Avid Bookshop, Athens, Ga., is closing its storefront on Sunday, April 26, but will continue to operate its online stores (avidbookshop.com and bookshop.org), and host occasional events and book clubs at other sites. 

Avid Bookshop opened on Prince Street nearly 15 years ago, and opened a second store, in the Five Points neighborhood, in 2016. The original store closed in 2019. The Five Points store relocated last year to a larger space on Barbour Street.

On Facebook, owner Janet Geddis, who founded the store in 2011, explained that her health is "at the heart of this decision: I am burned out and have been for years. Even on my best days, I live with undercurrents of stress and anxiety that drag me down. Until fairly recently, I could muster through, pulling out all the stops to complete even the most dreaded work tasks. That talent has left me. I. am. exhausted."

The decision has resulted in "a modicum of relief in this moment, but mostly grief and no small amount of regret as I recognize the many ideas that can't come to fruition just yet. Through the sadness, I feel proud of myself for making a bold choice to take care of my health and wellbeing. That, in turn, will help me care for Avid. (Incidentally, closing now--before I overwork and grind myself to an even lower point--gives Avid the best shot at coming back in some form someday, if that's what fate has in store.)"

Geddis noted that the decision to close the storefront has been hard because "my ideas are as vibrant as ever, my desires for what Avid could be remain vivid and meaningful. What's especially hard is knowing that, at least for now, I'm bidding farewell to the particularly magical conversations that have continued to make Avid a special place in all its iterations."

She closed the announcement: "I love books. I love Athens. I love you. Thank you for giving me this dream job. It has meant the world to me."

Fabian Paagman welcomes RISE attendees.

The 4th annual RISE Bookselling Conference began Sunday morning, with hundreds of booksellers from across Europe convening in Verona, Italy, for two days of education and connection.

The conference, which is modeled after Winter Institute and organized by the European and International Booksellers Federation, comes at a time when freedom of expression is under increasing pressure, especially within Western societies usually considered "open and democratic," noted EIBF president Fabian Paagman, owner of Paagman bookshops in the Netherlands. Meanwhile the rise of AI continues, with the absence of regulation allowing "powerful players to reshape markets, often at the expense of others," and ignore "the rights of creators." This year's conference also coincides with the 80th anniversary of the Associazione Librai Italiani, the Italian Booksellers Association.

Luuk van Schaik of the Netherlands, Desislava Grosdanova of Bulgaria, Kristine Pikenena of Latvia, and Hannah Frisell of Sweden shared their thoughts on the future of bookselling.

The day's keynote speakers included futurist Stefan Carsten, who urged booksellers to "open your doors" and consider the spaces outside their bookshops; Jorge Cabezas Montañana, co-owner of Somnis de Paper in Benetússer, Spain, who described how his bookstore and community recovered from the floods that devastated parts of Valencia in October 2024; and author Espérance Hakuzwimana, who advocated for the inclusion of diverse voices and marginalized authors as a way of transforming bookshops "from places with books to spaces of belonging."

Education sessions included panels on how young booksellers see the future of bookselling; advice for navigating public procurement contracts in the E.U.; tips for creating long-lasting book clubs; and discussion groups on self-censorship in bookshops.

More keynotes and panels, with topics including sustainable bookselling and attacks on bookstores, are scheduled for tomorrow, and more coverage will appear in Shelf Awareness. --Alex Mutter 

As National Library Week begins, the American Library Association has released its top 11 most challenged books of 2025 and issued its 2026 State of the Libraries Report, which highlights the ongoing challenges libraries are facing.

Among the statistics about 2025 book challenges and cases of censorship:

The ALA documented 713 attempts to censor library materials and services, 487 of which targeted books.

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) tracked 4,235 individual titles challenged in 2025, the second highest ever documented by the ALA. (The highest ever documented was 4,240 in 2023.) Of the titles challenged in 2025, 1,671 (40%) represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color.

In 2025, OIF documented that 5,668 books were banned from libraries (66% of the total challenged). An additional 920 books were censored through access restrictions such as relocation or requiring parental permission. This is both the highest number of titles censored in one year and the highest rate of challenges resulting in censorship from 1990-2025. 

92% of book challenges were initiated by pressure groups and government officials, up from 72% in 2024. Less than 3% of challenges originated from individual parents.

More than half of the titles in the top 11 most challenged books are new to the list and are marked below with asterisks.

The top 11 most targeted titles in 2025:

1. Sold by Patricia McCormick
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
4. *Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
5. (tie) *Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
7. *A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
8. (tie) *A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
8. (tie) *Identical by Ellen Hopkins
8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green
8. (tie) *Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Sarah Lamdan, executive director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, commented: "In 2025, book bans were not sparked by concerned parents, and they were not the result of local grassroots efforts. They were part of a well-funded, politically-driven campaign to suppress the stories and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals and communities."

The newly launched Denver Book Society in Denver, Colo., which has already had a rocky start since opening earlier this year, is facing another controversy that has turned into a legal battle against Book Society in Berkeley, Calif. the Denver Post reported.

Book Society in Berkeley, Calif.

Last month, co-owner Kwame Spearman, the former Tattered Cover CEO-turned 2023 mayoral candidate, stepped away from his position at the Denver Book Society just weeks after its opening. Co-founder Rich Garvin said at the time that the venture "exists to be a welcoming, inclusive space for everyone--a place where stories bring people together. That commitment remains unchanged, and we are continuously working to amplify it."

In the latest turn of events, the Denver bookstore is suing the California store in district court, "asking a federal judge to stop the [Berkeley] company's trademark application," the Post wrote. Garvin previously has been involved in a disagreement over his store's name with an organization called the Denver Book Swap Society, which started in 2022. 

Denver Book Society

In the lawsuit, attorneys with the Denver law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck state that Book Society officials refused to "reasonably negotiate" and "made baseless litigation threats" against the Denver Book Society (DBS) during the dispute, adding: "DBS is entitled to declaratory judgment that it is not infringing any trademark of defendant or engaging in any act constituting unfair competition."

According to the complaint, Book Society sent DBS a cease-and-desist notice in February with demands that the Denver store cease operations and remove signs, merchandise and social media handles.

Book Society officials told the Post that similarities between the Berkeley store, which was founded in 2023, and the Denver Book Society "extend beyond the names and into branding, concept and language used to talk about each establishment."

Federal records show the California store filed for a trademark application in August 2024, and the name did not receive any opposition when it was published in the Trademark Official Gazette in June. Book Society's trademark application was listed as pending as of Saturday, the Post noted.

According to its statement, Book Society first reached out to Denver Book Society in April 2025, Garvin visited the Berkeley shop in July, and Book Society sent Garvin a notice of the pending trademark application in August.

"Book Society LLC's pending federal trademark application covers precisely the category of business--a bookstore with wine service and membership programming--that Denver Book Society operates," Book Society officials said.

Michael (Mike) P. Spradlin, a prolific author and longtime sales executive at Hearst and HarperCollins, died on April 12. He was 65.

Michael Spradlin

Spradlin wrote a variety of children's and adult books, including the Spy Goddess, the Youngest Templar, the Rise of the Spider, the Medal of Honor, I, Q, and the Killer Species series. Many of his historical novels were set in the colonial and 19th-century U.S. and during World War II. These include Daniel Boone's Great Escape, Off Like the Wind: The Story of the Pony Express, and the WWII Adventure series, which includes The Enemy Above. Among his other, stand-alone titles are Baseball from A to Z and adult titles It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies!, Every Zombie Eats Somebody Sometime, Jack and Jill Went Up to Kill, Blood Riders, and Pirate Haiku. An Eagle Scout, he also published stories in Boys' Life magazine.

Spradlin was also a longtime book salesperson and sales executive. From 1989 to 1999, he worked for Avon Books and William Morrow at the Hearst Corporation, serving as national account manager, key account manager, regional sales manager, and national account marketing manager. After Hearst sold Avon and Morrow to HarperCollins, he was national account manager at HarperCollins from 1999 to 2011, where he sold several Harper imprints to Borders Group.

Spradlin was beloved by many inside and outside the industry, known for his sense of humor, his dedication, and his friendship.

A celebration of his life is planned for Saturday, July 11, in Lapeer, Mich. In lieu of flowers, the family has suggested making donations in his memory to the Family Literacy Center, Fanciful Farms, or the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Brandon Sanderson and his arch-nemesis John Scalzi took the stage in Decatur, Ga., for a lively q&a and conversation before a sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 fans, organized by Eagle Eye Book Shop and Dragonsteel, Sanderson's specialty publishing company.

"Bookstore Cat/Manager/Cutie Pie In Chief Alice urges you to wants you to come to our monthly poetry open mic! Fourth Wednesday of the month, every month (next iteration being this upcoming Wednesday, April 22)," Loganberry Books in Shaker Heights, Ohio, posted on Facebook.

"Start planning your route... for Independent Bookstore Day!" That was the chalkboard message in front of City Lit Books in Chicago, Ill., which noted: "One week until Independent Bookstore Day! Over 82 stores participating in the Chicagoland Crawl this year. Have you planned your route yet?? Don't worry, @chilovebooks has all the info needed to plan the best day of bookstore visits! We'll be open 10-7 to catch those late crawlers! Exclusive stickers, pins, and merch available while supplies last. We can't wait to see you on the best day of the year!"

At the Quarto Group:

Mel Schuit has been promoted to marketing and publicity director. She has been with the Quarto Group for more than seven years, working in marketing and publicity for the children's list. In her new role, she will oversee all marketing and publicity strategy across both children's and adult titles.

Ismita Hussain has been promoted to senior marketing manager of cookbook and lifestyle titles. She has been at the Quarto Group more than two years, most recently serving as marketing manager.

Hydrangea Happiness: Planting, Pruning, and Blooming by C.L. Fornari (Brandeis University Press).

Today:
Good Morning America: Rachel Goldberg-Polin, author of When We See You Again (Random House,  $30, 9798217198009).

Fresh Air: Malala Yousafzai, author of Finding My Way: A Memoir (Atria, $30, 9781668054277).

Sherri Shepherd Show: Blair Underwood, author of A Soldier's Wife: My Mother, the Marvelous Mrs. Marilyn A. Underwood (Amistad, $28, 9780063211872). 

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Jodi Kantor, author of How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work (Little, Brown, $25, 9780316609555).

Good Morning America: Rob Shuter, author of It Started with a Whisper: A Novel (Post Hill Press, $18.99, 9798895655092).

Today: Deborah Kenny, author of The Well-Educated Child: How the Principles and Practices of Quality Thinking, Agency, and Ethical Purpose Cultivate Deeper Learning (Get Lifted Books, $28, 9781638933328).

Also on Today: Melissa Ben-Ishay, author of Come Eat: 100 Nourishing Recipes to Eat Every Day (Harper Influence, $35, 9780063451636).

Jennifer Hudson Show: Mychal Threets, host of Reading Rainbow and author of I'm So Happy You're Here: A Celebration of Library Joy (Random House Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9798217026029).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Neil deGrasse Tyson, author of Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter (Simon Six, $26, 9781668249970).

Sony has picked Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Hemingson (The Holdovers) to adapt Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's memoir, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s. Deadline reported that Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and Eon Productions' Barbara Broccoli initially optioned the book and will produce alongside Goodwin and her Pastimes Productions partner Beth Laski. Sony executive v-p Andrea Giannetti will oversee the project for the studio.

An Unfinished Love Story is the "intimate love story between Goodwin and her late husband Richard Goodwin [that] coincides with the direct involvement of each in many of the most turbulent events of the 1960s. It offers a singular path to look back at a decade defined by profound upheaval and idealism," Deadline noted. The paperback edition of the book was released last week.

"We could not have found a better writer or partner than David to tell a story that is so personal and means so much to me," said Goodwin. "What makes him truly special is his gift for storytelling, his deep humanity and heart, along with his genuine love and deep knowledge of history and the way he brings it to life--with a rare blend of humor, warmth, and nuance."

The Publishing Triangle has announced the winners of the 2026 Triangle Awards, honoring the best LGBTQ+ books published in 2025. This year's winners are: 

The Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ+ Fiction, administered in conjunction with the Ferro-Grumley Foundation: Drought by Scott Alexander Hess (Rebel Satori Press)
The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction: Lonely Crowds: A Novel by Stephanie Wambugu (Little, Brown)
The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction: Beyond the Lesbian Vampire: Reclaiming the Violent Lesbian in Contemporary Queer Horror by Sam Tabet (University of Wales Press)
The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction: Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry: The Boy Kingdom / El reino de los varones: Poems by Achy Obejas (Beacon Press)
The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry: I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken (Copper Canyon Press)
The Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature: Local Woman by Jzi Jmz (Nightboat Books)
The Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ+ Crime Writing: Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur Books)
The Jacqueline Woodson Award for LGBTQ+ Young Adult and Children's Literature: We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon (Wednesday Books)
The Amber Hollibaugh Award for LGBTQ+ Social Justice Writing: What Is Queer Food?: How We Served a Revolution by John Birdsall (W.W. Norton) 

A special Publishing Triangle Community Legacy Recognition award was also presented to Greg Newton and Donnie Jochum, owners of Manhattan's last remaining queer bookstore, Bureau of General Services--Queer Division, for more than a decade. Newton and Jochum are relocating to the West Coast. The Bureau of General Services--Queer Division was the recipient of the Publishing Triangle's 2023 Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award. [Editor's note: Hive Mind Books, Brooklyn, N.Y., has raised more than $50,000 via a GoFundMe campaign and is buying the bookstore and preventing its closure.]

The Publishing Triangle's four honorary awards, which were announced in March:

Chrystos was given the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The Other Side of Silence (TOSOS) was presented with the Torchbearer Award.

Amy Scholder was given the Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award.

Mariah Rigg won the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award.

In Daughters of the Sun and Moon, Lisa See (Lady Tan's Circle of Women) tells her story, set in 1870s Los Angeles, through three women's perspectives, giving readers a multifaceted look into life in Lo Sang (as it's called by the Chinese community). The town's tiny Chinese population was then dominated by rival tongs, fraternal organizations often connected to crime and extortion. Their constant jockeying for power and influence impacts the lives of all three women.  

Petal, determined to return home to China, initially spends much of her time plotting to escape her life of indentured servitude at a local brothel. Reluctantly, she forms connections with her fellow sex workers and eventually schemes with Moon to grow plants for the doctor's practice. Although Moon has several advantages--literacy, a loving husband, satisfying work helping in his medical practice--she is always conscious of her doubly precarious position in the community as a Chinese woman. She feels protective of Dove, whose tightly restricted existence, bound "lily feet," and marriage to a much older man leave her vulnerable to the machinations of unscrupulous men. When simmering tensions, racial and otherwise, boil over on the night of October 24, 1871, the three women must band together to help one another survive.

See's narrative brims with historical detail, including the particulars of Chinese festivals and holidays; ingredients and methods used in traditional Chinese medicine; and the complicated racial dynamics present in a city that was home to Mexicans and Indigenous people as well as Chinese immigrants and white settlers. See writes unflinchingly of the racism faced by people of color and the harsh immigration policies that made life more difficult for Chinese people, especially women, to build a life in the post-Civil War U.S. Set against this stark backdrop, the women's friendship--often kept hidden from the men trying to restrict them--blooms beautifully in a harsh environment, like the chrysanthemum tea Petal serves her customers.

Poignant and fascinating, Daughters of the Sun and Moon is a heart-pounding frontier narrative and a tender tribute to female friendship. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Lisa See's sweeping ninth historical novel follows the intertwined fortunes of three Chinese women caught up in the racial tensions of 1870s Los Angeles.