"Growing up as an awkward adolescent and teen, I hid out in bookstores and libraries. They were loci of refuge, escape, excitement, revelation, and in a way, companionship. I'd grab a stack of books and hole up in some corner with candy--usually Jujyfruits. Nowadays I have more agency over my own life, but books still provide me with all of these necessary elements. Henry Hoke's Open Throat excites me. In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes is an escape. My newest friends are May Sarton and Vigdis Hjorth. Especially May. And I will say this: as a writer since the age of eight, there is no greater thrill than walking into an indie bookstore and seeing my books on the shelves or on a table. It never, ever gets old. Never. It's the greatest."

True Leaves Bookshop is holding a soft opening in Princeton, Ill., today, Shaw Local News Network reported.

Located at 950 N. Main St., Suite A, the bookstore will sell new and used books for all ages, along with a selection of nonbook items like stationery, stickers, and notepads. The soft opening will coincide with a "Witches' Night Out" event organized by the Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce, and the store will operate on seasonal hours going forward.

The bookstore is conducting an online survey to learn what sorts of books the Princeton community wants to read and what operating hours they would prefer. An official grand opening will be announced at a later date.

Multiverse, a bookstore focused on speculative fiction, opens today in Philadelphia, Pa., Technically reported.

Located at 8026 Germantown Ave. in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood, Multiverse carries books for all ages with an emphasis on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Alongside books, store owners Gralin Hughes Jr. and Sara Zia Ebrahimi Hughes offer comic books, manga, board games, trading card games, tabletop games, and more. Once the store finds its footing, they plan to host game nights and author signings

Sara Zia Ebrahimi Hughes and Gralin Hughes Jr.

The couple has attended Comic-Con and other conventions together for more than 10 years, and Sara Hughes told Technically that they'd been talking about opening a bookstore focused on fandom and genre for around six years. The Covid-19 pandemic helped motivate them to take the plunge, and after that, she noted, everything "lined up perfectly."

Gralin Hughes, who is also an artist working in multiple disciplines, hopes to invite other artists to the store to do live performances. He added that he's excited to have customers in the shop and "geek out with people all day."

Lala's bookstore and café will be opening at 140 6th Ave, Ashville, Ala. Bama Buzz reported that co-owners Heather Warren and Holli Smith "have been dreaming of opening a space like this for a while now.... The team behind Lala's has been working hard on transforming the space into a welcoming, warm community hub, and they're close to opening. Stay tuned for the official opening date."

In a Facebook post earlier this year, the owners wrote: "We can't wait to finish renovating our location on the square so we can welcome you to Lala's! Our Story: Lala’s is a dream come true for co-owners Heather Warren and Holli Smith, or the Webb Sisters as they're commonly referred to around their hometown of Ashville. Both high school teachers who hope to retire one day, they have always believed they could combine their love of reading, eating, wine tasting, and gathering together with friends into a business for their retirement years. When the opportunity to purchase a building in downtown Ashville presented itself, they jumped at the chance! With a lot of love, sacrifice, and manual labor (mostly from Holli's husband Merrell), Lala's will be the perfect place to grab some lunch, caffeinate midday, relax after work, or come pick up the latest book recommendation. Join us for trivia nights, wine and beer tastings, book clubs, or let us host your private event."

Tracie D. Hall

Tracie D. Hall has resigned from her role as executive director of the American Library Association, after nearly four years in the position. ALA will name an interim executive director in the coming weeks as it prepares to begin a nationwide search for a successor. 

During her tenure, Hall brought the association greater public recognition, private funding, media visibility, and key partnerships, ALA noted, adding that she leaves behind "a string of key accomplishments, including advancing the association's work in the areas of accessibility, adult and family literacy, arts access, broadband access, digital inclusion, library services for people who are incarcerated and re-entering communities after incarceration, and intellectual freedom and the right to read."

ALA president Emily Drabinski said: "Tracie has been a strong guiding force for ALA and a tireless champion for libraries, library workers, and the communities they serve. A passionate steward of our profession, she has demonstrated unparalleled leadership and an unwavering commitment to ALA's mission, especially at a time when there has been unprecedented attention around our work. As she now moves onward, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to Tracie for her outstanding service and indelible contributions to ALA and wish her continued success in her future endeavors."

In addition to programmatic expansion, Hall, who assumed her leadership role two weeks before the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic, worked to successfully grow ALA's membership and rebuild its financial health. Under her leadership, ALA received the largest unrestricted grants in its history and allocated more than $10 million to school, public, and academic libraries, including a number of minority-serving institutions.

"To serve as executive director of ALA at any time would be a formidable task," said Hall. "To take on that role at the outset of a pandemic and during an unprecedented escalation in censorship attempts has required intensive effort, which I have relished and learned from. And though there is still so much to do, I believe I am leaving the association--stewarded by its dedicated board, membership, and committed staff--on course to achieve new levels of impact in the realization of its mission."

In 2022, she became the second librarian to be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Foundation. This year, she was named a Beacon Award winner by Illinois Humanities; received the Literacy Leader Award from scaleLIT, a Chicago-based literacy advocacy organization; and was named by TIME magazine to the TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Institute selected Hall as the 2023 recipient of its Freedom of Speech and Expression medal, an honor previously awarded to Rep. John Lewis and journalists, Dan Rather, and Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Keith Giffen, an American comic book artist and writer best known for his work for both Marvel and DC, died October 9. He was 70. The Guardian reported that "among the many characters he created were Rocket Raccoon, star of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movie series, and the DC superhero Blue Beetle, AKA Jaime Reyes, a Mexican-American iteration of a longstanding character, who this year had his own film outing."

"The sad news is now official: Keith Giffen has gone off to create new worlds that are beyond our living reach. Keith was probably the most fertile creative mind of our generation in comics. He had an infinite number of ideas, pouring constantly out," Paul Levitz, a comics writer and former president of DC comics, posted on Facebook.

Giffen started his comics career working for Marvel in the 1970s, "but he is best known for his work for DC in the 1980s and 1990s, especially on books with big ensemble casts such as the far future-set Legion of Super-Heroes and Justice League," the Guardian noted, adding that "the personal interactions of the characters were just as important, and the series came across more like Friends than the usual superhero fare."

His sense of humor endured until the end. A message thought to have been pre-written by Giffen himself appeared on his Facebook page Wednesday morning: "I told them I was sick.... Anything not to go to New York Comic Con. Thanx. Keith Giffen 1952-2023." (New York Comic Con started yesterday.)

Many tributes have been posted on social media, including this from longtime collaborator J.M. DeMatteis: "Keith was one of the most brilliantly creative humans I've ever known. A curmudgeon with a heart of gold. A generous collaborator. An old, dear friend. And, as my wife observed, 'He was like a character out of a Keith Giffen story.' "

Observing that it was "saddened by the untimely passing of writer and artist Keith Giffen," DC Comics praised him as "a creative titan for DC.... He left a lasting legacy for all comic book fans to cherish. He will be sorely missed."

Comics Beat called him "a true original, a curmudgeon with a heart of gold, an artist who took chances and went his own way... and showed others the way..... Giffen was deeply respected and loved by his fellow creators, and it's fair to say in death he's getting an outpouring of love publicly that was felt privately by all."

Posted on Instagram by Subterranean Books, St. Louis, Mo.: "Our 80s and 90s pop party mix served as the perfect backdrop to our fun little book fair for grownups! Thank you to old and new faces that came out and made the event a success!"

"How books are really made" was the spooky subject of the sidewalk chalkboard at Books on Main, Murphys, Calif., which posted on Facebook: "It's a great day at Books on Main."

At Simon & Schuster:

Elizabeth Venere has been promoted to associate director of marketing.

Alyssa diPierro has been promoted to marketing manager.

Hannah Bishop has been promoted to senior publicist.

Vanessa Ioannidi has been promoted to assistant manager, special markets.

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Caroline McGregor has been promoted to marketing manager at Avid Reader Press.

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Alyssa Weinberg has  been promoted to assistant marketing manager at Holt.

Zooni Tales: Keep It Up, Plucky Pup by Vikram Madan (Holiday House).

Today:
Fresh Air: Patrick Stewart, author of Making It So: A Memoir (Gallery Books, $35, 9781982167738).

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer and poster for Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet "as the enigmatic Willy Wonka in the pic that focuses on the candymaker's origins," Deadline reported. The film's story serves as a prequel to Roald Dahl's classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Chalamet had previously told Vogue why he decided to take the role: "To work on something that will have an uncynical young audience, that was just a big joy. That's why I was drawn to it. In a time and climate of intense political rhetoric, when there's so much bad news all the time, this is hopefully going to be a piece of chocolate."

Directed by Paul King (Paddington) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Simon Farnaby, Wonka features a cast that includes Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman, Jim Carter, Matt Lucas, Natasha Rothwell, Tom Davis, Mathew Baynton and Simon Farnaby, Peter Joseph, Rich Fulcher, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Calah Lane, Colin O'Brien, Rahkee Thakrar, Ellie White, Murray McArthur, and Tracy Ifeachor. 

Hugh Grant plays the "something of a whopper" Oompa-Loompa named Lofty, Deadline noted. Wonka opens in theaters December 15.

Professor Rahile Dawut, an internationally acclaimed academic, anthropologist, and a leading expert on Uyghur folklore and cultural traditions, has been named this year's International Writer of Courage. Presented to a writer "who is active in defense of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty," the honor was announced by 2023 PEN Pinter Prize winner Michael Rosen. Dawut was selected as co-winner by Rosen in collaboration with English PEN's Writers at Risk Program. The award was accepted on Dawut's behalf by Rachel Harris, professor of Ethnomusicology, SOAS University of London.

An associate professor at Xinjiang University and founder of the university's research center on minority folklore, Dawut is recognized around the world "for her peerless contributions to the study and cataloguing of Uyghur cultural heritage," English PEN noted. "In December 2017, she was due to travel to Beijing for an academic conference, but never reached her destination. It was widely believed that she had been disappeared by the Chinese authorities.... Six years since she first disappeared, she continues to be held incommunicado and her whereabouts remain unknown."

Rosen said: "Standing here in the British Library, I could not be more aware of the huge gulf between the kind of freedoms I have or often take for granted but are denied to many others in the world. I have devoted many hours in my life to the enjoyment and study of folklore--story and song in particular--trying to understand the values, ideas, and feelings that these express. My passion for what the American poet Carl Sandburg once called 'The People, Yes' is pushed towards sorrow and anger on hearing that someone could be imprisoned for precisely the kind of interest that I have. This is why I have chosen Rahile Dawut to be this year's Writer of Courage.

Dawut's daughter, Akeda Pulati, commented: "My mother is a distinguished scholar. She should be doing her research and enjoying her retirement life right now, but instead, she is in prison. And recent news about her life imprisonment not only devastated me, but also devastated anyone who loves her and who loves Uyghur culture. She is being punished for being a hard-working scholar and for loving culture."

Woppa Diallo and Mame Bougouma Diene won the £10,000 (about $12,290) Caine Prize for African Writing for "A Soul of Small Places," which was first published in Africa Risen (Tordotcom, 2022). The Guardian reported that lawyer and activist Diallo's "experiences of gender-based violence in Senegal were the inspiration" for the story. "French-Senegalese American humanitarian and short story writer Diene worked with her to create a fictional Woppa Diallo, who narrates her story against a backdrop of African cosmology in which spirits and humans coexist."

This marks the first time a pair of writers has won the award since it began in 2000, as well as the first time the prize has chosen a winner from Senegal. In addition to the cash prize, the authors will have their work featured in the 2023 Caine prize anthology, This Tangible Thing and Other Stories. Runners-up Yejide Kilanko, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Ekemini Pius, and Yvonne Kusiima will receive £500 (about $615) and also feature in the anthology.

Chair of judges Fareda Banda praised Diene and Diallo's "visceral tale," adding that she and her fellow judges felt the collaborative work spoke "powerfully, but not didactically, to one of the pressing global issues of our time.... It reminds us too of the power of love in all its forms. The winning story leaves a lasting impression and invites readers to return to it.... It reminds us too of the power of love in all its forms. The winning story leaves a lasting impression and invites readers to return to it."

photo: Keke Keukelaar

Dutch author Anne Eekhout made her debut as a novelist in 2014 with Dogma (shortlisted for the Bronzen Uil Prize and longlisted for the AKO Literatuurprijs). Her novel Once Upon a Night (nominated for the BNG Bank Literatuurprijs) was published in 2016, and she won the Beste Boek voor Jongeren prize for Nicolas and the Disappearance of the World (2019). Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein (HarperVia) is the first of her books to be translated into English. It was longlisted for the Boon Literature Prize, and rights have been sold to 13 territories so far.

Handsell readers your book in approximately 25 words or less:

The enigmatic summer Mary Shelley spends in Scotland at the age of 14 turns out to be the breeding ground for writing Frankenstein four years later.

On your nightstand now:

The Shining by Stephen King. Baffling literary horror. Incredibly beautifully told. And terrifying, of course.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Lots! Mostly by Dutch authors, but also, for example, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The world he creates with just a few words and beautiful images is entirely its own. There is not much told about this world, and yet it exists.

Your top five authors:

This is a terrible, terrible question. All right, then, in any order: Ira Levin, Shirley Jackson, Sarah Waters, Dave Eggers, and Astrid Lindgren.

Book you've faked reading:

A French book about an Inuit girl, which I had to read for my exam in high school. But my French was--and is--so awful that I didn't understand it at all and gave up after the first two pages. I bluffed my way through the oral exam, and it was a tiny wonder that I passed.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. Just one of the most cleanly written, perfect novels I've read. Its pacing is wonderful, and its haunting topic is such a brilliant idea.

Book you've bought for the cover:

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez (and I stayed for the daring, so-very-well-written stories).

Book you hid from your parents:

I've got very liberal parents who always encouraged me to read. I have, luckily, never felt I had to hide a book from them.

Book that changed your life:

Any good book changes your life a bit, really. Okay, a really stunning example: Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O'Hagan. Also: look up the Red Hand Files online.

Favorite line from a book:

The first line of 1984 by George Orwell: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

Five books you'll never part with:

My issue of the novel Het wikkelhart (The Bound Heart) from my fiancé, Bertram Koeleman. There is a special inscription in there, which he wrote when we had just met.

A picture book: De vergeten tuin (The Forgotten Garden) by Annegert Fuchshuber, which I borrowed from the library about 600 times as a child before finally, 20 years later, stumbling upon my own copy.

First and signed edition of one of my favorite books in the whole world: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, gifted to me by my fiancé.

A slightly worn down paperback of the book that made me a reader and perhaps even a writer: En dan is er koffie (Time for Coffee) by Hannes Meinkema, about a few 20-something people in the Netherlands in the '70s. About family, love, feminism, sex, and insecurity.

A hideous paperback of War and Peace by Tolstoy. I don't know why exactly, but I never had the guts to begin reading it. The fact that my copy is so damned ugly could have something to do with it, though. Anyway, it is my strong belief that I will read it. So it must stay--to anguish me until I do.

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

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin. Just read it if you haven't yet, and you'll know why.

Few people would disagree that the world is becoming an ever noisier and more intrusive place. Even if one lives far from a cacophonous urban environment, with a tap or a click, it's easy to relieve the discomfort many people feel in quiet moments. But as British writer and artist Sarah Anderson argues in her thoughtful The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet, consciously bringing more silence into our lives may be one antidote for the pervasive anxiety and stress of the modern age.

Anderson brings to the project an inquiring spirit and a breadth of personal experience. Since 1979, she has been the proprietor of the Travel Bookshop in London's Notting Hill, and she draws on her own travels to places like Antarctica, a silent meditation retreat in Spain, and Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia to add a personal flavor to the more academic aspects of her study. She wrote much of the book during a time that became for her, like many people, a forced encounter with more silence--the Covid-19 lockdown.

In her treatment of the subject, Anderson opts for breadth rather than depth, drawing on an impressively diverse selection of both historical and contemporary source material to interrogate its myriad dimensions, among them the natural world, spirituality, and the arts. In that process, she can be both erudite and pleasantly eccentric. She shares the story of her encounter with Braco, the Croatian "Gazer" who took the stage at a London performance she attended in 2018 and did nothing but stare at the audience for 10 minutes. A Catholic with an affinity for the work of Thomas Merton, she offers a useful brief survey on the approach to silence of a variety of religious traditions, and she seems especially impressed by her visit to the oldest Quaker meeting house in London.

But even as she advocates for more silence in our lives, Anderson acknowledges that it's not an unalloyed good. She devotes a section, for example, to what she calls the "darker sides of silence," especially the ways it has been abused in prison systems.

Invoking Blaise Pascal's observation that "all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone," Anderson concludes with some thoughts about how we might incorporate more quiet into our lives, recognizing that "the challenge is to remain open and curious and to try to find it in unusual places and situations that can be close to home." In that, she is no absolutist, pointing out that her goal "isn't to create a totally silent world but to be more mindful about both sound and soundlessness." Anyone looking for inspiration to turn down the world's volume will find a useful starting point here. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: Sarah Anderson believes everyone could benefit from more silence in their lives and makes that case from a variety of intriguing perspectives.

At the Book Bird, Geelong

Bookshops offer us much more than a book. They present limitless portals to different worlds. Visiting a bookshop provides us all with an opportunity to be transported to wherever we want to go, maybe it's climbing a multi-story treehouse to find the marshmallow machine, a trip to the outer edges of the universe exploring Arrakis, or even back in time to watch the first pages of the Oxford dictionary come together. Wherever we want to go, we can get there via our local bookshop.

--BookPeople, the association for Australian bookshops, on the importance of Love Your Bookshop Day

Books Are My Bag Bookshop Day will be celebrated October 14 in the U.K. and Ireland, but Australia got a jump on the annual bookish festivities last Saturday with Love Your Bookshop Day. Organized by BookPeople under this year's theme of "Giving the Gift of Imagination," LYBD celebrates booksellers across the country and highlights what makes local bookshops great. 

BookPeople CEO Robbie Egan at Nice Stack of Books with owner Emma Trotman

"Love Your Bookshop Day was a very enjoyable experience this year," BookPeople CEO Robbie Egan wrote in a note to members in this week's newsletter, adding: "I did have a message from one member whose sales were almost five times a normal Saturday. I visited some new regional stores and they were enjoying the day but most importantly were loving bookselling." Among the shops Egan stopped by were the Hare & Tortoise Books in Korumburra, and Nice Stack of Books in Meeniyan. 

I particularly enjoyed the #LYBD2023 love notes BookPeople shared on social media, many of them highlighting individual bookstore posts, including:

Potts Point Bookshop

"Happy Love Your Bookshop Day to Potts Point Bookshop [Elizabeth Bay] and their wonderful window!⁠ Come and join us this Saturday for Love Your Bookshop Day! We've got a a special storytime at 11am, footpath chalk drawing on the street and coloring in in the shop. Thanks to @loveisa_sign for our lovely new window display to celebrate the event. We can't wait to see you there."⁠

"Happy Love Your Bookshop Day to South Seas Books [Port Elliot] SA!⁠ Join us for Love Your Bookshop Day 2023!... we will have prizes, giveaways, treats and bubbles to celebrate our community of book lovers at South Seas Books. We hope to see you there!"

Matilda Bookshop

"Happy Love Your Bookshop Day to Matilda Bookshop [Stirling]! What better way to remind you that's it's Love Your Bookshop Day tomorrow than by showing you (most of) us with the books that made us realize reading was amazing. We would have all bought these books, in the distant past, from independent booksellers like us, who wanted to share the joy and magic of reading. Much as we now do each and every day we're here.⁠"

"Sending #loveyourbookshop celebrations to Annie's Books on Peregian, Kabi Kabi Country, Noosa, Qld. Fitting snugly in amongst unique, owner operated retail businesses, this bookshop is in an ideal location for locals and visitors alike. It may be a small shop, but it is packed with treasures, and they pride themselves in keeping up with the latest trends in literature and new releases, right across all genres.⁠"
⁠
"A #LYBD2023 shoutout to @thebookbird_geelong, a beloved independent bookshop in Wadawurrung Country, Geelong! They're a small, independent bookshop that prides itself on matching readers with books they love."⁠

"Happy Love Your Bookshop Day to Mary Martin Bookshop [Melbourne]!⁠ Happy Love Your Bookshop Day!!! Jaye and @toyillustration are all set up and ready for our teddy bear picnic and 'Bear' Storytime at our @vicmarket bookshop. And at Mary Martin Southbank and Port Melbourne we have piles of free mystery books ready to give to every customer so pop in to say hi and support your local indie bookshop today!⁠"

Bookshop Bowral

"Happy Love Your Bookshop Day to @thebookshopbowral [Bowral]!⁠ Every single day, we feel the love from our customers--so we are throwing around some extra love this Love Your Bookshop Day! If you happen to visit The Bookshop Bowral or The Bookshop Kiama today, we'll pop in something sweet with your purchase. Because to us our bookshops are about the people connected to it. We love readers of all kinds--so happy #loveyourbookshopday to you, dear #readers.⁠"

"Happy Love Your Bookshop Day to Fullers Bookshop, [Hobart] Tasmania!⁠ Ever wanted to hug your favorite bookshop? But it's a big, brick building with no arms and you don't want to end up in a documentary about people who love inanimate objects a little too much? Well, a great way to embrace Fullers and the whole indie bookshop community is to come along to Love Your Bookshop Day.... Running all day, we'll be celebrating ourselves (there, we said it) with a bunch of fun things for one and all."

At Roaring Stories, Balmain

"A happy belated Love Your Bookshop Day to the Kids' Bookshop, [Melbourne] VIC! How beautiful is this window display by Anna Walker?"

"Amazing to see the bookshop love on @abc_everyday with this piece by @thisgirl_writes on her favorite bookshop @theleafbookshop!"

And now for your moment of LYBD Zen, courtesy of the Leaf Bookshop, Ashburton: "Have you leafed through any good books lately? Join us on Love Your Bookshop Day and we can compare notes."