In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she couldn’t find an independent bookseller to run the bookstall. “So we all rolled up our sleeves and did it ourselves,” she says. Pregnant with her third child, she had recently given up her job as a solicitor to work for the Bournville Village Trust. Mullen’s task was to set up the Bournville BookFest, which ran for 10 years before being brought to a halt by the Covid pandemic. But far from accepting defeat, she rolled up her sleeves once again and “pivoted the whole thing into a bookshop”. Two years on, the Bookshop on the Green is thriving – a living rebuttal to the once widely held idea that the digital era meant certain death for the neighbourhood bookstore.When I visit early on a Friday morning, a turquoise vintage Smith Corona typewriter holds centre stage in the Bookshop on the Green. Beside it stands Bradley Taylor, a poet whose job is to write poems on demand for anyone who asks. He has composed a lot of Batman and football poems for the children who pile in on Saturdays, he says, before sitting down to tap one out for me about the joy of bookshops. In the multitasking tradition of small retailers, Taylor also works in the shop. He made his cosplay debut last month as the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
Now’s your chance to play a small part in literary history by helping to choose the name for the Booker Prize trophy. The elegant statuette, designed in 1969 by children’s book illustrator Jan Pieńkowski, appears to be a fleetingly clad woman holding a large bowl of porter over her head. For... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-15 15:16:54 UTC ]
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Small press of the year award shortlists 48 presses that are ‘reaping the rewards from inspirational publishing’, says British book awards chair of judgesSmall presses across the UK and Ireland have had a “year of exceptional sales and profit growth in the face of Brexit and escalating running... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-15 09:17:08 UTC ]
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When publishers Rare Bird and Unnamed Press moved into Highland Park, North Figueroa Bookshop soon followed, putting down roots in a bookstore-starved neighbohood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-02-14 14:00:08 UTC ]
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A children’s book from a TikTok star lands at Zonderkidz; Baker Books takes three pastors’ wives “tell-all;” Moody’s guide to military marriage, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The American Library Association has announced the top children’s and young adult books for 2023. This year’s John Newbery Medal for best children’s book went to Amina Luqman-Dawson’s novel “Freewater” about a community of people who escaped slavery. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-01-31 16:14:22 UTC ]
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The 2023 Bologna Ragazzi Awards, which honors illustrated children's books, attracted 2,349 entries from 644 publishers in 59 countries. The post Bologna Children’s Book Fair: 2023 Ragazzi Awards Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-01-30 15:51:20 UTC ]
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Emma Straub—novelist, bookstore-owner, children’s book author, and all-round nice person—was uninvited from reading at Texas elementary schools because of her use of “foul language” on social media. In an email to parents, administrators from the Katy Independent School District (in the Houston... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-19 15:33:15 UTC ]
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“Teller of the Unexpected,” an elegant new biography, sidesteps the ugly side of the children’s book author while capturing his grandiose, tragedy-specked life. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-17 20:39:40 UTC ]
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I assume that at some point I must’ve told Dan Kois what to do. During the years he worked for me at the grand old Bull’s Head Bookshop on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus somewhere in the late ‘90s. I must’ve said, at least once, “Shelve. Show that customer to the cookbooks. Shut up.” If so, […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-17 09:54:33 UTC ]
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‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’ is a well-known poem by Maya Angelou (1928-2014). It is the title poem from Angelou’s 1993 collection Life Doesn’t Frighten Me, which was marketed as a children’s book although Angelou did not originally conceive the poems as being specifically for children. A brave,... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-01-07 15:00:10 UTC ]
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Children’s book publisher Phyllis Fogelman, a champion of books by Black authors and illustrators and mentor to many in the children’s book industry, died on December 18 at age 89. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
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As an author whose own books never find their way to supermarket shelves, it’s frustrating work – but it puts food on my family’s tableOnce a rare species, celebrity authored children’s books have become stalwarts of supermarket books aisles. Perfect for a grandparent hunting a last-minute... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-12-16 10:41:27 UTC ]
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IVP will publish an illustrated collection of ‘Prayers for Life;’ Revell signs ‘Back Porch Theology’ podcaster Lisa Harper; WaterBrook lands a debut children’s book author; and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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What the hell are we doing? All the best things are shutting down and people are out here using computers to make children’s books? Not to get too Jeff Goldblum on you, but just because you build a tool to do something doesn’t make it interesting or worthy. To wit, a product designer named... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-13 15:19:23 UTC ]
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The year’s autobiography big-hitters haven’t sold as well as expected, with buyers disenchanted by pricing and lack of feelgood topicsFrom actors and musicians to athletes and presenters, there are no shortage of celebrity memoirs on bookshop shelves. This year has seen new books published by a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-12-09 10:52:17 UTC ]
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“Booksellers are constantly giving their patrons extraordinary bargains. In London recently a copy of an early edition of Keats’ Poems, originally bought from a dealer for 2s was sold for £140, and a first edition of Burns’ Poems bought in Edinburgh for 1s 6d brought £350.” –R.M. Williamson,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-07 09:53:48 UTC ]
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The U.K. children’s book publisher spreads its wings into the North American market. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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BookTrust research shows, however, that the overall picture ‘remains far from representative’ with some writers and illustrators reporting tokenismNew research has found that 11.7% of children’s book creators published in the UK in 2021 were people of colour, up from 5.6% in 2017.Despite the big... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-23 06:01:50 UTC ]
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The two Los Angeles–based independent publishers opened North Figueroa Bookshop earlier this month. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Workers at the only ‘big four’ publisher to have a union authorize indefinite strike over low wages and diversityStephanie Guerdan started working in the children’s book department of HarperCollins Publishers six years ago. It was a dream job – just not a dream paycheck. The $33,500-a-year... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-10 18:03:45 UTC ]
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