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 ]
Ian Falconer, illustrator, theatrical set and costume designer, and children's book author of OLIVIA, has died at 63. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-08 17:49:08 UTC ]
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American author Laurie Halse Anderson is the winner of the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s largest children’s book prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-07 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The International Publishers Association leadership will be at Bologna Children's Book Fair in a series of high-profile events. The post IPA’s Events Lineup at Bologna Children’s Book Fair appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-02 17:05:56 UTC ]
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James Daunt launched his first indie bookshop in London 33 years ago. The Barnes & Noble CEO is now bringing the lessons he learned to the biggest bookseller in America. If you’re strolling down the Marylebone High Street in London, you’ll stumble across a popular bookstore called Daunt... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-02-28 04:30:00 UTC ]
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Children: choose your fighter. In the red corner: evangelist actor, “loving husband,” and new children’s book author Kirk Cameron, who had a crowd of “hundreds” at his Christian-themed children’s book reading in Hendersonville, Tennessee, over the weekend, after conceiving of the “wholesome”... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-27 15:51:22 UTC ]
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The Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators announced its annual Golden Kite Awards on February 24, along with the annual Sid Fleischman Humor Award. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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According to a report from Reuters, ChatGPT is listed as the author or co-author of at least 200 books on Amazon’s Kindle Store. However, the number of bot-written books is likely higher than that since Amazon’s policies don’t require authors to disclose their use of AI.Brett Schickler published... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-22 12:20:19 UTC ]
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ChatGPT is listed as the author or co-author of at least 200 books on Amazon’s Kindle Store, according to Reuters. However, the actual number of bot-written books is likely much higher than that since Amazon’s policies don’t explicitly require authors to disclose their use of AI. It’s the latest... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-21 20:30:39 UTC ]
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At Bologna Children's Book Fair, the AIE and Bologna Book Plus will look at young readers' growing place in the Italian market. The post Bologna Focus: Italy’s €283 Million Children’s Book Market appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-02-15 15:52:17 UTC ]
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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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