"My first book came out 32 years ago. I have had a chance to see personally what I consider the most moving thing in my career, which is when a bookseller or a librarian says to a young reader, 'I think I have what you want. I think this is the book for you.' No matter how many times I see that, I cry, because it's such an amazing connection. To have someone know the readership, know the book, and to put those two things together is a magic combination.

"Even before I was a writer, whenever I would travel, I always wanted to hang out in a bookstore. You learn a lot about a place by visiting its bookstore, but also feel comfortable there. In a bookstore, I've never had that uncomfortable feeling that you should be buying something, or you should get out of someone's way, or that you shouldn't touch something. I've never had that feeling."

Àbákẹ́ Books & Café hosted its grand opening last month at 2 Webster Ave. in Jersey City, N.J. Owned by Jacquees Peace Thomas, the shop offers coffee drinks and baked goods, as well as books that amplifiy marginalized voices, Patch reported.

"It took a year to do it, but five years to understand that it was part of my purpose," said Thomas, who explained that Àbákẹ́ was the name of her oldest known ancestor, who came to America on the last slave ship to Mobile, Ala. Thinking about her, "I got emotional today," Thomas noted at the grand opening.

"I'm really excited," said Councilman Jake Ephros, who represents Ward D. "This is already such a bright part of our community. We need more bookstores. I hope this isn't the last one. Peace is such a bright light."

Thomas added that she hopes to have community events and programs at the space. She will also be rotating the coffee served, which currently comes from Tanzania and Rwanda. "The goal is to always have something from Africa," she said.

The shop's website notes: "In every cup of coffee and every page turned, Àbákẹ́ aims to create a space where love, culture, and community thrive--connecting people through the universal power of storytelling and a thoughtfully curated coffee experience."

Judging by the Cover: A Bookstore, in Fresno, Calif., has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with its upcoming move to a new location. 

Ashley and Carlos Mireles-Guerrero

The campaign is looking to raise $4,000, and has so far raised about $2,500; funds will go toward moving costs, inventory, new signage, building out the space, adding a part-time staff member, and assorted operating expenses.

The bookstore, which centers BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and small press literature, will be moving from its current home in Fresno's Chinatown to a new space in the Tower District. Its new space will allow the bookstore to host larger events, increase access to diverse books and programming, and expand its role as a welcoming community space.

Ashley and Carlos Mireles-Guerrero founded Judging by the Cover as an online and pop-up store in 2023 before opening a bricks-and-mortar store in October 2024. Along the way the store received support from BincTank as well as grants from the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation and Chinatown Foundation. 

"Judging by the Cover was created to make books and community events accessible to everyone in Fresno," Ashley Mireles-Guerrero said. "This move is a chance to grow our reach, deepen our partnerships, and keep building a space where everyone feels welcome and seen."

The Books Cellar, a bookstore, wine bar, and coffee shop, will open in Jacksonville, Fla., this spring, reported Business Debut.

Owners Patrick and Sandra Madigan have found a 3,400 square-foot space for the bookstore at 3861 Hendricks Ave. At opening it will have a book inventory of about 1,100 titles, consisting mostly of adult books in genres like travel, food and wine, and fiction; a selection of young adult titles will be available too. The Madigans have hired librarian Mandy Heaton to curate the book inventory and organize book events.

The Books Cellar's beverage options will include beer and wine as well as coffee and other nonalcoholic options. For food, there will be pastries, charcuterie, breads, and assorted breakfast items. The store will have space to accommodate 54 guests. In addition, there will be a private meeting room with telecommunications capabilities and seating for 12 that customers will be able to book.

Patrick Madigan told Business Debut, "We wanted to have a community-based gathering place where people could come together and have a nice atmosphere, nothing rushed, nothing too fancy, just to sit back, enjoy some good coffee, some good wine, and a good book."

The owners are eyeing a mid-April opening.

Barnes & Noble is closing its store at the Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno, Calif. In a statement posted on social media, the bookstore chain noted: "It is with great sadness that we confirm the closure of our Barnes & Noble bookstore as our lease has ended. Our last day will be May 2, 2026. We have loved being a part of this neighborhood, and it has been our honor and privilege to be your bookseller for the last 20 years."

The 44-acre Tanforan property "is slated for a sweeping transformation," the San Francisco Chronicle reported, noting that in 2022, Alexandria Real Estate Equities acquired the mall for $328 million. The developer "has proposed replacing much of the aging shopping center with a mixed-use project that includes up to two million square feet of life-science space and at least 1,000 housing units near the San Bruno BART Station, keeping only a Target store and movie theater."

Amazon has withdrawn from the Paris Book Festival "following the decision by the French booksellers' association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française, SLF) to boycott the event in protest over the festival's partnership with the American giant," the Bookseller reported. 

The festival is scheduled for April 17-19. The organizers, Paris Livres Evénements, a subsidiary of the French publishers association (Syndicat National de l'Edition, SNE), confirmed the partnership was over thanks to the "hostility to Amazon's presence as a sponsor."

"We are deeply disappointed by this partisan manoeuvre by the SLF," an Amazon spokesperson said. "Building on ungrounded and misleading claims, [it] hijacks the event for its own benefit and diverts it from its legitimate ambition--namely the celebration of reading, readers and authors."

The SLF said it was " 'delighted' booksellers' concerns have been heard and that the best interests of books and their ecosystem have prevailed," and thanked the festival's organizers and the SNE "for their clear and rapid response."

When the SLF announced its decision earlier this week, it stated that Amazon "is not a friend of books" and "destabilizes the book ecosystem," seeking "to flood the market with fake AI-generated books, [which are] promoted by fake reviews, written by fake readers [and rise] to the top of fake rankings." The organization called for booksellers, other book professionals, and readers "sensitive to preserving books and their economic model" to boycott the festival.

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The Booksellers Association Group, comprising the Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland, National Book Tokens, and Batch, will invest £200,000 (about $265,000) to support bookshops during the National Year of Reading. The Bookseller reported that the BA Group's initiative includes offering grants for £250 (about $330) and £500 (about $665)--totaling £25,000 (about $33,280)--to bookshops for projects that support the aims of the initiative. 

The BA said that the funding is "deliberately flexible, enabling booksellers to develop initiatives that make reading social, personally meaningful and modern--whether through new event formats, school partnerships, outreach work, inclusive programming, digital engagement or creative collaborations rooted in their communities." 

Speaking on behalf of National Book Tokens managing director Alex de Berry and Batch MD Izzy Carlile, Meryl Halls, BA's MD, said "Our £200,000 commitment is about giving bookshops practical funding, tools and visibility to extend their reach and deepen their impact. As a group, we celebrate bookshops to consumers, advocate for them to government and the trade, and support them with the infrastructure they need to succeed. By working together across our three companies, we can further support bookshops [in] keeping reading social, relevant and accessible, as vital reading for pleasure engines at the heart of communities."

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Violette & Co., a feminist, lesbian, LGBTQIA+ bookshop in Paris, France, was searched by police looking to confiscate a children's coloring book titled From the River to the Sea by Nathi Ngubane and Azad Essa. The European & International Booksellers Federation's Newsflash reported that the book "was censored in January by the Commission de surveillance et de contrôle des publications pour la jeunesse (French Commission of Surveillance and Control of Publications for Youth). For 45 minutes, armed policemen inspected shelves, opened one by one boxes of books, and searched reserves and the break room. However, policemen didn't find any copy of the book in question."

Old Town Books in Alexandria, Va., hosted the release party for Jeff Gottesfeld's Honor Flight: Celebrating America's Veterans (illustrated by Matt Tavares, Candlewick Press). Pictured: (l.-r.) event moderator and Honor Flight Network volunteer Aryssa Damron, booksellers Melissa LaSalle and Adela Wilson, and Gottesfeld.

Good Morning America has chosen The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives by Elizabeth Arnott (Berkley) as its March Book Club pick. GMA wrote: "Set in 1966 California, The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives centers on three unlikely friends--Beverley, Elsie and Margot--whose ex-husbands are convicted killers.

"They know people look at them and think only one thing: How could they not have known what their husbands were doing? How much are they to blame? And yet when a string of local killings hits the news, the three women--underestimated, overlooked, shrewd--decide to get to work. After all, who better to catch a killer than those who have shared their lives and homes with one?"

Reese's Book Club has picked Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser (St. Martin's Press) as its March pick. 

The Club wrote, "Lady Tremaine is a clever reimagining of a classic fairytale through the eyes of its most villainous character--the evil stepmother. In her debut novel, Rachel Hochhauser writes empathically about a mother on a relentless mission to protect her daughters, reclaiming Lady Tremaine as a woman determined to shape her and her family’s destiny."

Reese Witherspoon commented: "You think you know the villain... until you hear her side of the story."

Congratulations to Stone Soup Books, Waynesboro, Va., which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. 

"Having people come and say, 'I'm going to choose to put my dollars into my community, into my local bookstores and make sure that they’re here.' That makes a difference," store co-owner Mary Katherine Froehlich told WHSV.

Co-owner Janie Rambo said, "I think being a bookstore in a wonderful community like Waynesboro, that's what it's all about. We are supposed to open our doors for our community." 

Since the store first opened in 2006, Stone Soup Books has gone through for major "chapters," Rambo explained. "The first one was a cafe bookstore, or bookstore cafe, I guess we should say. The second was more of an online-only type of sales. The third, we were in a different location, just a couple of blocks from here, and then this is our fourth."

Froehlich recalled that when Stone Soup's current location became available, "it was amazing to come back to the center and the heart of this community, and reopen at a time when I feel like we needed to say, 'Hey, this is important.' This is what connects us. Stories and having opportunity and being open to new ideas and discussing it and coming together." 

Stone Soup Books sells titles for all ages, with specialties including farming, edible landscaping, nature writing, and sustainable living. There are new and used books as well as an antiquarian selection. Stone Soup hosts frequent events in-store and at locations in the Waynesboro area.

Ingram's Two Rivers Distribution will handle sales and distribution in the U.S. for Guinness World Records Limited, effective May 1.

The Guinness World Records book remains a cultural touchstone, with 260,000 units of the 2026 edition shipped. In addition to the flagship annual, Guinness World Records will publish a Soccer Edition and a Gamer's Edition this year.

Nadine Causey, senior v-p, brand strategy & global publishing, Guinness World Records, said, "We are happy to partner with Two Rivers as we continue to grow our presence in the United States. Their deep market expertise and commitment to excellence make them an ideal distribution partner. We look forward to working together to bring our record‑breaking content to even more readers across the country."

Nick Parker, v-p of Ingram Publisher Services, commented: "Guinness World Records has provided generations of readers with an endless source of incredible achievements, fascinating facts, and inspiring stories--it's one of the coolest brands in the world. We're incredibly eager to welcome them to Two Rivers and to expand their reach in the U.S market."

At Abrams:

Melanie Chang has been promoted to head of corporate & engagement communications.

Cristina Gilbert has been promoted to v-p of marketing.

Julie Christopher has been promoted to v-p of brand strategy.

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At Grand Central Publishing and Forever, the follow people have been promoted to the positions listed here:

Grand Central

Maya Lewis, senior marketing manager, Legacy Lit & GCP

Leena Oropez, associate marketing manager

Megan Perritt-Jacobson, senior publicity director, non-fiction

Alana Spendley, senior marketing manager

Lauren Sum, publicist

Forever

Dana Cuadrado, publicity & marketing manager

Alli Rosenthal, senior publicist

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Michaeleen Doucleff, author of Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods (Avid Reader Press, $30, 9781668049839).

See-Saw Films (Slow Horses) has acquired the rights to adapt the Lovejoy detective novels, which were written by Dr. John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash, Deadline reported. The 24 books, published between 1977 and 2008, include The Judas Pair, The Grail Tree, and Faces in the Pool. They were previously made into a popular BBC series, starring Ian McShane, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"No word yet on whether McShane is returning for the remake, which isn't yet attached to a network or streamer," Deadline wrote, adding: "Set in East Anglia, Lovejoy is about a charismatic antiques dealer with an almost mystical knack for spotting genuine artefacts and scams. He frequently pivots from dealer to detective, outmaneuvering rivals, criminals and occasionally the police."

See-Saw said it wants to create a "contemporary reimagining of the Lovejoy novels that will strip away the nostalgia of the 1980s adaptation and return to the unrulier spirit of the books."

Grant's agent Lisa Moylett commented: "Jonathan Gash created an extraordinarily vivid and complex Lovejoy. A morally ambiguous, often unpleasant anti-hero brought to life through taut prose and page-turning stories steeped in the shadowy world of antiques. It was essential that any new adaptation kept the books front and center. See-Saw's bold, assured vision, led by Lisa Gilchrist and Helen Gregory, demonstrated exactly how to preserve the books' wit and grit while reimagining them for today's audience."

A 16-book longlist has been released for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist. The shortlist will be unveiled April 22, and the winner named June 11 at the Women's Prize Trust's summer party in London (along with the winner of its sister prize, the 2026 Women's Prize for Nonfiction). The winner receives £30,000 (about $39,960), along with a statuette known as the Bessie, created and donated by the late artist Grizel Niven. This year's longlisted titles are: 

Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps 
Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi 
Moderation by Elaine Castillo 
Flashlight by Susan Choi 
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens 
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson 
The Others by Sheena Kalayil 
Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly 
Heart the Lover by Lily King 
Audition by Katie Kitamura 
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar 
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy 
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal 
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang

photo: Chang-Tablada Photography

Laura Taylor Namey is the author of young adult fiction that includes A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak, When We Were Them, and With Love, Echo Park. A proud Cuban American, she can be found hunting for vintage treasures and wishing she was in London or Paris. If We Never End (Bloomsbury, March 3, 2026) is an epic romance spanning life and death.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

A girl winds an enchanted watch, and a boy appears who has no idea who he is or how he died.

On your nightstand now:

I just had the privilege of attending a few indie bookseller events and came home with the most exciting new titles in my suitcase. My nightstand is truly a place of book beauty lately. Highlights include the verse novel Evamar by one of my favorite fellow Cubanas, Margarita Engle. Then there's the thrilling and romantic Carnival Fantástico by Angela Montoya. Lastly A Good Animal by Sara Maurer and Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser for a dose of gorgeous literary fiction. I know these are going to be fabulous hits.

Favorite book when you were a child:

The absolute chokehold Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery had on me is something all my writing buddies (and my own children) know all too well. My childhood copy is worn and beloved, and I've always admired the way Anne sees the world. Could there be a couple of clothing pieces hanging in my closet with puffed sleeves in honor of this unforgettable redhead? Winks.

Favorite book to read to a child:

I still own my vintage childhood copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and it is so perfectly frayed and loved. I bought a new copy when I was student teaching a kindergarten class in college, and my children and I read it constantly at bedtime.

Your top five authors:

This is like asking me about my top five baked goods. My life is full of the most talented and inspiring authors in the world. But I will always shout out my fabulous critique partners Joan F. Smith and Allison L. Bitz. Don't miss Joan's upcoming Your Soulmail Is Attached and Allison's The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom. I'm so honored to be a part of developing and editing these books. I also love everything I read from Rebecca Serle (especially One Italian Summer), Elizabeth Acevedo (Clap When You Land is stunning), and the fabulous Sabaa Tahir. Do I even need to mention the Ember in the Ashes series? Incredible.

Book you've faked reading:

I didn't even have to think about this one. I am not at all a fan of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and I barely skimmed through it in high school to get through whatever assignment or paper we had to complete in English class. I love a good gothic read, but this one depressed me and made me want to run through the English moors in utter frustration.

Book you're an evangelist for:

I could talk forever about The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. The magnificent prose, the evocative setting, the relationships... chef's kiss. I felt as if I truly knew the characters and had a fly-on-the-wall view into every scene. This is writing at its finest, for me. I would love to have coffee one day with Miranda to just tell her--over and over--how much I loved it.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I adore the cover of Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez. That haunting artist headshot and the bold mix of pink, yellow, and orange work perfectly together. I also truly enjoyed the story and the rich Cuban representation. I recently got to flag down Xochitl at a party and tell her how much her book meant to me. Sometimes I think authors are the biggest fangirls.

Best book an adult handed to you when you were a child:

This one is bittersweet. And the answer is everything my father handed over to me from his personal library. Growing up, I can barely remember a single evening where I didn't see my father reading. I remember coming in late and seeing him in his favorite chair, completely swept away by his latest read. It made me the reader, and eventually the author, I am today. My dad left me his collection of Dickens classics and all his crime novels... plus a love for the written word that never quits. One of my proudest moments was being able to dedicate my third book to him.

Book that changed your life:

That one would have to be Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I opened it because of a school assignment and never wanted to leave, even though the story is tough and gritty and emotional. I found so much truth and resilience in those pages. I think it's time for another read through.

Favorite line from a book:

Piggybacking on the question above, my favorite line from a book is also from Their Eyes Were Watching God. "There are years that ask questions and years that answer." I read it years ago, and it has stuck with me. This quote has brought me peace and helped me bolster my own sense of resilience during difficult times.

Five books you'll never part with:

I will never let go of my signed Daisy Jones and the Six from Taylor Jenkins Reid. I am also forever hoarding The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, and Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo. These titles span centuries, but they have greatly influenced my own storytelling.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

I want to go back and experience the beauty and magic of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus again and again. It is also my runner-up for a book I could've bought just for the cover--that pencil is iconic. Every page inside, though, made me think, laugh, or cry. And sometimes all at once.

A deceased author you would love to have coffee with:

I would give anything to have a coffee date with Jane Austen (or afternoon tea complete with scones and lemon curd and lots of clotted cream.) After letting her enjoy a few bites, I'd make her tell me everything I want to know about one Fitzwilliam Darcy.

In Boomtown, Joe Pappalardo (Four Against the West; Spaceport Earth) presents a riveting biography of 1927 Borger, Tex., a city sprung from the oil gushing beneath its surface.

Asa Borger learned of a 1926 Gulf Oil discovery on Dixon Creek and immediately, with the help of his lawyer John R. Miller (a "legal and morally flexible talent"), purchased 240 acres of nearby land and called the town Borger. Then he made Miller the mayor. Soon, men arrived for jobs on the rigs, with women and saloon-keepers at their heels. Prohibition didn't stop the criminal element from running distilleries just outside of town and making a fine profit while the law looked the other way. Within 90 days, the population grew from zero to 30,000. Texas Governor Dan Moody had run on a promise to clean up the state, so when two of Borger Sheriff Joe Ownbey's deputies wound up dead outside the open doors of their vehicle, Moody sent the Texas Rangers to find out what was going on.

Pappalardo's colorful, well-researched account documents just over six months in 1927, from February 2 to August 26, plus a postscript to chronicle what happened to the main players. Events unfold primarily through the perspective of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (who would go on to win fame for ending the antics of Bonnie and Clyde). Readers watch him size up the characters populating Borger, as he develops a strategy for shaping up the town and making a smooth exit. But things didn't always go according to plan, including a fellow Ranger arresting a journalist, and another Ranger accused of attempted murder. Hamer's development of a defense for the latter demonstrated his cool head, intelligence, and commonsense approach.

Drawing from newspaper articles and the self-published memoirs of Borger citizens John "Slim" Jones and John H. White, Pappalardo places readers in the thick of the action. Even his footnotes add contour, such as the distinction between dance hall girls (10 cents a dance) and prostitutes, as well as the outcome of an open bounty on bank robbers "dead or alive." Pappalardo leavens the atmosphere with fascinating supporting characters, such as the wrestler "Dutch" Betke and Tex Thornton, the asbestos-suited firefighter called in whenever the oil wells blew.

This compelling story of a town--from its birth to how the criminal element insinuated itself into politics and law keeping--also serves as a cautionary tale of how overreach by the government, as in the case of Prohibition, can foster the workings of the black market. --Jennifer M. Brown

Shelf Talker: Anyone interested in Texas history or the early towns popping up as railroads and industry spread West will be captivated by Joe Pappalardo's history of Borger.