Carol Price, co-owner of BookPeople of Moscow in Moscow, Idaho, is selling her share of the bookstore to Katelyn and Bryan Foutch. 

Katelyn Foutch will officially take over for Price in early July, following a June 26 celebration of "the past, present, and future" of the bookstore. The festivities will run from 4 to 8 p.m., coinciding with Moscow's Art Walk Finale, and feature activities, treats, giveaways, and more.

Co-owners Breanne Pickens and Steffen Werner will remain on board, and BookPeople of Moscow's corporate structure, specifically its underlying s-corp called BooX Without Borders, will remain unchanged.

Price and her husband will be "moving to Arizona where we have been snowbirds for several years," and though she is leaving BookPeople of Moscow, she will remain involved with the Professional Booksellers School. 

BookPeople of Moscow was founded in 1973. Price and Werner purchased the bookstore in 2011.

As ReedPop noted, "the rumors are true." BookCon, which had been a popular consumer-focused addition to BookExpo but hasn't been held since the pandemic started, is back. The two-day show, a "celebration of storytelling in all forms built for readers, by readers," will take place next April 18 and 19 at the Javits Center in New York City.

ReedPop called the new BookCon "a wholly reimagined event," that will gather publishers, authors, brands, and retailers in "an immersive show floor experience" that will include author chats, books swaps, book signings, book clubs, workshops, panels, crafting zones, and more.

Jenny Martin, event director, ReedPop, said, "BookCon has always been an incredibly special event to our team and when we made the difficult decision to cancel the show in 2020, we did so with the hope that we would bring the event back even bigger and better when the time felt right. We are so excited to welcome our BookCon community home next April for an event that has been fully reimagined to include everything fans loved about BookCon, plus so much more. At BookCon, we believe stories are sacred, books are identity, and community is everything. We invite all of you to join us as we create a space where passion is celebrated and all of you are our main characters."

BookCon was founded in 2014 and was an immediate success, drawing 10,000 enthusiastic readers, particularly teenage girls, its first year, limited because of a cap on attendance. BookCon remained a vital event through 2019, welcomed by the industry. As one publisher told us after BookCon's debut: "What's not to like about kids who think reading is cool?"

Abrams has restructured its marketing department leadership in a way "designed to strengthen how the company identifies, reaches, and serves its readers." Under the direction of Melanie Chang, senior v-p of marketing, publicity, and corporate communications, the reorganization establishes adult and children's marketing teams while creating focused resources for direct-to-consumer engagement through e-mail and newsletter marketing.

Chang said, "This organization reflects our commitment to understanding who our readers are and how they discover books. The structure reflects our vision for a more agile, data-informed, and creatively bold marketing engine--one that positions Abrams for continued success in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The goal is to create marketing that serves readers first, which ultimately serves our authors and our business."

Under the restructuring, several appointments have been made:

Cristina Gilbert has joined Abrams as executive director, marketing, adult. She was most recently at Macmillan, first as associate publisher of Flatiron Books, then worked on corporate marketing and publishing strategy and partnered on an overall strategy for Leigh Bardugo across imprints. Earlier, at Bloomsbury, she led the marketing, publishing, and sales development of the Sarah J. Maas program.

Jenna Lisanti returns to Abrams as associate director, marketing, adult, after working most recently on the company's adult campaigns in a freelance capacity. Lisanti has more than 15 years of book marketing experience at major houses, including HarperCollins and Penguin Random House, in addition to her time at Abrams in children’s marketing.

Borana Greku has been promoted to director, marketing, children's, and will focus exclusively on the children's program after working across multiple categories during her seven years at Abrams. Her campaigns have supported the growth of franchises, including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Lightlark Saga, The Questioneers, and Kitty-Corn.

Kasia Abrams is joining the company as executive director, content & consumer engagement, effective June 23. Most recently she led audience growth, sales, and marketing initiatives at Open Road Integrated Media and earlier worked at various media companies, including Gannett and the USA Today Network. In her new role, she will focus on creating direct-to-consumer marketing using reader data to develop targeted content and curated book recommendations. Her approach, which emphasizes direct communication, especially through e-mail and newsletter marketing, will increase both frontlist and backlist performance while building long-term reader relationships across Abrams' publishing categories.

At two Educating Publishers panels at the 2025 Children's Institute, booksellers focused on "Sustainable In-School Events Programs" and "Beyond BIPOC Characters: Equitable Practices for Marketing, Touring, and Promoting Diverse Authors."

Leah Johnson, an author and founder of Loudmouth Books in Indianapolis, Ind., described the publishing industry as risk averse, and maintained that new independent bookstores, authors of color, and schools that are unable to meet a minimum honorarium for author visits must all "prove" that they're worth investing in. After founding Loudmouth Books, Johnson spent much time networking and contacting publicists and authors because she knew that Loudmouth Books "wouldn't have gotten any author events last year if [she] hadn't already done the leg work."

Beyond BIPOC Characters panelists (l.-r.) Brein Lopez, Leah Johnson, Priscilla Martínez, Talia Whyte

Now more than ever, help and support is needed. "Where we are at today is not where were a year ago. It's not where we were in December," said Brein Lopez of Children's Book World, Los Angeles, Calif. "Members of our communities who read to their kids are being kidnapped off the streets and being sent off to countries somewhere else. Disappeared." Small bookstores, bookstores in Midwestern states, and bookstores run by BIPOC and People of the Global Majority (PGM) "have been the frontlines for these fights and they still don't get the support they need to survive."

Talia Whyte of Rozzie Bound Co-op, Roslindale, Mass., said she has relied on the network of indie bookstores in her community for support and information. "I would like a head start promoting authors of color," she said, but she does not always learn about those authors until after books are published. Other indies help inform her about them. Priscilla Martinez of West Side Stories, Purcellville, Va., a member of the 2025 BINCTank cohort, said she has heard from fellow cohort members that some BIPOC author events have become very restrictive, with windows for advertising limited and at times not allowed until after publication.

Sustainable In-School Events Programs
More and more restrictions are being placed on school visits, bookseller panelists noted. "We don't want to police our authors," said Maryan Liban of Cover to Cover Books for Young Readers in Columbus, Ohio, "but [bookstores are] placed between publishers, authors, and the school." Each has its own expectation, and schools are struggling to keep up with the changing political climate. Some schools are updating author visit policies to include state background checks, and others are demanding authors be insured for the school visit.

Liban also noted that due to nationwide budget cuts, "some schools are opting out of full-time librarians and instead hiring parents or PTA members who don't have librarian training." Publishers have great educator tools, she continued, but schools can take advantage of those tools only if they know they exist. Liban recommends publicists provide discussion questions and any presentation materials well before a school visit to allow both students and facilitators to prepare.

"Sustainable In-School Events Programs" panelists (l.-r.) Heidi Ashton-Yoon, Carrie Custer, Maryan Liban, Heather Hebert

The price of books and minimum buy requirements for school visits are also problematic, booksellers said. Heidi Ashton-Yoon from Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., said, "It's hard to get families to spend $19.99 or $20.99 with a debut or even midlist author when they're not sure if their kid will read the book or like the book." When there is no guarantee that students can afford to purchase a book at an in-school visit, "proving that all the minimum buys are worth it is a huge hurdle," said Carrie Custer of Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, Calif. "Unique and creative solutions are becoming increasingly difficult," particularly due to costs. Working with benefactors or PTAs can help, she said, as well as seeking grants from for-profit businesses and active community members. Paperback releases are financially more accessible, and Ashton-Yoon encourages publishers to pair their author events for paperback releases with Title I schools.

Booksellers expressed frustration at how BIPOC authors are marketed. Johnson, who is a queer Black author and founder of a BIPOC-focused bookstore, said, "It's so clear to me that publishers couldn't care less about their authors of color." The treatment of BIPOC authors is "so disparate, and it's becoming disheartening to me not just as a bookseller but as an author to see how publishers are approaching events to different authors." Johnson mentioned that many authors of color have to plan their own book tours and said to publishers, "If you can't do any of the leg work, then give [BIPOC authors] the tools and guides for what you did for the author you actually care about."

Booksellers added that when BIPOC-centric books are marketed to stores that are not in a community of color, the marketing downplays the BIPOC aspects of the book. "That needs to stop," said Lopez. "It needs to be the same marketing for everyone, and if you're not having success at other locations, it's because you're not marketing them correctly."

Whyte mentioned that Rozzie Bound Co-op was the bookseller at a readathon to celebrate Malcom X's 100th birthday. The approximately 200 attendees came to read pieces of his autobiography over the course of several hours. Customers donated more than $1,500 to buy books about Malcom X. And yet the publishers Whyte contacted in January never responded. "What would have happened if publishers had sent some BIPOC authors to the readathon?" Lopez asked.

"You're missing out on great opportunities," Whyte told publishers. BIPOC bookstores and authors are ready with fresh ideas, but publishers "need to be willing to take the chance on us first."

Whyte, Johnson, Martinez, and Lopez all expressed a desire for publishers to send more BIPOC, queer, and disabled employees to industry events. Martinez said, "sharing power, handing over power… that will lead to equity." One publisher, a Black woman recently promoted to event manager at her house, said that "the conversation and rhetoric I receive at my publisher is that when we're sending things to Black owned bookstores, that [Black owned bookstores] only want to receive Black-identifying writers and illustrators." Every panelist shook their head no. "But in my experience [as a Black woman]," she continued, "we've been reading everything. So, my question is, what do you wish we would be sending?"

The answer was unanimous: BIPOC bookstores want to be sent all types of content: mysteries, romantasy, nonfiction, graphic novels, and everything in between, the booksellers said, stressing that it is not the job of the publisher to curate what each bookstore stocks.

To narrow their lists of titles, it was recommended that publishers take the time to talk with BIPOC bookstores and those in their communities. Although BIPOC bookstores do have a lot in common, they are not monolithic, the booksellers continued. If unsure of what galleys to send to which store, publishers could provide a list of galleys and simply ask which galleys the bookstores want. When a bookseller mentioned galley boxes full of crinkle paper, a loud groan rippled through the room. "We are all climate conscious," said Johnson. "When I get a huge box full of air and crinkle paper, you turn me off from the book."

As indie bookstores and libraries brave censorship, government-sanctioned kidnappings, and attacks against the queer community, there is no time for deliberation. Publishing houses must work harder for bookstores, booksellers said. "Hold them to the fire," Lopez said, "because the fire is the light." --Madison Gaines, publishing assistant, Shelf Awareness

Thomas Neurath

Thomas Neurath, the longtime managing director and later chairman of Thames & Hudson, died June 13. He was 84. T&H CEO Sophy Thompson said: "T&H's 75th-anniversary celebrations in 2024 put Thomas's immense contribution to publishing into perspective. He spent more than 50 years at the helm of the company and permeated the house with his intellectual and cultural aura, as well as his unrivaled commercial understanding of the opportunities and perils of illustrated publishing.  

"Working with Thomas was both challenging and deeply rewarding: daunting interrogations were offset by long, happy discussions about the program, publishing and the art world more broadly. His wisdom, experience and passion will be greatly missed by everyone at T&H." 

Neurath was the son of publisher Walter Neurath and teacher Marianne Müller, who both fled Austria after the Nazi takeover in 1938. After her death, Walter Neurath founded T&H in 1949 with his third wife and publishing colleague Eva Feuchtwang, naming it for the rivers in London and New York. Thomas Neurath joined the family firm as an editor in 1961. He developed the groundbreaking World of Art series, which offered scholarly illustrated introductions to all aspects of visual culture. Containing some 300 titles, it continues to be a flagship series for T&H.

When Walter Neurath died in 1967, the day-to-day running of the company was handed to Thomas Neurath, as managing director, and his sister Constance Neurath, who looked after design. T&H said: "Thomas soon displayed extraordinary publishing instincts and was able to translate his vision for a book into a physical design concept, with attention paid to every detail, from fonts and typography to the all-important relationship in illustrated books between text, caption and image...

"Neurath was an astonishingly skillful publisher and an astute businessman. Aspects of publishing such as distribution and finance were as important to Thomas as the quality of a book's editorial, design and production standards. He knew how to run a company and under his leadership T&H was prudently managed as an independent business, with profits reinvested and growth driven organically rather than reliant on acquisitions. Thomas was also a caring and generous employer, taking a sincere interest in all his colleagues and with a remarkable memory for the details of their lives." 

Neurath stepped down from his role as managing director in 2005, assuming the role of chairman until 2021. The Neurath family said: "We are grateful to everyone at T&H and the wider publishing community, who enriched Thomas's professional life, his great passion for good books and filled his years with stimulating conversations, creative collaborations, inspiring challenges and, most importantly of all, many deeply cherished friendships." 

Actor/author Jeff Hiller (HBO's Somebody Somewhere) visited East End Books at the Boston Seaport for a talk and reading from his memoir, Actress of a Certain Age (Simon & Schuster). The event also featured a reception with food by Formaggio Kitchen, photo ops and book signing. Pictured: Hiller (l.) with store owner Jeff Peters.

"Pig City Books is READY for those summer reads!! Huge shout-out and MANY thanks to @tay_beal for getting our window all ready for the season! Stop on in and check out our new summer reads!" is at Pig City Books, Lexington, N.C., posted on Facebook.

At Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Peachtree:

Maggie Salko is joining the company as marketing manager, consumer, effective June 23. She most recently worked for Little Bee Books as marketing & publicity manager.

Lailah Jackson has joined the company as marketing assistant, school & library. She most recently worked as a teacher's assistant at the Learning Experience.

The Last Time We Spoke by Jesse Mechanic (Street Noise Books).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Bob Weis, author of Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering (Disney Editions, $29.99, 9781368101035).

Also on GMA: John Tsilimparis, author of The Magic in the Tragic: Rewriting the Script on Grief and Discovering Happiness in Our Darkest Days (Harper Celebrate, $24.99, 9781400251544).

CBS Mornings: Larry Charles, author of Comedy Samurai: Forty Years of Blood, Guts, and Laughter (Grand Central, $32.50, 9781538771549).

Late Night with Seth Meyers repeat: Questlove, author of Hip-Hop Is History (Picador, $20, 9781250390547).

The TV comedy pilot for Broadway Books will have its world premiere on June 21 during the 2025 Dances With Films fest at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. Written and directed by Carianne King, Broadway Books was developed in the Upright Citizens Brigade Pilot Writing Program and inspired by King's experiences as a bookseller on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Check out the trailer here.

Broadway Books takes place in "an aggressively gentrifying Manhattan, where a group of over-educated, under-employed bookstore workers struggle to keep their independent bookstore in business using increasingly desperate measures." 

Synopsis for the pilot episode ("The Tipping Point"): "It's another day at Broadway Books when the team is confronted with a problem: the RSVPs for the evening's Malcolm Gladwell reading are really low. And Gladwell, it turns out, is known for ruining the livelihoods of indie businesses that don't meet his demands. 'Frenemies' Laurel and Anya take to the streets to hand out fliers, where they clash over differing work ethics while consistently being passed over for an energy drink giveaway nearby. Meanwhile, Nick and Pierre parse Gladwell's epic rider and argue about whether Nick's actually read his Staff Picks, which include some of literature's longest and most challenging works like Ulysses and Anna Karenina. Just in time, the team leverages wisdom from The Tipping Point to quickly find last-minute attendees--with the help of a clowncore influencer named Lord Giggles, thinking on their feet to keep their bookstore open."

Broadway Books stars comedians Ruby McCollister and Lauren Servideo; Carlos Dengler, founding member of the band Interpol; Eric Yates, Nick Naney, Joe Apollonio, and Rew Starr. The pilot was produced by Abbie Jones, along with Miranda Kahn of Mirmade Productions.

"I worked as a bookseller for a summer at Book Culture on the Upper West Side, at the very location where we shot the episode," King noted. "I had moved to New York for a writing degree, and selling books was my first job in the city. I helped with the back-to-school rush but mostly hung out and talked with the other booksellers."

While filming the pilot episode, "we camped out at Book Culture four nights in a row, which was the way we could afford to shoot at a bookstore in New York City on such a small budget," King recalled. "It was delirious and fun, and there was a lot of improvisation that made the script funnier!"

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, June 21
2 p.m. Melissa R. Klapper, co-author of The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai (NYU Press, $32, 9781479831906).

4:10 p.m. Edward Dolnick, author of Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World (‎Scribner, $19.99, 9781982199623).

7 p.m. Martha Blanding, author of Groundbreaking Magic: A Black Woman’s Journey Through The Happiest Place on Earth (‎Disney Editions, $25.99, 9781368078030).

Sunday, June 22
8 a.m. José Andrés, co-author of Change the Recipe: Because You Can't Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs (Ecco, $26.99, 9780063436152). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9:15 a.m. Daniel Samet, author of U.S. Defense Policy toward Israel: A Cold War History (Routledge, $54.99, 9781032982502). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:15 p.m.)

12:40 p.m. Judy Karofsky, author of DisElderly Conduct: The Flawed Business of Assisted Living and Hospice (New Village Press, $24, 9781613322673), at Lake City Books in Madison, Wis.

1:15 p.m. Corinna Lain, author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (NYU Press, $29.95, 9781479832965), at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.

2:20 p.m. Vauhini Vara, author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age (‎Pantheon, $30, 9780593701522), at McNally Jackson Books in New York City.

5:05 p.m. Casey Burgat and Steve Israel, authors of We Hold These "Truths": How to Spot the Myths that Are Holding America Back (Authors Equity, $18, 9798893310184).

6 p.m. Russell Shorto, author of Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America (W.W. Norton, $29.99, 9780393881165).

A shortlist has been released for the $25,000 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, which is given to a writer for a single work of imaginative fiction, and "is intended to recognize those writers Ursula spoke of in her 2014 National Book Awards speech--realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now." The winner, chosen by a panel of authors, will be named on October 21. This year's shortlisted titles are:

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom Publishing)
Archangels of Funk by Andrea Hairston (Tordotcom Publishing)
Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson (Saga Press)
The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy (Feminist Press)
The West Passage by Jared Pechaček (Tordotcom Publishing)
The City in Glass by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom Publishing)
North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher (Neon Hemlock)
Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins (Sourcebooks Landmark)

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, June 24:

A Mother's Love: A Novel by Danielle Steel (Delacorte Press, $29, 9780593498736) follows a woman on vacation in Paris contending with a thief.

The Death Mask by Iris Johansen (Grand Central, $30, 9781538726334) is the 31st thriller with forensic sculptor Eve Duncan.

The Girls Who Grew Big: A Novel by Leila Mottley (Knopf, $28, 9780593801123) follows a group of teenage mothers in the Florida panhandle.

Among Friends: A Novel by Hal Ebbott (Riverhead, $28, 9780593854198) is literary fiction about a long friendship unraveling during a birthday party.

A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek (Margaret K. McElderry, $19.99, 9781665936507) is YA fantasy based on Swan Lake.

Hidden Treasure by Jessie Burton (Bloomsbury, $17.99, 9781547614714) is a middle-grade historical fantasy about two children who live along the magical river Thames.

The Wild Robot on the Island by Peter Brown (Little, Brown, $17.99, 9780316669467) is the full-color picture book version of The Wild Robot.

Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh by Robin Givhan (Crown, $35, 9780593444122) is the biography of the fashion industry pioneer.

Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA by Christina Hillsberg (Citadel, $29, 9780806543499) is a history of women in the CIA with a foreword by Valerie Plame.

Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central, $13, 9781538778005) gives feline advice for anti-fascist action (or inaction).

Galette!: Sweet and Savory Recipes as Easy as Pie by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan, $30, 9781523527069) includes 50 iterations of the "rustic, freeform tart."

Paperbacks:
An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward (S&S/Saga Press, $18.99, 9781668087145).

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao (MIRA, $18.99, 9780778387213).

Finders Keepers by Sarah Adler (Berkley, $19, 9780593817421).

Fan Favorite by Adrienne Gunn (Grand Central, $18.99, 9781538768259).

The No-End House by Jeremy Bates (Kensington, $18.95, 9781496755513).

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

Hardcover
Make Me Famous: A Novel by Maud Ventura, trans. by Gretchen Schmid (HarperVia, $30, 9780063427518). "Ventura offers a hilarious yet harrowing story of a young French American musician's rise to fame. A flawless depiction of the pressures of being young, beautiful, maintaining a fan base, and staying on top." --Melanie Fleishman, Center for Fiction Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (Spiegel & Grau, $30, 9781954118904). "A wonderful celebration of the beauty and strangeness of the natural world, as well as a fascinating memoir about growing up different. You will love Kaishian's clear, vivid prose!" --Michael Bender, Split Rock Books, Cold Spring, N.Y.

Paperback
Libby Lost and Found: A Novel by Stephanie Booth (Sourcebooks Landmark, $17.99, 9781464236303). "A delightful read! Full of endearing characters who collide with heartwarming results: an author of a beloved children's series over deadline due to early onset Alzheimer's, a tiny intrepid superfan, and her wacky family and town." --Alana Haley, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Ages 5-9
Some of Us: A Story of Citizenship and the United States by Rajani LaRocca, illus. by Huy Voun Lee (Christy Ottaviano Books, $18.99, 9780316571753). "Rajani LaRocca has a talent for blending facts with poetry, offering a diverse collection of people and families and the ways they come to citizenship. I hope many readers see themselves in this book, lovingly created by an author and illustrator who are also immigrants." --Johanna Albrecht, McIntyre's Fine Books, Pittsboro, N.C.

Ages 8-12
The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell (Dial Books, $18.99, 9798217002405). "The girls at the Midwatch Institute are an essential reminder that we all are stronger than we realize, and that with a little teamwork we can tackle anything. Filled with mystery, adventure, cool gadgets, and secret tunnels, this is an absolute delight!" --Dominic Smith, Underbrush Books, Rogers, Ark.

Ages 14+
Blades of Furry: Volume 1 by Emily Erdos and Deya Muniz (Little, Brown Ink, $32.99, 9780316459839). "Blades of Furry has tons of rainbow lighting, heart eyes, and gay yearning, while not shying away from social commentary. The protagonists--figure skating, martial artist animals--learn and grow alongside one another, fighting for life and love against all odds." --Olivia Williams, Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Juliette Fay's winsome eighth novel, The Harvey Girls, follows two young women who become colleagues--and, eventually, much more--as they work alongside one another in the United States' first hospitality chain, along the Santa Fe Railroad.

Charlotte Crowninshield turned her back on her Boston Brahmin family when she married a handsome professor from Wellesley College. Now, fleeing a marriage gone terribly wrong, she takes a new name and lands a job working for the Fred Harvey Company. She travels to Topeka, Kan., to train as a waitress at the company's flagship "Harvey House." Charlotte's roommate, Billie MacTavish, is the sheltered Nebraskan daughter of Scottish immigrants, forced to leave home and lie about her age to secure her position as a Harvey Girl. Though they dislike each other on sight, Billie and Charlotte must learn to live and work together. The railroad, and their lives as Harvey Girls, will take them both to places they never imagined.

Fay (The Tumbling Turner Sisters; The Half of It) paints a striking historical portrait of 1920s America, detailing the bustling train stations and well-appointed restaurants that become Billie and Charlotte's world. She explores the freedoms and limits of being a Harvey Girl: though the job offers a chance at independence, plus income and opportunities to travel, it also comes with strict behavioral standards. Despite their prickly relationship, Billie and Charlotte stand by one another through tough days on the job and several harrowing experiences, including an encounter with the KKK. Fay explores both protagonists' personal growth alongside their deepening friendship, even as they face difficult decisions about their futures.

When Charlotte and Billie are transferred to the Grand Canyon, Fay immerses readers in the stark beauty of the Arizona desert and the elegance of the El Tovar Hotel, their new workplace. At El Tovar, Charlotte learns some of the local Indigenous history by asking questions about handicrafts and traditions. Fay sensitively portrays the complicated experiences of Native peoples in the area, and their frustration with being displayed as cultural curiosities. As Charlotte's past catches up with her and Billie debates whether to reveal her true age, the women must rely on their Harvey Girl training--plus their inner grit and compassion--to support each other and step into their futures.

At once a fascinating slice of little-known 1920s history and a tribute to staunch female friendship, The Harvey Girls is as satisfying as a slice of lemon meringue pie served in a Harvey House dining room. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Juliette Fay's winsome eighth novel chronicles the adventures and personal growth of two young women working alongside each other as waitresses in the 1920s.

Presented annually by the Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland through its Books Are My Bag campaign, Independent Bookshop Week celebrates indie booksellers by highlighting the essential role they play in their communities. Hundreds of special activities are happening this week, including book tokens, author readings, poetry open mic nights, family festivals, and much, much more. 

For example, Orlaine McDonald's novel No Small Thing is being highlighted through a one-off partnership between the Book of the Month campaigns of the BA and Bookshop.org. And IBW2025's Poetry Ambassador Michael Pedersen read "Lines on Glister & Glow," a new poem to celebrate #IndieBookshopWeek, and filmed at Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland.

What indie booksellers do--their life's work--is of serious, vital importance, but there's another essential ingredient that anyone who's been slinging books for a while will quickly acknowledge: having a good laugh while you're at it. So I went looking for some humor this Indie Book Week. Here are a few samples: 

"Big News: Novel is under new management," Novel Bookshop in Sheffield, announced on social media right in the heart of Indie Bookshop Week. "I am BEFF JEZOS: disruptor, visionaire, and now She-EO of Novel, and am definitely not Kate dressed as if she is about to go to a Pitbull concert. Taking over a 'community bookshop' was never in the plan. I wanted something scalable, algorithmic, monopolising--something that I could possibly convert into a pyramid scheme. However, with my vision and leadership, I believe I will be able to take on the online supergiant company-who-will-not-be-named to streamline bookselling operations for the betterment of profits. Under my leadership, Novel will be restructured, rebranded, and re-optimised.... I look forward to sharing my journey of total bookselling domination... I mean.... getting to know you all, my loyal subjects."

Storysmith Books, Bristol, posted: "INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP WEEK! The greatest week of the year has rolled round once again! (Is it getting sooner each time, or are we just addicted to celebrating ourselves... it's hard to say.) You'll know what to expect by now: intuitive, humanity-infested book recommendations that take a paddle steamer-sized dump on the algorithm, a curated selection of exclusively un-bad books from all your favourite international authors and independent publishers, and the return of the MUCH-COVETED and SLO-MO-CAPTURED High Five vouchers, which you will receive with ANY in-store purchase while we've got them (it's not even half 10 on day 1 and they're already going, hoo-boy) So everyone gather round and shout into the vanity-spaceship-clogged stratosphere, EAT IT JEFF, IT'S INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP WEEK! See you in the shop xoxo."

Bookshop video blooper reels were on the minds of booksellers at Lucky Hare Books, Ampthill: "Sooooo we thought as this is #independentbookshopweek we would share something different for our Two for Tuesday. You may think that we manage to do the usual videos in one smooth take, but as you will see today that is FAR from the truth!! Here are our Two for Tuesday BLOOPERS! Enjoy!!"

When it comes to having fun in a bookshop, though, the folks at Irish bookseller Red Books, a "traditional eccentric bookshop located in St Peter's Square in Wexford town," won over my funny bone with their whimsical yet fiercely dedicated approach to independent bookselling. 

Earlier this Indie Bookshop Week, Love Wexford Town profiled the owners: "Wally O'Neill and his mother, Nuala, run Red Books, an independent bookshop in Wexford town. The shop is packed... literally to the ceiling with second-hand, antiquarian, and collectible books, alongside a solid selection of new titles. Local writers take precedent here, with Wally making sure their work gets the attention it deserves.... It's clear this place isn't just about books--it's about the people who walk through the door. Red Books has built such a tight-knit (pun intended) community. In fact, the customers in this place looked so at home and loyal, Wally might have a harder time getting rid of them than the books. Wally lives and breathes what's happening in Wexford, and shops like this deserve credit... not just for keeping great books on the shelves, but for keeping real customer service alive and well in the town."

Between the Pages, a short documentary on the shop that was released earlier this year, captures the spirit of "a local independent bookstore owner who fosters connection and understanding and who creates a refuge for the community revealing the profound impact of a simple love for books."

Indeed, the Instagram reels the bookshop creates feature a cast of booksellers and local characters that might well inspire a trip across the ocean just for a visit and chat. Check out their takes on an Amazon Anonymous Meeting, Bloomsday, "that one customer who always asks for unlikely books," "another victim of the Amazon Primedemic," and "George Orwell's 1984 in one minute (sort of)."

As Red Books reassured us with a "Bookbusters" movie poster recently: "Who you gonna call?... Armed with paperbacks and passion, we ain't afraid of no soulless corporate pretend booksellers. As the most interesting books disappear from the algorithm, we're still hunting and putting them on the shelves at Red Books. 250,000 books including many that don't have a Amazon rating!"