, and to any kid who's so much braver than they realize. That is, hand this to any kid!" --Tanvi Rastogi, Dog-Eared Books, Ames, Iowa

Teen Readers: An Indies Introduce Title
All the Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9781665952651). "All the Noise at Once is a captivating read about Aiden, a Black, autistic teen, his love of football, his struggle with identity, and his fight against injustice after a jarring experience with the police. I was cheering Aiden on to the very end." --Kalli King, Rediscovered Books, Boise, Idaho

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

In 2011, Stephen Starring Grant moved his wife and two daughters back to his hometown of Blacksburg, Va. In early 2020, Grant, the family's primary wage earner, was laid off from his consulting job. He found himself unemployed at the start of the pandemic in a town that had limited employment options, and with a recent cancer diagnosis to boot. Unable to find anything in his field, he took a job as a rural-route carrier for the United States Postal Service. Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home offers his stories and reflections on a year spent in a position he'd never thought much about before.

Grant began with a bit of an ivory-tower complex, as he imagined his intellectual background overprepared him for the simple drudgery of mail delivery (which turned out to be untrue), but he ended with a profound respect for postal and other service workers, and balanced thoughts on class and background. These pages vary in tone, by turns hilarious and thoughtful. Grant describes religious experiences, being threatened at gunpoint, bonding with strangers over their deliveries and finessing their political differences. He discusses types of incompetence (a few months in, he "graduated to the consciously incompetent stage, lost in the burning wasteland of self-awareness that I was really not very good at delivering the mail") and the intense discomfort involved with learning new things, with great effort and limited success, in adulthood. Musing on the origins and purpose of the USPS, he expresses a nuanced patriotism: "America is the greatest country in the world... America is a steroidal monster... Both versions of America are true." And, he notes: "Our delivery vehicles were like democracy, the worst of all possible vehicles, except for the alternatives."

Between indulging in fantasies of delivering the mail with Barack Obama at his side and performing neighborly services like basic car maintenance for favorite people along his route, Grant brought his kids for added help and dropped in on his parents for pancakes. Along the way, he informs the unschooled reader of the process that mail carriers undertake to sort, order, and "case" the mail for delivery, and the hazards: backbreaking labor, the ergonomic disaster of right-hand drive (especially in a left-hand-drive vehicle), extremes of heat and cold, and dog attacks. Via an adventure with unfamiliar blue-collar work, Grant discovered new values, new people, and a new relationship with home. Mailman is a classic memoiristic blend of whimsy, storytelling, and insight. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: Within the high highs and low lows of rural mail delivery, a laid-off white-collar worker builds new relationships with place, with his neighbors, and with himself.

Paper Bird is coming up for 10 years--growing with the dreams of our local community into a magical wonderland of literature--through windows, walk-throughs and wardrobes, up grand and tiny staircases, secret gardens and laneways, under Noongar constellations and ancient First Nations stories. There is so much to discover. 

--Jennifer Jackson of Paper Bird Books & Art in Fremantle, Australia, who is shortlisted for BookPeople's Children's Bookseller of the Year Award

Jennifer Jackson at Paper Bird Books

It's been a good month for award-winning booksellers. Last week I wrote about the British Book Awards (the Nibbies) bookshop category winners, and now it seems only fair to hop across the globe to Australia, where May has also been a rewarding month for booksellers. 

On May 7, the Australian Book Industry Awards were presented in Melbourne. The 25 winners included book as well as book business categories. The Bookshop of the Year award went to Potts Point Bookshop in Potts Point, which the judging panel commended for its "ongoing efforts to build community and create a true destination bookshop, along with their strong commitment to handselling, which has helped them achieve growth well ahead of the industry."

The winner posted on Instagram: "We couldn't be more excited to share that we've won Bookshop of the Year in the @abia_awards! We are so proud to be your local independent bookshop and it's a real pleasure to be rewarded for doing the job we love. Thank you."

Potts Point Bookshop

Robbie Egan, CEO of BookPeople, the Australian bookselling association, wrote in the organization's newsletter: "Congratulations to all the winners at the ABIA's last night. Celebrating excellence is always a nice thing to do, and these awards demonstrate the ample depth of talent running through our industry. From our perspective it's always nice to have BookPeople members nominated for an award, and congratulations go to Beaufort Street Books, Gleebooks Dulwich Hill, Matilda Bookshop, Paper Bird Children's Books and Arts, and Riverbend Books for being shortlisted. The winner was Potts Point Bookshop--well done to Anna and the team on a much-deserved accolade." 

When the ABIA shortlists were announced earlier this year, Gleebooks, Dulwich, posted: "Big, beautiful news! We are sincerely honored and over the moon to be shortlisted for the ABIA 2025 Bookshop of the Year Award!! We're not often speechless... but we are this time. Our hearts, however, are FULL! This is a community bookshop, so we share this wonderful news with you, our community of readers and lovers of books and supporters of independent bookselling." 

Noting that they were "thrilled to have been recognized by our industry peers" by making the shortlist, the folks at Matilda Bookshop, Stirling, posted: "Of course we can't do this without the fierce and loyal support of our community, both in a geographical and reading sense. Thank you for every book you've bought, every event you've attended, every book club you joined, every children's story time you've come to, every charity day you've made a special effort to come by to support and every subscription you've purchased. It means a lot to us."

Earlier this week, more honors were on offer with the release of the shortlist for BookPeople's Bookseller of the Year Awards, which celebrate "the work of Australian booksellers and the books they love to champion" by highlighting "the unique role booksellers play in spreading knowledge, ideas, and literature as well as their ongoing positive contributions to their communities." Winners will be named June 15 during the BookPeople Conference and Trade Exhibition, but let's showcase the shortlisted booksellers now: 

Children's Bookseller of the Year
Jennifer Jackson, Paper Bird Books & Art, Fremantle
Cholm Johnson, Bright and Early Books, Brisbane
Genevieve Kruyssen, Where the Wild Things Are Bookshop, Brisbane
Allyx Lathrope, Kinokuniya Sydney
Anna Sheen, Quick Brown Fox Bookshop, Brisbane

Young Bookseller of the Year 
Grace Brewin, Boardwalk Books, Kingscliff
Bella Lloyd, Heads & Tales Bookstore, Barwon Heads
Amy McKinnon, Where the Wild Things Are Bookshop/Avid Reader, Brisbane
Alana Smith, BOOK FACE, Erina
Jing Xuan Teo, Amplify Bookshop, Melbourne
Sophie Wigan, Harry Hartog Carindale

Bookseller of the Year 
Sarah Deasy, Avid Reader, Brisbane
Amy Hoskings, Harry Hartog & Berkelouw
Noel Lee, The Bookshop Darlinghurst, Sydney
Lydia Lindfield, Maclean's Booksellers, Hamilton
Alison Rogers, Abbey's Bookshop, Sydney
Sally Tabner, Bookoccino, Sydney

"It's important to celebrate the brilliant work our members are doing around Australia," BookPeople's Egan wrote. "There will be one winner in each category, but all the shortlisted booksellers are fine examples of what we do."

Bella Lloyd, Heads & Tales Bookstore

Heads & Tales Bookstore posted on Instagram: "Our wonderful Bella has been shortlisted for Young Bookseller of the Year at the 2025 BookPeople Awards!!... Leaving her publishing career and opening a bookshop in a small coastal town at age 29 was a spectacularly brave thing for Bella to do--but golly gosh we are so glad that she did! Bella is the heart and soul of Heads & Tales Bookstore and the driving force behind all that we've created. We are so proud to see her vision and hard work recognized."

In addition, the inaugural Scholastic Young Bookseller Scholarship recipient for 2025 is Sophie Wigan at Harry Hartog Carindale. The award "supports young booksellers (aged 35 and under) in developing their business skills and engaging with the latest trends in retail, publishing, technology, marketing, and business practices." Wigan will receive a scholarship to attend the upcoming BookPeople Conference.

Congratulations to all. In my book, booksellers are always winners.