Joseph-Beth in Lexington

Barnes & Noble is acquiring Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has two bookstores and bistros, at the Mall at Lexington Green in Lexington, Ky., and at Rookwood Pavilion in Cincinnati, Ohio. The move continues a pattern of B&N buying longtime independent bookstores that have had financial difficulties. In 2024, B&N bought the Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo., and in 2025, it acquired Books Inc., in the Bay Area in California. In each case, the stores continued to use their traditional names and retained most staff.

Robert Langley, owner of Joseph-Beth Booksellers and owner of Langley Properties, proprietor of the Mall at Lexington Green, said, "This decision was made for the continued success of Joseph-Beth Booksellers. For 40 years, Joseph-Beth has been more than a bookstore. It has been a gathering place for readers, families, local authors, teachers and neighbors. In honoring its importance to the communities its two stores serve and to support its future longevity, this decision was necessary." 

B&N and Langley said that the Joseph-Beth "booksellers, author event team, community and event programming and servers will continue on course with the added benefit of Barnes & Noble's resources and modernized operations supporting Joseph-Beth Booksellers' brand and ongoing success."

Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati

B&N CEO James Daunt said, "Joseph-Beth Booksellers has a storied history and wonderful bookstores, and we are very pleased to ensure their continuity. We especially look forward to welcoming the booksellers of these two distinctive bookstores into the company."

Joseph-Beth was founded in 1986 by Neil Van Uum and Mary Beth Van Uum, sister of Tom and Louis Borders, founders of the superstore chain that went out of business in 2011. The Van Uums expanded Joseph-Beth in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In 1997, they acquired Davis-Kidd Booksellers, which had stores in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Jackson.

During the financial crisis in 2009, the company suffered and declared bankruptcy in 2011. Neil Van Uum was planning to purchase the Lexington, Cincinnati, and Cleveland stores from the bankruptcy court, but at the last minute Robert Langley bought them. Van Uum was able to buy the Memphis store with help from the landlord there and renamed it, but it later closed.

One unusual twist to the Joseph-Beth purchase by B&N: the Lexington Herald Reader observed that in August B&N opened a new, expanded store in Fayette Mall, less than a mile from the Mall at Lexington. 

Held this year in San Diego, Calif., the California Independent Booksellers Alliance's annual Fall Fest ran September 14-15 and saw nearly 200 booksellers from across the state of California attend, with many first-timers. The lively show featured two days' worth of book discovery, professional education, and networking. CALIBA held its annual meeting and town hall Monday morning.

Education sessions included panels on author events, creating employee handbooks, and alternative ways of working with schools; discovery sessions focused on multi-generational stories; stories told through the eyes of animals; mystery and horror novels written by California authors, nonfiction books about race and politics in the United States. The Book Industry Charitable Foundation ran its customary Heads or Tails Fundraiser, and the show closed with the first-ever Golden Poppy Awards ceremony.

Next year's Fall Fest will head north, returning to South San Francisco September 15-16.

Authors Shirin Yim Leos (Of Wind and Dust, PRH), Holly Varni (A Perfectly Reasonable Plan, Thomas Nelson), K-Ming Chang (Needlemouth, S&S), and Julie Buxbaum (All Together Now, Avid Reader Press) with moderator and bookseller Jennifer Medeiros (Through the Fold Books + Community, San Diego).
Booksellers mingled and grabbed galleys after the exhibition hall opened Monday.

Alan Barillaro (Bunns Rabbit II: The Return of the Spirit Rabbit, Candlewick), Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Bathtime for Snow Monkeys), and TJ Klune (The Stars Look Like Home, Wildthorn) discussed their upcoming books with bookseller Michelle Bucud (Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego) Monday afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon's horror and mystery panel brought together authors Tananarive Due (Mazywood, Saga Press/S&S), Joseph Fink (The Nudge, Podium Publishing), DC Frost (A Shadow of Jaguars, Canis Major Books), and Claudia Hagadus Long (Sisters at an Exhibition: A Zara and Lilly Mystery, Sibylline Press).

Shelf Awareness's Kristianne Huntsberger (left) and Binc's Kathy Bartson (right) with Amanda Klein of Bluebird Play, San Diego, the winner of the Heads or Tails fundraiser. Binc raised a total of $2,598, including a $1,000 Macmillan match for 10 new monthly donors.
CALIBA staff and board members celebrated following the inaugural Golden Poppy Awards ceremony. Left to right: Alecia Reddick, Katerina Argyres, Jhoanna Belfer, Claire Bone, Sam Robertson, Shannon Grant, Vanessa Martini, Mary Williams, Bridget Schinnerer, Valentina Mosberg, Mark O'Neal, and Hannah Walcher.

Mahar Asher Sperling has been appointed v-p, associate publisher, at Inner Traditions International, which specializes in books on spirituality, holistic health, ancient wisdom, psychedelics, and personal transformation. He is taking over daily operations and management of the company from his father, founder Ehud C. Sperling.

Mahar Sperling

Since joining Inner Traditions International in 2020, Mahar Sperling has launched and grown Inner Traditions Audio into a steady imprint producing 60 audiobooks per year. Mahar also relaunched Inner Traditions' Spanish-language program into an independent imprint producing 20 books a year, with staff in Mexico City, Madrid, and Caracas, and distribution into every major Spanish-language market in the world. His other contributions include a U.S. distribution partnership with noted Spanish mind/body/spirit publisher Grupo Gaia and, for the past year, leading new title acquisitions, a role he will continue in.

Ehud Sperling, publisher of Inner Traditions, said, "Mahar brings a deep understanding of Inner Traditions' history, values, authors, and readers, along with the energy and perspective needed to help lead the company into its next chapter. It's with a great sense of gratitude and appreciation for my colleagues and their support that I can see a bright and wondrous future for our publishing house and its new generation of leaders."

Mahar Sperling said, "Inner Traditions represents my father's life's work of 50-plus years, and a community of authors and readers who trust us to put forward ideas that matter. I'm deeply grateful for the foundation he's built and for the wonderful team that's welcomed me into the industry with open arms. Reflecting on what the next 50 years might bring, I come back to the words of my father: that we are here to 'Seed the dream of humanity.' "

Valerie Merians and Dennis Johnson, founders and publishers of Melville House, have announced a partnership with Illuminating Media LLC, headed by David Kelsey, that will see a major recapitalization of the Melville House company. The new partners will also implement an advisory board, which will consist of Merians, Kelsey, and Johnson, as well as other leading figures from the industry.

Melville House was launched in 2001 and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in October. Over the years it has become known for a wide variety of literary fiction and nonfiction, as well as for "crashing" books, or publishing titles quickly, including official publications like The CIA Torture Report and The Mueller Report.

"I like to call it action publishing," said Johnson. "Crashed books are very hard to do, but the company has a mission, and the mission is to let people know what's really going on, and what they can do about it--as fast as we can."

Illuminating Media LLC is the publisher of CT Examiner, an online news entity with a focus on local and investigative reporting as well as cultural topics; and Majuscule, a forum for long-form essays and letters from promising writers early in their careers.

"I am very pleased to have partnered with Valerie and Dennis to provide additional stability to  Melville House and begin a long-term plan for further success," said Kelsey. "I view my role as a steward of the unique reputation cultivated by Melville House founders and staff, and I intend to continue to respect the type of publishing decisions that have been appealing to Melville House's broad audience."

Merians commented: "I'm flattered that Dave recognizes the importance of what we've been doing. Dennis and I will be stepping back eventually and we're looking forward to working with Dave on a leadership succession plan that will take the company into the future."

Four U.S. booksellers are receiving Books Across Borders scholarships to visit either the Frankfurt Book Fair or the Guadalajara International Book Fair this fall. The scholarships aim to connect U.S. booksellers with the international community by attending some of the world's biggest book fairs. The program includes the opportunity to report on the event in Shelf Awareness and participation on a panel of professional relevance or interest to the fellow. BAB fellowships also aim to help raise booksellers' industry profiles, support their professional development, and encourage the advocacy and promotion of international literature.

Clockwise from top left: Patrick Leonard, Maritza Montañez, Javiera Tapia, Hannah Harlow

This fall's fellows are Hannah Harlow of the Bookshop of Beverly Farms, Beverly, Mass., who will attend the Frankfurt Book Fair in October; and Maritza Montañez of Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y., Patrick Leonard of Postcard Bookshop, Portland, Ore., and Javiera Tapia of Charlie's Queer Bookstore, Seattle, Wash., who will attend the FIL Guadalajara Book Fair in December.

Hannah Harlow has been co-owner and operator of The Book Shop of Beverly Farms in Beverly, Mass., since January 2020. Before that, she spent 17 years working in publishing, mostly in the marketing department at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She volunteers on the steering committee of the Newburyport Literary Festival, helping to bring hundreds of authors to the North Shore of Massachusetts. Her writing about books and bookselling has appeared in WBUR's Cognescenti blog and in a bi-monthly column for the bookstore's local paper, the Manchester Cricket. She is also the co-host of the books podcast Four Books a Fortnight. Hannah is a member of the New England Independent Booksellers Association board of directors.

Patrick Leonard is the owner and bookseller of Postcard Bookshop in Portland, Ore. Since opening in 2024, Postcard has been a destination for travel and translation, shelving books by geography so that readers and travelers can discover a translated novel alongside a guide or phrasebook. As an advocate for translation, he hosts a world literature book club at the store and offers a monthly subscription of translated fiction from independent presses. Most recently, he has added books originally published in Spanish. Before opening the bookstore, Patrick worked at contemporary art nonprofits, was the buyer for a specialty food store, and learned the publishing side of the book industry at Artisan Books (Workman) in New York City. Outside of the bookstore, he serves on the Partner Advisory Board for Travel Portland and helps to organize the Bike Bus at his daughter's elementary school.

Maritza Montañez is a buyer at Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y., where she has worked since 2020. At Greenlight, she has served as a union shop steward and as a member of the union bargaining committee. She co-founded and hosts the store's Literature in Translation Book Group. She previously worked at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn and worked in operations before becoming an indie bookseller. Maritza is also an improviser and teacher at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. She has taught improv comedy at NYU's Stone Street Studios and coached high school and middle school students at TAPCo in the Bronx, NEST+m in Manhattan, and J.H.S. 383 Philippa Schuyler in Brooklyn. She studied history, creative writing, and Spanish at New York University, has lived in New York City for 18 years, and is originally from California's San Joaquin Valley.

Javiera (Javi) Tapia has worked as a bookseller for seven years. Their baby years started at Third Place Books and continue to grow at Charlie's Queer Books in Seattle, Wash. Born in Chile, Javi grew up with a deep love of literature in translation. They have a particular passion for small press publishing and the vital role translation plays in bringing those books to the hands of English-language readers. They've also served as a judge for the Cercador Prize, the only bookseller-led award for translated literature. Outside of bookselling, you can find them birdwatching, collecting trinkets, or crafting.

Books Across Borders will announce the 2027 Spring Fellows for the RISE Bookselling Conference in Galway, Ireland; the London Book Fair in London, England, and the Bologna Children's Book Fair/Bologna Book Plus in Bologna, Italy next year. All booksellers who applied during the 2026-27 application season remain eligible for these fellowships.

Howard University is hosting a grand opening celebration today of its campus bookstore at 2225 Georgia Ave. NW in Washington, D.C. The reopening follows a $1.4 million investment by Follett "to reimagine the campus retail experience at Howard. From expanded premium merchandise to dedicated spaces for studying, events, and celebrating Howard authors and entrepreneurs, the newly renovated Bison Exchange reflects the culture, legacy, and community that define the university," Howard University noted. 

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will feature executives and administrators from Howard University and Follett. The 88th Miss Howard University, Ssanyu Lukoma, will accept a donation of 100 books to Brown Kids Read, a nonprofit organization she founded to inspire children to read more diverse literature. 

Howard University and Follett had announced partnership plans in June 2025 "for a complete store remodel in summer 2026, along with an enhanced focus on showcasing products from alumni- and Black-owned businesses and brands both in-store and online. Additionally, the improved Howard University Bookstore will feature an expanded technology section, including authorized Apple products and services to better meet students' tech needs."

Chicago author Daniel Kraus, whose novel Angel Down (Atria) won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, threw the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field last Friday. Afterward, the Cubs squeezed past the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0.

Back Cove Books, Portland, Maine, shared a video depicting the unofficial seasonal change from summer to fall through the lens of a bookshop's front door, noting: "It's time, Loca. FALL HOURS.... Come get cozy and find your new autumn read, spidermonkeys."

"It's time for a spooky boo-ky." Curious Iguana in Frederick, Md., was getting the jump on Halloween with its sidewalk chalkboard message, noting: "It's *almost* that time of the year! If you just can't wait, we have plenty of spooky reads waiting for you here at the bookstore."

At Knopf:

Ellen Whitaker is promoted to senior manager, marketing.

Christopher Metts is promoted to manager, marketing and social media strategy.

Sarah Malik is promoted to associate, marketing. She joined the company last year from Barnes & Noble.

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Pati Jinich, author of Pati Jinich Foods of La Frontera: Recipes and New Taste Frontiers from Both Sides of the Border (Harvest, $35, 9780063375062).

Also on GMA:  Neil deGrasse Tyson, co-author of Lost in Space: 5,000 Facts for Navigating the Universe (National Geographic, $40, 9781426224386).

Oscar winning actress Brie Larson (Room) will star as Katy Silver and executive produce Paramount Pictures' movie adaptation of Rebecca Serle's bestselling novel One Italian Summer, Deadline reported. Harry Bradbeer (Enola Holmes franchise filmmaker) is directing the Temple Hill Entertainment production. The film is set to be released in theaters for Mother's Day weekend, May 12, 2028. Serle will executive produce alongside David Stone of TFC Productions. 

"Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Italy's Amalfi Coast, One Italian Summer is a moving and magical story about the enduring bond between mothers and daughters. Following a devastating loss, a young woman is given an extraordinary opportunity to reconnect with her mother in a new light, leading to unexpected discoveries and a deeper understanding of love, life, and herself," Deadline noted. 

The National Book Foundation is releasing longlists for the 2026 National Book Awards this week, beginning with the Young People's Literature and Translated Literature categories. Finalists will be announced on October 6, and winners named on November 18 at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony. The longlisted in these categories titles are:

Young People's Literature
The Free Verse Society by Delali Adjoa (Peachtree Teen)
Holloway by Elana K. Arnold (Clarion Books)
The Celestial Seas by T. A. Chan (Viking Books for Young Readers)
When Tomorrow Burns by Tae Keller (Random House Books for Young Readers)
That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic by Keala Kendall (Random House Books for Young Readers)
The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America by David Levithan & Gabriel Duckels (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller (Philomel Books)
Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams by Eric Darnell Pritchard, illustrated by Shannon Wright (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Shook by Julian Randall (Holt Books for Young Readers)
Life on the Moon by Matthew Swanson, illustrated by Robbi Behr (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Translated Literature
My Dreadful Body by Egana Djabbarova, translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden (New Vessel Press)
Now I Surrender by Álvaro Enrigue, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Riverhead Books)
Eden at Dawn by Karim Kattan, translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman (Restless Books)
The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken (Penguin Press)
To the East of the East by Ping Lu, translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang (World Editions)
Centroeuropa by Vicente Luis Mora, translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery (Bellevue Literary Press)
Night of a Thousand Hells by Intan Paramaditha, translated from the Indonesian by Stephen Epstein & Tiffany Tsao (Europa Editions)
Pure Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Other Press)
The Disappearing Act by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (New Directions)
Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza by Samar Yazbek, translated from the Arabic by Leri Price (Other Press)

photo: Elizabeth Cavagnaro Photography

Chelsea Kim Long is a lay theologian, meditation teacher, and writer. Her debut book, Faithfully Dissident Daughters: Reclaiming Christian Womanhood Beyond Patriarchy (Westminster John Knox Press, September 8, 2026), with a foreword by Dr. Christena Cleveland, braids personal narrative with theology and Christian history to argue that the image of God is expansive enough to hold women's full embodied lives. She lives in San Diego with her husband and three children.

Handsell readers your book:

If your body and your religion keep contradicting each other, one of them is lying to you. It isn't your body.

On your nightstand now:

I've been trying to be better about remembering my dreams when I wake up and have been slowly reading The Dreaming Way: Courting the Wisdom of Dreams by Toko-pa Turner.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. Like Harriet, my journal was the place I was always allowed to tell the truth. I'm grateful no one ever read it and made me apologize for it.

Your top five authors:

Here are five that are an immediate read for me: Sue Monk Kidd, Richard Rohr, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Madeline Miller, Yaa Gyasi.

Book you've faked reading:

Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. I "borrowed" a copy from my parents' house when I moved out in 2011 and reading it has been my New Year's resolution every year since. People love to talk about the theological depth of it, but for some reason I can't commit, so it's been 15 years of nodding along in conversations I have no business being in.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Fair Play by Eve Rodsky is the book my husband and I actually used in 2020 to make the invisible work of domestic labor visible, and it changed how we figured out who was carrying what. I have shoved it into so many friends' hands.

Book you've bought for the cover:

On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen. I genuinely love the content of this book (and cite her in mine), and the cover is SO good.

Book you hid from your parents:

I still hide astrology books from my parents. The Astrology of You and Me: How to Understand and Improve Every Relationship in Your Life by Gary Goldschneider is a fun one my neighbor gave to me recently.

Book that changed your life:

The Meaning of Mary Magdalene by Cynthia Bourgeault. She didn't hand me a lost gospel or a conspiracy. She showed me what was already in the Bible I'd been reading my whole life, and I was equal parts furious and liberated.

Favorite line from a book:

It's impossible to choose; I am an avid highlighter. A line that made me feel very seen in early motherhood was this from Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder: "How many generations of women had delayed their greatness only to have time extinguish it completely?... And what a mean trick to call such things holy or selfless. How evil to praise women for giving up each and every dream."

Five books you'll never part with:

Immortal Diamond by Richard Rohr; I come back to this one often, maybe because it was one of the first religious books I read that was outside of the bounds of what I had been taught was "Christian," and it felt like a breath of fresh air. Psalms for Praying by Nan C. Merrill accompanies me in my own prayer life, and Mariko Clark's The Book of Belonging, illustrated by Rachel Eleanor, is my favorite children's Bible. I reference Dr. Wilda C. Gafney's A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church series on a weekly basis. I love second-chance romance novels, and I re-read Carley Fortune's Every Summer After about once a year.

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

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It's so atmospheric, and I love a good fantasy that just sucks you in completely. I'm always chasing the high of feeling like a kid reading under the covers way past bedtime.

Bathtime for Snow Monkeys is an exquisite picture book by author Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrator Yas Imamura, the talented duo behind Love in the Library. It uses eloquent haiku and elegant illustrations to depict the warmth and tranquility experienced by a troop of macaques luxuriating in a mountain steam bath.

The opening haiku centers readers in the scene: "Mountains surround you./ This is Jigokudani,/ A park for macaques." Nihonzaru (snow monkeys, also called Japanese macaques) make their way through snow falling "thick and cold." The macaques pass "wet trees, slippery rocks--/ careful and quiet," before reaching the sulfurous-smelling hot springs. Here, snow monkeys huddle together; their "little red faces/ Peer out from brown, furry heads" while steam rises. They come here "to relax./ For clean fur and toasty soaks./ To be close to friends."

Until--splash!--one baby snow monkey in the onsen (soak bath) disturbs "the calm/ And others are cross." This baby "wants to play!/ But no one else does." Mama grooms her child with a reminder to "be mindful and hush," and as the baby settles in, the others do, too. "Snow drifts down," but the nihonzaru don't notice the wet flakes, because "they are warm and safe./ Doing what monkeys do best:/ Staying together."

Tokuda-Hall has created a series of blissfully serene, sure-handed haiku that advance a gentle, low-stakes narrative made deeper by extensive sensory details. Her choice to highlight the universal need for companionship and bonding makes this bath time feel comforting and familiar. Just like humans, her macaques "relax, snack, and occasionally have fights about who gets to sit where." In some important ways, however, they are different; for instance, snow monkeys "make up by picking lice out of each other's hair and eating them."

Imamura's glorious gouache and pastel crayon illustrations employ blues, ochers, and plenty of white snow to convey the heat of the pool and the chill of the landscape surrounding it. The delicate snow monkey faces are winsome and convey a sense of ethereal grace. Back matter explains that, while hot springs occur naturally, this "tidy little pool" was made by humans, a necessity after construction encroached on macaque habitat. Form matches content as the peaceful, hushed, near-magical pairing of haiku and art encourages readers to "enjoy the stillness." --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author

Shelf Talker: The picture book Bathtime for Snow Monkeys uses eloquent haiku and elegant illustrations to immerse readers in the peaceful bliss experienced by a troop of macaques in a mountain steam bath.