Forbidden Love Bookstore opened a bricks-and-mortar store last month in Bemidji, Minn., the Bemidji Pioneer reported.

Forbidden Love on opening day.

Located at 114 Fourth St. N.W. in downtown Bemidji, the store carries a wide variety of romance titles representing plenty of sub-genres. Owners Olivia and Mason Pack plan to host book release parties, author signings, watch parties, craft nights, pop-ups with local vendors, and other community events.  

Prior to opening Forbidden Love Bookstore, the Packs lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, where Olivia Pack opened a romance bookstore called the Ivy in her photography studio. At that time, photography was Pack's main job, but after the couple moved to Minnesota, she decided to give opening a bookstore another shot instead of opening a new photography business. Before the bricks-and-mortar location's opening on April 25, Independent Bookstore Day, Forbidden Love debuted as an online shop.

Oliva Pack told the Pioneer that the bookstore met with an enthusiastic response on opening day. "It was kind of crazy. It was a really, really good feeling and just awesome to see that the community wants a romance bookstore."

The Brady Readery will host a grand opening in Laytonsville, Md., on June 13, the MoCo Show reported.

The bookstore, at 6860 Olney Laytonsville Rd., will sell new and used titles for all ages. Alongside books, there will be board games and educational children's toys. Owner and army veteran Michelle Brady plans to host book clubs, storytime sessions, craft activities, and other community events.  

Following the opening on June 13, there will be a ribbon cutting with the Gaithersburg Chamber of Commerce on June 17.

The Rabbit Books and Bar is slated to open in New York City's East Village this summer, EV Grieve reported. Located at 170 Avenue A, the Rabbit Books and Bar will highlight international literature and titles from around the world. The bar side of the business will function as a cafe during the day, selling coffee, tea, and matcha, before serving beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks in the evenings. Food offerings will include pastries, sandwiches, charcuterie boards, and desserts.

Owners and mother-daughter team Marianna Vaidman Stone and Emily Samara Stone plan to host book clubs and other community events. Marianna Stone, who was born in the Soviet Union and came to the U.S. as a child, told EV Grieve she's always dreamed of opening a bookstore. Emily Stone, meanwhile, has experience in food service and hospitality.

"My daughter and I are super excited about opening our place soon," Marianna Stone said. "It's going to be a personal experience for customers. We're going to be in there all the time."

The Stones were immediately drawn to the space at 170 Avenue A, which is situated on a corner and previously housed a 7-Eleven. It spans 2,684 square feet and, between the bar and tables, will have a total of 34 seats.

"When you know, you know," Emily Stone said. "It felt good here. We could envision it. We're offering a third space."

In their application for a beer, wine, and cider license, they wrote that the bookstore is "inspired by Parisian book cafes that are gathering places for guests who want to participate in intelligent conversations about history, current events and great works of literature past and present."

The owners are aiming for a mid-July opening.

Finch & Fern Book Co. in Sylvania, Ohio, will be closing its physical storefront on July 25, but will continue to operate as an online bookshop and a vendor at local events and pop-ups. Owner Katie Gilliland opened the bookstore, which sells new and used titles, in October 2023. She named the shop after To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus Finch. 

In an social media post announcing her decision, Gilliland wrote: "As a lifelong reader with a career in bookselling, I dreamed of opening my own bookstore. When I launched Finch & Fern Book Co., that dream evolved from simply being a bookshop into so much more--a community hub, a queer-friendly space, and a haven for indie authors. For three years, I have worked tirelessly to build relationships with my customers, with local schools, community organizations, animal rescues, a variety of other small businesses-people of many backgrounds from all over Michigan and Ohio. It is these relationships that have propelled me forward.... For three amazing years, it has been my honor and joy to serve this community."

After more than a year spent deliberating the future of the bookshop in the face of the ongoing Main Street construction, increasing operational costs, inflexible lease realities, "and the workload of operating a community-centered space mostly as a one-woman show, I have made the difficult decision not to renew our lease at the end of July. With all the obstacles I've faced, the idea of signing another three year lease with another year of construction on the horizon feels like a financially irresponsible one," she wrote. 

In addition to operating an online and pop-up version of Finch & Fern, Gilliland said she will be "throwing myself fully into growing my editing career. My partnerships with local organizations to bring exciting author events to the community--every off-site event on the calendar will move forward.

"Thank you for choosing to support indie bookstores. Thank you for coming to storytime and supporting your kids' love of reading. Thank you for trusting my recommendations. Thank you for sharing your lives with me. Thank you for making Finch & Fern an important part of your lives. I am eternally grateful for the support my little bookshop has received from this community for the last three years.... Now, onto the next chapter."

Wiley has purchased U.K.-based Emerald Publishing from Cambridge Information Group for £337 million ($452 million). Wiley said that in addition to strengthening its research resources, "the acquisition deepens Wiley's proprietary content position for use in AI and data analytics."

Emerald's portfolio covers multiple disciplines, including economics, business, finance, accounting, management, strategy, education, engineering, information and knowledge management, operations, public policy, and environmental management.

Matthew Kissner, Wiley president and CEO, said: "Emerald represents an outstanding strategic fit for Wiley--a complementary portfolio, a compatible culture, and decades of specialized content that will meaningfully expand our scale and portfolio depth in both research publishing and research intelligence. This transaction reflects our conviction that research and AI are mutually reinforcing: our proprietary content and data fuels AI, and AI accelerates the pace of publishing. Emerald materially strengthens both--expanding our peer-reviewed content base and adding a high-margin, recurring revenue stream that we expect to drive meaningful shareholder value."

Emerald CEO Vicky Williams said: "Wiley is the ideal home for Emerald and the global communities we serve.... Joining Wiley gives us the best-in-class platform, an extended global footprint, and further reach into academic and corporate markets to drive real-world impact, which aligns with our founding mission. We are excited to join Wiley and build on their exceptional foundation for growth, innovation, and integrity."

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Finalists have been unveiled for the Aotearoa New Zealand 2026 Book Industry Awards, presented by Booksellers Aotearoa NZ and the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ). See the complete list of finalists, including Bookshop of the Year, here.

"Every book that finds its way into a reader's hands is the result of countless hours of work by people who love stories," the organizers noted. "A bookseller who pressed it into a stranger's hands. A publisher who took a chance on an unknown voice. A sales rep who made sure it reached the shelves."

Aotearoa's book industry will gather in Auckland on July 25 for the Book Industry Awards ceremony to "honor the booksellers, publishers, marketers and trailblazers whose dedication, creativity and sheer love of books keeps Aotearoa reading--shining a light on the people who make sure stories connect," the organizers added.

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The International Publishers Association released a shortlist for the 2026 Prix Voltaire, honoring exceptional courage in upholding the freedom to publish. Featuring six individuals and organizations who have demonstrated resilience and bravery, this year's shortlist includes:  

Dar Al Jundi Publishing, Samir Al Jundi, Palestine
El Maraya, Yehia Fekry, Egypt
Freedom Letters, Georgy Urushadze, Russia
Gantala Press, Faye Cura, Philippines 
KompasGuide, Vitali Ziusko, Russia
Sam Yan Press, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, Thailand

IPA president Gvantsa Jobava said: "Over the last 20 years we have recognized bravery in publishing. The Prix Voltaire laureates and those shortlisted for the prize have risked so much to publish the works of others and secure their freedom of expression in practice. They have faced exile, prison, harassment and intimidation, some have disappeared, some have been murdered. They risk all this to publish the writings of other people. To mark this 20th anniversary of the Prix Voltaire we decided to add that as a tagline: 'Bravery in Publishing.' Our 20 years of laureates, and our shortlist this year are indeed the bravest among us."

Kennedy Ryan (r.) spoke with Jahquel J. at a sold-out event hosted by Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Ga. It was the last stop on Kennedy Ryan's tour for Score (Forever), the second book in her Hollywood Renaissance romance series, and the largest stop of the tour, with 1,000+ attendees. (photo: Vanica Louis/Louis Lens Photography)

A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Berkley) is the June pick for Reese's Book Club, which described the book this way: "Though they come from vastly different worlds, Polly Adler and Eunice Carter are each trailblazing women in their own right. Eunice Carter, an assistant district attorney for the City of New York, made history as Manhattan's first Black female prosecutor. Meanwhile, Polly Adler spent years building her business to become one of the city's most notorious madams. When Mob boss Lucky Luciano's power and corruption go too far, the two women forge an unlikely alliance to bring him down in a way only they can."

Reese said: "Two women, two very different worlds, and one shared mission."

"Archie has been working really hard to prep for our dollar book sale! Come by today and tomorrow for bargain books for 50 cents, $1 or $5!!" Second Flight Books in Lafayette, Ind., posted on Facebook.

"It's the first Monday of summer for many of us, so repeat after me: Reading Is Self Care!" Between the Covers in Rigby, Idaho, posted on Instagram. "Bring those kiddos to play in the playroom and read the free books available to them while you take some much needed me time and relax with us. We are open and waiting for you!"

Tomorrow:
Today: Noah Galuten, author of Grill Time!: Why You Should Be Grilling for Better, Healthier, Easier, and More Delicious Meals (Knopf, $35, 9780593804278). 

Kelly Clarkson Show: Jill Biden, author of View from the East Wing: A Memoir (Gallery Books, $32, 9781668222881).

Watch What Happens Live: David Sedaris, author of The Land and Its People: Essays (Little, Brown, $30, 9780316264839).

A trailer and poster have been released for Fatherland, Paweł Pawlikowski's Cannes best director award winning film starring Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler, which earned him a Best Director prize. It will be released this fall by MUBI, the Film Stage reported.

The synopsis: "Fatherland centers on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller)--actress, writer and rally driver. Set at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins--from U.S.-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar. For the first time since the war, Mann returns to his native Germany, having made the difficult decision to flee for the safety of the U.S."

Julia Elliott won the $150,000 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, which aims to celebrate and amplify exceptional writing by women and non-binary authors working in the U.S. and Canada, for her short story collection, Hellions (Tin House). The four finalists each receive $12,500.

The jury said: "This eerie, eclectic, genre-leaping collection takes no half-measures; every sentence of Hellions crackles or crawls. Here, human folly moves against a backdrop of horror and magic. There's folklore in these stories, and Southern gothic horror, and surrealism, and fantasy, and, at their center, a thread of uneasy, bodily realism. The work evokes writers like Angela Carter, Dorothy Allison, Gloria Naylor, and Kelly Link. But for all its wildness, there is tremendous control; Elliott is a gifted and thrilling writer."

In addition to the cash prize, the winner receives a five-night stay at Fogo Island Inn, while the four finalists and the winner are invited to participate in a group retreat residency in the Leighton Artist Studios, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada.

"BMO [Bank of Montreal] is proud to support the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction," said Helen Seibel, v-p and head of community and employee giving at BMO, which has been the award sponsor since 2023. "This prize helps advance inclusion in the literary world and recognizes exceptional storytelling from under-represented voices. It reflects BMO's commitment to building stronger communities by supporting organizations and initiatives that broaden perspectives and foster connection."

photo: Jay H. Clemmons Family Farm

Born and raised on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Robin Michel Caudell is an award-winning staff writer at the Press-Republican and a U.S. Air Force veteran. Her essay "The Big Three: Black Bears, Wolves, and Pumas in the Adirondacks" appears in Blueline magazine this month. She is the director/executive producer/screenwriter for Witness Tree at Union Road, a speculative Civil War documentary in preproduction. Caudell is the 2023 Veterans Writing Award winner for Black Heel Strings: A Choptank Memoir (Syracuse University Press, May 18, 2026), a lyrical memoir that meditates on memory and identity as she traces her childhood in a Black family navigating poverty and racism on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

Memories when I was seen and not heard were written down when I was grown and published after a quarter century of rejection. Never stop!

On your nightstand now:

Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black. I hail from Harriet Ross Tubman country, so I'm reading about family while getting a master class in how to do research by Dr. Fields-Black.

Indians of the United States by Clark Wissler, revised by Lucy Wales Kluckhohn. It's research for a presentation, which will become a chapter in my next book on John Brown's legacy in the Adirondacks.

Wild Daisies from the Side of the Road: A Collective Tribute to Maurice Kenny, edited by Derek C. Maus and Donald J. McNutt. The late poet was a beloved friend who said to me about writing: "Get on with it. You're not going to live forever." Maurice always asked me to submit something to Blueline magazine, and I finally did last winter.

Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864 by Gordon C. Rhea. Research for my documentary, Witness Tree at Union Road.

The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America by Andrés Reséndez. Research for an upcoming presentation about captivity and slavery among the Haudenosaunee.

Kin by Tayari Jones. Sheer pleasure of reading.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. As a child, I identified with the horse, and I checked out the book at least five times until the librarian suggested I read something else. I segued to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.

Your top five authors:

James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison, and Nora Roberts.

Book you've faked reading:

Never. I might not have read everything, but I did read some things.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, translated by Lucia Graves. When I first read this book, I cried because of the beauty of the language and the power of story, mystery. I couldn't put it down and immediately read it again once I finished because it transported me to realms that few books do. I bought a copy of it for my daughter and told her she must read it. I think she lost the copy I gave her and bought another one.

Book you've bought for the cover:

The Complete Works of Shakespeare illustrated by Rockwell Kent. He is an amazing artist who lived in the Adirondacks. The Rockwell Kent Collection and Gallery is housed at the State University of New York Plattsburgh. When I saw this book in the Corner Stone Bookshop on Margaret Street, it was a fantastic way to get everything Shakespeare with the added bonus of Kent's magnificent illustrations.

Book you hid from your parents:

None, but we found what they were hiding from us--romance pulps, bodice rippers.

Books that changed your life:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I was 10 when I read it, and Dr. Angelou showed me that my life mattered like hers and could be put into words.

The diaries of Anaïs Nin. I purchased an unexpurgated volume at the Subic Bay Naval Exchange when I was a navy officer's wife living in the Philippines. I was out of college two years, a new mother, and a writer without another writer to bounce things off and share. Nin became my writerly companion, and in reading her volumes I entered her artistic circle and found a creative community.

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I was a young wife becoming a divorcée with a toddler when I first read this book, which resonated with me as I began to chart a different life than the abandoned happily-ever-after. I loved the beautiful sketches of the shells--channeled whelk, moon shell, double sunrise, oyster bed, and argonauta--that are metaphors for life's different stages.

Favorite line from a book:

First line: "Call me Ishmael." From Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville. The narrator's command transforms the reader to confidante. I am the great-great granddaughter of a 19th-century mariner, a Black Jack, so I'm down with voyages.

Final line: "For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." --from Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Five books you'll never part with:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Cousin Fred was totally badass and told it like it was. An Eastern Shore wayshower, he told me where to walk in his footsteps and our ancestors' in Talbot County.

These Low Grounds by Waters Edward Turpin. An Eastern Shore wayshower, the Oxford, Md., native chronicles the struggle, tension, and aspirations of four generations from slavery to the 20th century. His lean prose evokes the Eastern Shore, its people, and our culture. His debut novel was published in 1937, the same year as fellow Harlem Renaissance member Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, which broke me when I first read it.

This Child's Gonna Live by Sarah E. Wright. Another Eastern Shore wayshower, Wright, a native of Wetipquin, Md., published her "small masterpiece" in 1969, when I was 10. I hear the shore in her characters' speech, and I smell it through her apt description of the land and its waters and creatures.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. "All Jane Austen, all the time."

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. At Maryland, my creative writing professor J.R. Salamanca read it every semester. I took his class the allotted three times. He said, "Your writing is the closest I ever read to Hemingway, but without the blood."

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

Chesapeake by James A. Michener. When I first read it after it was published in 1978, it confirmed for me that my homeplace was a worthy subject and so were my people. It's been so long that I want to see how it stands up, and how my lens has shifted in nearly 50 years.

The visually euphoric YA graphic novel Salvage by debut author/artist Renée Nault (The Handmaid's Tale: The Graphic Novel) features immersive world-building, memorable characterization, and sadly relevant social and environmental commentary.

In the aftermath of rising sea levels and mass "climate displacement," the characters of Salvage live in a coastal city divided into two neighborhoods: the glamorous, hilltop Uplands and the poverty-stricken, waterlogged Flats. Teenager Paolo, who lives in the Flats, earns a living diving to salvage objects from the ruins of a drowned city. Paolo spends his free time painting and scrolling Moshi (Media Online Social Hub Interface), a social media platform where influencers from the Uplands post about their luxurious lives.

On one particularly lucky dive, golden-skinned, red-haired Paolo finds a watertight suitcase filled with designer clothes that look like what "people in the Uplands wear." Paolo decides to dress up and visit the Uplands "just for one night" to satisfy his curiosity. There, he meets Jules, an aspiring sculptor and the daughter of one of the Uplands' biggest movie stars. Rosy-skinned and white-haired Jules introduces Paolo to her friends--influencer Emi, DJ Ash, and fashion designer Felix. The group mistakes Paolo for an Uplander; enamored by the teens' lives of leisure and creativity, he doesn't correct them. He begins leading a double life, diving by day, partying with Jules and her friends by night, and building a romance with Jules as they bond over generating art "to say all the things we can't say with words." But the charade puts a strain on Paolo's relationship with his parents and his Flats friend Kappa, causing him to wonder if it's possible to merge worlds.

Nault brings Paolo's and Jules's dissimilar neighborhoods to dazzling life with ink and watercolor illustrations. She juxtaposes scenes in the earth-toned, cluttered yet close-knit Flats with the neon-hued, chaotic, and decadent Uplands. Details such as signs, labels, and billboards organically reveal the current world and hint at the one now gone. Nault's character designs are cartoony yet expressive, conveying complex emotions, such as the discomfort on Paolo's face as affection for his family conflicts with his shame over their poverty.

Salvage's stark rich/poor divide and rising seas are a pertinent commentary on 21st-century life, as is Paolo's irrepressible urge to compare himself to the idealized images he sees online. Jules, who is neglected by her famous mother and feels isolated even when surrounded by friends, reveals the discontent that can hide behind curated social media feeds. Readers will root for Paolo's and Jules's emotional and artistic journeys as they struggle to remain true to themselves in a precarious world. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: A poor teen in a city threatened by rising seas sneaks into an elite neighborhood and falls for a privileged yet lonely girl in this gorgeously illustrated, near-future-set graphic novel.