Executive Shelf for 02/28/2025
A weekly review of events in bookselling from the editors at Shelf Awareness, led by editor-in-chief John Mutter
Winter Institute 2025
For booksellers, there was just one story this week: the 20th Winter Institute, put on by the American Booksellers Association and focused on all things bookselling. A thousand booksellers attended the event in Denver, Colo., and as always, it was lively and celebratory--and this year a place where booksellers and others in the business rallied in the face of a political climate that is not at all conducive to books, free expression, and welcoming and accepting communities. Still, booksellers were positive. As author Brian Selznick told assembled booksellers on Wednesday, "We all have a very long road ahead of us, but we will survive. I know you're got my back, and I've got yours."
Here's our reporting from Denver:
The opening reception on Sunday celebrated the ABA's 125th anniversary, the 20th Winter Institute, and the fifth anniversary of Bookshop.org, with uplifting comments from ABA CEO Allison Hill and Bookshop founder Andy Hunter.
The opening breakfast keynote on Monday featured Ocean Vuong, who talked about the importance of bookstores and libraries in his life and thanked booksellers for offering a path when so many "paths are burning up... We might look back one day with relief that there is still a narrow passage forward made by a handful of people who believe in language."
Welcoming remarks from ABA CEO Allison Hill, who spoke about the current "weight of the world," the importance of DEI and free expression, and booksellers' "tremendously valuable work."
Tuesday's keynote breakfast featured four Black booksellers who discussed the legacy and future of Black-owned bookstores. In praising several "guiding light" Black bookstores and booksellers, Jake Cumsky-Whitlock of Solid State Books, Washington, D.C., said, "We have to be more than just retail spaces. We are centers of cultural and social revolution."
The ABA Community Forum, where some members criticized the association's response to the calls at last year's Community Forum for the ABA to take a stand on the war in Gaza. ABA CEO Allison Hill said that the association has been supporting booksellers who've been harassed or attacked for selling books about Palestine or by Palestinian authors, and that the ABA has to represent all members, who have a range of opinions on Palestine and Israel.
Simon & Schuster Joins Batch for Books
Simon & Schuster has joined Batch for Books, which streamlines invoice management and payment procedures for booksellers and publishers. With S&S's participation, the program now includes all the Big Five publishers, "a major milestone." Batch is wildly popular among U.S. booksellers and in the U.K., where it originated.
The Oscars; nu, eezee speling buk; B&N's national book club pick.
Sunday is Oscar night, and films based on books are among those with the most nominations. Emilia Pérez has 13 nominations. Wicked has 10. A Complete Unknown and Conclave each have eight. Who's our favorite? The answer is blowin' in the wind.
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On Monday, we ran a trailer for one of our favorite upcoming books. Or, we shud rite: on Munday we ran a traylr for 1 uv ar favrit buks: Enough Is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell by Gabe Henry, which Dey Street is publishing April 15, uthrwyz nown as tax day.
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Barnes & Noble chose Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Simon & Schuster) as its March national book club pick. B&N called the book "a standout story." It's the English journalist and writer's U.S. debut.
Shelf Awareness reviews.
The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara (Harper Voyager); Tilt by Emma Pattee (Marysue Rucci/S&S); Deadstream by Mar Romasco-Moore (Viking Books for Young Readers); Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand by Jeff Chu (Convergent Books); and Twist by Colum McCann (Random House).
In Memoriam.
Scottish crime author Denzil Meyrick, U.K. publisher and author Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson; Irish novelist and playwright Jennifer Johnston.