USA Today's Best-selling Booklist, on hiatus since late last year, is returning with a new focus on independent bookstores.

Every Wednesday at 6 a.m. Eastern, USA Today will post a list of the 150 top-selling titles of the week, with sales data gathered from independent bookstores, chains, mass merchandisers, and online retailers. Through a partnership with the American Booksellers Association and Bookshop, the list's primary buy buttons will take readers to Bookshop.org, and every week there will be a new Independent Bookstore of the Week.

In addition to the featured indie bookstore, the team at the Novel Neighbor in St. Louis, Mo., will contribute content to go along with the Booklist. Examples include a Dear Abby-esque feature called Dear Bookseller, which incorporates some of the store's Mystery Box requests, as well as features like Looks as Books. Store owner Holland Saltsman noted that Kassie King, Novel Neighbor's director of social media and marketing, will be the primary contributor for editorial material, and other team members, such as director of events and curated collections Stephanie Skees, will also have a hand. In addition, USA Today will publish interviews with authors featured on the list.

Indie booksellers interested in having their store's data included in the list can reach out to booklist@usatoday.com. Those interested in the weekly bookstore feature can inquire at usatoday@thenovelneighbor.com.

Riffraff, a bookstore, bar and cafe in Providence, R.I., is up for sale. 

Owner Tom Roberge, who opened the store in 2017 with co-founder Emma Ramadan, now lives in Switzerland, and is looking for "someone in Providence, someone in contact with the community every day, someone listening to and sharing [customers'] emotional highs and lows, to take over."

Roberge is selling the store "with an eye towards it staying open for years and years to come." The store's lease runs until September 2027, he noted, and Riffraff's landlords "love having us there." The sale includes the entire contents of the space, including the inventory of 6,000 books, furniture and fixtures, computer systems, bar equipment, an "incredible" espresso machine, and much more.

The asking price is $250,000, and interested parties can contact Roberge directly at tom@riffraffpvd.com.

Womrath Bookshop in Bronxville, N.Y., has launched a GoFundMe campaign looking to raise $100,000, Patch.com reported.

Owners Morin and Barbara Bishop purchased the bookstore, which first opened in 1938, just six months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Raised funds would not only help the store recover from the financial difficulties of the pandemic but also go toward opening an in-store cafe, replacing the store's carpet, removing the old drop ceiling, putting in better lighting, and much more. The owners also plan to expand the bookstore's event offerings with more author talks, additional children's activities, book clubs, and introductions of new titles.

Earlier this year, Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin issued a call for the community to support Womrath, which brought in about $50,000 for the store.

"As you can gather, I feel quite passionate about retaining our local character and ethos via the bookstore," she wrote in Patch.com. "As I said in a recent column, The Village has many stores, all part of the fabric of our unique small downtown, but some represent more than just a business, an edifice and represent what a community wants to be. 

"Personally, I cannot imagine our special home without our bookstore. It says something about what we value and hold dear. Our bookstore at 85 years old is iconic, a wonderful throwback, but in so many ways so is our 1 square mile and perhaps why we treasure it so."

In the fourth quarter ended April 1, revenue at Indigo Books & Music fell 12%, to C$194.2 million (about US$146.6 million), and the net loss was C$42.5 million (US$32.1 million), compared to a loss of C$23.4 million (US$17.7 million) in the same period a year earlier.

For the full fiscal year ended April 1, revenues slipped 0.4%, to C$1.062 billion (US$802 million), and the net loss was C$49.6 million (US$37.5 million), compared to a net gain the previous year of C$3.3 million (US$2.5 million).

Indigo's stock price dropped on the news, down 4.5%, to US$1.27 a share, near its all-time low three years ago, reached when the pandemic had fully hit.

The company said that results in the fourth quarter and for the full year were "heavily impacted by the ransomware attack" that came on February 8, leading to a shutdown of its e-commerce platform for a month, internal operational disruptions, an inability to process electronic payments for three days, the theft of some information about employees, and more. Indigo said that it has cyber insurance coverage and is working with its insurer to make claims under the policy. Business interruption losses cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, Indigo continued, but the company had C$5.2 million (US$3.9 million) of related expenses as of April 1.

Indigo said that "merchandise sales growth was achieved despite the ransomware attack, which compounded the headwinds of an already challenging macro-economic environment. Customers' desire to shop in-store fuelled a rebounding retail channel, which in the company's second quarter drove sales above pre-pandemic levels and in the third quarter delivered a record-breaking Boxing week... The general merchandise business increased 5.8% in the current year, with double-digit growth in the paper, baby and wellness product categories. The print business declined by 3.7%, negatively impacted by system limitations from the ransomware attack which adversely affected the company's ability to replenish its inventory levels."

In a conference call yesterday, Indigo added that online revenue fell, 21%, to C$253 million (US$190.7 million) during the year, partly because more customers were shopping in person in stores again as well as the ransomware attack. Compared to the pre-pandemic fiscal year 2020, however, online channel sales grew 71% through January before the ransomware attack.

Promotional sales were more important during the fiscal year and shoplifting rates rose. Shipping costs fell as online sales slipped, and aid to combat the effects of Covid fell. For a variety of reasons, including supply chain disruptions and the ransomware attack, inventory has fluctuated, and Indigo now has decided to "right size inventory... most notably through a more conservative replenishment strategy."

Not surprisingly, CEO Peter Ruis called this "a turbulent year for Indigo, as the progress gained from our post-pandemic re-emergence was negatively impacted by adverse macro-economic factors." He thanked "our incredible teams, who have been working tirelessly to bring operations back to normal. Through all of this, Indigo customers continued to show their loyalty to our brand, and we are proud to have achieved merchandise sales growth. We are looking forward to injecting momentum back into the business in fiscal 2024 with the exciting launch of a new digital platform in the late Summer and our new flagship store at the Well, Toronto in September."

In other Indigo news, the company announced the appointment of three new board members, including, most notably, Markus Dohle, who resigned as CEO of Penguin Random House last December. The other new board members are Donald Lewtas, former managing director of the Onex Corporation, and Joel Silver, former president of Indigo, both of whom will join the audit committee, which Lewtas will chair.

Earlier this month, four board members had resigned, and founder Heather Reisman announced her retirement, effective in August, after moving from CEO to executive chair last year.

The Publishers Association has noted significant growth of English language book exports from the U.K. to Europe, "as BookTok encourages a new generation of readers to pick up and read books in English on the continent," the Bookseller reported. The PA's Year in Publishing report for 2022 showed an 8% increase to £4.1 billion (about $5.2 billion), with Germany as the biggest buyer in Europe at £130.1 million (about $165 million) worth of books exported from U.K. publishers in 2022, up 27% from 2021.

Spain was second, purchasing £66.8 million (about $85 million), up 30%; followed by the Netherlands at £47.3 million (about $60 million), up 6%; Ireland at £43.2 million (about $55 million), down slightly from 2021; and Sweden at £35.3 million (about $45 million), up 4%.

"The European market has always been very important to us, but in recent years there's been an incredibly positive trajectory," said Chris Turner, international sales director at Penguin Random House. "BookTok has been a real driver for this, along with increasing English language levels among younger readers, and a willingness from our trade partners to give more retail space to English language titles. It's a market we're excited to continue to publish for and invest in going forward."

Abigail Mitchell, Hachette's international sales director, agreed: "We are seeing excellent growth in all of our European territories, not just Germany and Spain. The performance can be largely attributed to BookTok which has encouraged a new generation of readers to pick up and read books in English. We have invested in a dedicated head of sales for Europe so we can continue to harness this growth, finding new readers in new and existing markets."

Jonathan Atkins, international director at Pan Macmillan, noted that BookTok was "clearly influencing a much younger audience than we have typically appealed to in the past." 

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Tim Jarvis

BookPeople, the Australian booksellers association, has announced changes to its board, Books+Publishing reported. Tim Jarvis of Fullers Bookshop, Hobart, has been appointed president, replacing Jane Seaton of Beaufort Street Books, Mount Lawley. Jaye Chin-Dusting (Mary Martin, Melbourne) is the new v-p, and Mark Laurie (South Sea Books and Trading, Port Elliot) is the new treasurer. Anna Low (Potts Point Bookshop, Sydney) has also joined the management committee. Leaving the management committee are Jay Lansdown and Andrew Ritchie.

"We thank them for their contributions," said BookPeople CEO Robbie Egan. "We also thank previous president Jane Seaton for her contribution over the past two years. Our management committee are volunteers, and the president commits significant time to keeping the committee and the organization functioning."

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Eight out of 10 people in Italy read on trains. The European & International Booksellers Federation's Newsflash reported that a study by the research institute Eumetra MR found "88% of those who travel frequently by train have read at least one book in the last year. The survey, commissioned by Trainline, shows that reading is in the top three entertainment activities chosen by train passengers, reported by 76% of them."

Most of the readers (67%) involved in the study are women and belong to Generation Z (64%). In addition, 60% of those who read choose books, mostly paper, and the most popular genre on trains is crime fiction (44%). 

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"This edition of #WindowShopping celebrates #Pride2023 with Moonbeam Books [Toronto]!" The Canadian Independent Booksellers Association posted on Facebook: "The colourful display showcases children's books featuring 2SLGBTQI+ stories and encourages passersby to #ReadWithPride this month and all year 'round." --Robert Gray

Byrd's Books, Bethel, Conn., hosted an appearance by Martha Hall Kelly for her novel The Golden Doves (Ballantine) at the Bethel Public Library, across the street from the bookstore. Pictured: Kelly (second from r.) with Byrd's Books and Bethel Public Library staff Sue Morton, Alice Hutchinson, and Tom Borysiewicz.

"Nothing like a fresh coat of paint. All the beautiful decorative elements on our storefront are getting a refresh this week," Sandmeyer's Bookstore, Chicago, Ill., posted on Facebook. 

John Leary has been promoted to executive director, field sales, at Hachette Book Group, effective July 17, following Karen Torres's departure. Leary has been part of the HBG field sales department for 23 years, most recently as regional director overseeing the East Coast independent bookstore reps and managing his own territory. Alison Lazarus, executive v-p, group sales director, said, "John knows first-hand what is needed by our field team to sell our books. John's love of books and his dedication to his job are evident in his daily interactions."

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable (First Second).

Tomorrow:
The View repeat: Deborah Roberts, author of Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life (Andscape Books, $26.99, 9781368095051).

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, July 1
9:30 a.m. Allen Guelzo, author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Eerdmans, $29.99, 9780802878588). (Re-airs Saturday at 9:30 p.m.)

Sunday, July 2
8 a.m. Hadley Arkes, author of Mere Natural Law: Originalism and the Anchoring Truths of the Constitution (Regnery, $32.99, 9781684513017). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9:15 a.m. Raja Shehadeh, author of We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir (Other Press, $22.99, 9781635423648). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:15 p.m.)

11 a.m. Alex Ryvchin, author of The 7 Deadly Myths: Antisemitism from the time of Christ to Kanye West (Academic Studies Press, $14.95, 9798887191560). (Re-airs Sunday at 11 p.m.)

12 p.m. Live In-Depth q&a with Francis Fukuyama, author most recently of Liberalism and Its Discontents (‎Picador, $16.99, 9781250867223).

4 p.m. Neil King, author of American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal (Mariner, $32.50, 9780358701491).

4:55 p.m. Dan Levitt, author of What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms, from the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner (‎Harper, $32, 9780063251182).

6 p.m. Dan Egan, author of The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance (W.W. Norton, $30, 9781324002666).

6:55 p.m. Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains (Ecco, $28.99, 9780063097254).

British writer and poet Michael Rosen won the PEN Pinter Prize, which is awarded annually to a writer residing in the U.K., the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth, or the former Commonwealth who, in the words of Pinter's Nobel Prize in Literature speech, "casts an 'unflinching, unswerving' gaze upon the world and shows a 'fierce intellectual determination... to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.' "

Rosen will be honored October 11 in a ceremony co-hosted by the British Library, where he will deliver an address. The prize will be shared with a Writer of Courage, "who is active in defense of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty." The co-winner, selected by Rosen from a shortlist of international cases supported by English PEN, will be announced at the ceremony.

Ruth Borthwick, judge and chair of English PEN, called Rosen "one of our most tenacious and fearless writers. He is one of our most significant contemporary poets writing for young people. In over 140 books, he has championed a way of writing for children which reflects their everyday worlds, using humor and wordplay to validate their imaginative ways of thinking and being, and which has informed his succinct interventions into the lifeless way that children are taught literacy in schools. Even Covid couldn't silence him! We are thrilled and honored that Michael Rosen is our 2023 PEN Pinter Prize winner."

Prize judge Raymond Antrobus praised him as a "poet, survivor, storyteller, educator, broadcaster, former children's laureate, passionate linguist, gifted humanist, national treasure and ambassador of gibberish. Rosen's remarkable and incontestable impact on English language, literature and literacy is singular and worthy of momentous rewards."

Antrobus added: "Like Pinter, Rosen is often interested in dramatizing the absurdity of realism with an eye and heart on the underrepresented voices and bodies of our (often divided) society. We are all honoured, as are our children, to have the work of this poet to share with this generation of readers and beyond, to bring them all together. Michael Rosen, thank you, thank you."

Judge Amber Massie-Blomfield noted that Rosen "has a rare, invaluable gift: the ability to address the most serious matters of life in a spirit of joy, humor and hope. Fearless in holding power to account, his work is nevertheless a lesson in humanity, and how in times of vulnerability we may discover the best version of ourselves. What a role model for the many millions of children whose worlds he has had a hand in shaping--and for their grown-ups too. We need more like him."

Rosen observed: "I feel greatly honored to have been offered the PEN Pinter Prize. It immediately brings to mind the many people all over the world incarcerated, tortured or executed for being brave enough to write about what they perceive to be injustice. We might say that such punishments serve to prove the injustice that the writers expose, or to show the weakness of the regimes who've inflicted these cruelties, but nevertheless, the pain and suffering is all too real and ever-present. There is also a more personal reason for me to feel honored to receive the Prize: I have been a huge admirer of Harold Pinter's work since I was a teenager and was fortunate to meet him on some occasions when he too spoke about injustice."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, July 4:

The Librarianist: A Novel by Patrick deWitt (Ecco, $30, 9780063085121) follows a retired librarian with a poignant past.

Circle of Death by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Grand Central, $32, 9781538711118) is a thriller about a vigilante called the Shadow.

Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur, $28, 9781250828903) is the 27th dog-related Andy Carpenter mystery.

Implacable by Jack Campbell (Ace, $28, 9780593199022) is book three in the Lost Fleet: Outlands sci-fi series.

President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by C.W. Goodyear (Simon & Schuster, $35, 9781982146917) is a biography of James Garfield.

How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill edited by Jericho Brown (Amistad, $28.99, 9780063278196) contains work from more than 30 Black writers.

Like Lava in My Veins by Derrick Barnes, illus. by Shawn Martinbrough (Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99, 9780525518747) is a comics-style picture book about a boy working to control his superpowers.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, adapted by Megan Shepherd (Disney Press, $18.99, 9781368094214) is a YA novelization in celebration of the movie's 30th anniversary.

Paperbacks:
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me: A Novel by Mariana Zapata (Avon, $19.99, 9780063325852).

Scaredy Cat (Second Chance Cat Mystery Book 10) by Sofie Ryan (Berkley, $8.99, 9780593201992).

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon (Berkley, $17, 9780593548530).

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

Hardcover
The Memory of Animals: A Novel by Claire Fuller (Tin House, $27.95, 9781953534873). "Claire Fuller never fails to deliver--The Memory of Animals is dark and hopeful all at once, with a hint of her trademark subversive humor added for good measure." --Pam Cady, University Book Store, Seattle, Wash.

Maeve Fly: A Novel by CJ Leede (Tor Nightfire, $26.99, 9781250857859). "Such a wonderful, bizarre read. Maeve loves hard, asserts her place in the world, and takes on the spirit of Old Hollywood to wow at Halloween parties. It's a funky, gory, sexy thrill; I was disturbed, shattered, and totally in love." --Pax Romana, Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Paperback
The Two Lives of Sara: A Novel by Catherine Adel West (Park Row, $18.99, 9780778387077). "A beautifully written, complex story of motherhood, found family, grief, reinvention, and redemption. West captures the challenges of fleeing a difficult past and explores profound questions about racial justice in the Jim Crow South." --Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, Mass.

For Ages 4 to 8
Bitsy Bat, School Star by Kaz Windness (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, $18.99, 9781665905053). "This is a wonderful story about embracing our differences and teaching others that they can be okay. While it's got an important message, it's also an adorable, sweet story, with illustrations that will keep your young readers engaged." --Anna Brown, Katy Budget Books, Houston, Tex.

For Ages 8 to 12
Camp Sylvania by Julie Murphy (Balzer + Bray, $18.99, 9780063114029). "Murphy delves back into middle grade with her delightful story about a girl who's forced to go to fat camp for the summer, but things aren't what they seem. This is a sweet story that's also filled with lots of adventure and intrigue!" --Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Marietta, Ga.

For Teen Readers
Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo (Peachtree Teen, $18.99, 9781682635773). "Saint Juniper's Folly captivated me. I fell in love with the atmospheric setting, this trio of unlikely friends, and the haunted house and secrets that bring them together. This queer fantasy-gothic mystery is a force of healing." --Gabriella Crivilare, Prairie Fox Books, Ottawa, Ill.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

With Return of the Bison: A Story of Survival, Restoration, and a Wilder World, naturalist Roger L. Di Silvestro (Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands) chronicles the history of an iconic species. This exhaustively researched text briefly describes the bison's early massive proliferation across the North American continent, humans' heavy pursuit of them, and their near extinction as a result. But it begins in earnest with the earliest conservation efforts, in the 1880s, through the present. Di Silvestro outlines the stories of the American wood bison (western Canada and Alaska) and the European bison, or wisent, but his focus rests chiefly on the American plains bison, which until the late 1800s covered much of North America in the kinds of extraordinary numbers also associated with the now-extinct passenger pigeon. While the bison population has recovered from just a few hundred into the low hundreds of thousands (most of those in commercial herds), its fate is far from secure; in fact, according to some biologists, the bison is already ecologically extinct ("its numbers are so low, so scattered, that it no longer fulfills any ecological role"). The lessons of this story apply to the conservation of other megafauna worldwide, including giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and wildebeest.

Di Silvestro writes with passion about the loss to biodiversity and ecosystems represented by the near-death of a keystone species, as well as the damage to Native American cultures, which have historically been closely tied to the bison's massive herds. He also considers wild human characters, including Theodore Roosevelt, John Lacey, George Bird Grinnell, William T. Hornaday, and Charles Goodnight. The bison's tale is poignant, infuriating, inspiring, and hopeful--and perhaps, above all, complicated, involving intricacies of both human and natural histories. At just over 200 pages, Return of the Bison feels longer, dense as it is with detail, such as the bison's fluctuating population numbers on various tracts of land, the perils of genetic diversity in small herds, human intolerance, cultural clashes, and evolving concepts of and trends in wildlife conservation. This is not only a narrative of the bison; Di Silvestro is concerned with the story of "the first large mammal subjected to recovery efforts" and what lessons this unprecedented battle has for other similar attempts.

Return of the Bison is a thorough, impassioned, expert account of a specific conservation effort over the past 150 years and the questions that will continue to face those who care about wildlife and human impact on the natural world. "The saga of the bison is still an unfurling epic"--and one to watch. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: With fervor and meticulous research--and with implications for the future of megafauna around the world--Roger L. Di Silvestro recounts the complex and difficult ongoing struggle for bison recovery.