The Chapter Books & Gifts has opened in Lufkin, Tex., the Lufkin Daily News reported.

The all-ages, general-interest bookstore is located at 420 S. First St. and also carries gifts, greeting cards, and party supplies. A small selection of used titles is available, and the Chapter accepts donations of used books.

Owner Crystal Sepulvado held a grand-opening celebration for the store on Saturday, June 14, that included a signing with author Erin Cuccio and a pop-up appearance from a local flower shop. She told the Lufkin Daily News that the opening festivities were a hit. Customers gave plenty of positive feedback and the store sold more than 200 books.

The Chapter Books & Gifts resides next door to a hair salon owned by Sepulvado's sister. Sepulvado had always wanted to open a bookstore in Lufkin, and when she looked at the vacant space, thought it would be "the perfect place for a bookstore."

Lore, a Black-owned bookstore and community space, has opened in Los Angeles, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Located at 4335 Degnan Blvd., in L.A.'s Leimert Park neighborhood, Lore carries books for all ages and has an emphasis on Black art and Black design, with about 50% of the inventory pertaining to those subjects. 

Co-owner Dário Solari is also the owner of Untitled, a bookshop and event space in Echo Park.

Lore had its grand opening on May 31.

Community members have rallied around Iffy Books in Philadelphia, Pa., to help keep the bookstore open amid financial struggles, PhillyVoice reported.

Last week, store owner Steve McLaughlin posted an open letter discussing the bookstore's financial difficulties, writing that "the ice has been thin for a long time, and for me it's finally broken through." 

Though the store was making enough to break even, McLaughlin explained, he was not getting paid and he had reached a point where he was "pretty much completely out of resources." He noted too that the store's lease ends in November and he would have to decide by August whether to renew. 

He asked for customers and community members to donate to the store via Patreon or Venmo, and said "if enough people are willing to chip in, it may be possible for the shop to continue in its current form." Per PhillyVoice, more than 200 people chose to make recurring payments to the store's Patreon.

McLaughlin founded the bookstore, which focuses on hacking, free culture, gardening, and other related topics, about four years ago. The store hosts book clubs, writing nights, soldering classes, and tech workshops. It resides at 404 S. 20th St. in Philadelphia's Center City.

Linna Thomas, who co-founded Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay, Calif., in 1973 and will be "remembered for her dedication to her community and her warm, engaged presence," died May 31, the Tribune reported. 

"When I envisioned the store, I wanted a name that would mean bringing all kinds of people and activities together," she told the Tribune in 2003. "I wanted to bring together differences. The name seemed to speak what I hoped we could create." 

Thomas and Janet Brown, her soon-to-be business partner, dreamed up Coalesce while living in a farmhouse in Oregon. They "bonded while swapping stories over mugs of hot chocolate. They could often be found sitting on the kitchen floor, lost in conversation while homemade candles brewed on the stove," the Tribune wrote. 

In 1973, they moved to Morro Bay and opened Coalesce Bookstore in a house on Harbor Boulevard. Thomas built bookshelves out of redwood siding that she pried from an abandoned water tower nearby. She lived in the back of the shop for many years,

"Everything came so organically into the store," Hannah Heller, Thomas's niece, said. "It really was a place to find information and community, and that didn't exist somewhere else. She had this idea that would be beautiful and colorful." 

During the '70s, Brown and Thomas, "a couple of hippie girls," shook up the working-class town, said Lance Gorman, Thomas's husband, who recalled that even if Coalesce was more bohemian than Morro Bay was used to at the time, people loved the bookstore. In 1978, Brown gave birth to her son, Jesse, and Thomas became the sole proprietor of Coalesce. Brown eventually moved to Salem, Ore.

Gorman said that for the first decade of ownership, Thomas worked as a waitress at the Fishbowl to pay the bills, but she loved the work because she loved the community: "She loved people, and that's how she built this place."

In 1982, Coalesce moved into a cozy, brick building at 845 Main St. From the heart of the shop, Thomas wove a network of community support, Gorman said, not only selling books, but also offering pamphlets on domestic violence and sexual health. In a small chapel at the back of the property, Thomas hosted weddings, memorial services, yoga classes, poetry readings, writer's workshops and live music. She also published a handful of locally written books through the Coalesce Press. 

"I love peddling books, but it's important to interact with the community in a positive way," Thomas told the Tribune in 2009. "For example, I offer books on topics that can help people improve the quality of their lives. And the chapel is definitely a community resource." 

Joanne Hand, a Coalesce staff member for 37 years, said people enter the shop as customers and leave as friends, wrapped in "a warm feeling," which was Thomas's way. "We're here because we love what we do," Hand said. "It's because of the presence of Linna's energy." 

With the support of longtime bookstore staff and Thomas's family, Coalesce Bookstore and the chapel will remain open and continue to host community events, Gorman said, adding: "Linna's spirit will be there."

Simon & Schuster will handle U.S. sales and distribution for Melbourne University Publishing, effective July 1.

Established in 1922, Melbourne University Publishing is Australia's oldest university press and specializes in scholarly, trade, and illustrated nonfiction titles. Earlier this year the press shifted its distribution in Australia and New Zealand to Simon & Schuster Australia from United Book Distributors.

Lindsay Ryon has joined Arcadia Publishing as field sales representative for the Western U.S. and will be based in San Francisco, Calif. She was most recently store manager for Books Inc. in Palo Alto and earlier worked at Barnes & Noble in San Diego.

What the Deep Water Knows by Miranda Cowley Heller (Zibby Books).

Tomorrow:
Today Show: Hilton Carter, author of The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants (CICO Books, $30, 9781800653108).

Sherri Shepherd Show repeat: Judy Collins, author of Sometimes It's Heaven: Poems of Love, Loss, and Redemption (Andrews McMeel, $18.99, 9781524894368).

Tamron Hall repeat: Steven Gundry, author of The Gut-Brain Paradox: Improve Your Mood, Clear Brain Fog, and Reverse Disease by Healing Your Microbiome (Harper, $21.99, 9780063451667).

Hulu has released the first trailer for Washington Black, the upcoming limited series based on Esi Edugyan’s bestselling 2018 novel, Deadline reported. Starring and executive produced by Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction, This Is Us, Paradise), the series also stars Ernest Kingsley Jr., Rupert Graves, Iola Evans, Edward Bluemel, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Eddie Karanja, and Tom Ellis. It premieres July 23 on Hulu.

Washington Black is produced by 20th Television Production in association with Indian Meadows Productions and the Gotham Group. It is executive produced by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Kimberly Ann Harrison, Brown, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Wanuri Kahiu, Mo Marable, Rob Seidenglanz, Jeremy Bell, Lindsay Williams, D.J. Goldberg, Jennifer Johnson, and Anthony Hemingway. Hinds and Harrison are also showrunners for the series. Esi Edugyan is co-producer.

Die Frau als Mensch: Am Anfang der Geschichte (The Woman as Human: At the Beginning of History) by Ulli Lust has won the €25,000 (about $28,820) 2025 German Nonfiction Prize, sponsored by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (the German book trade association).

The jury wrote: "The strong woman as a human being. In her knowledgeable and imaginative nonfiction book on the beginnings of humanity, between evolution and culture, Ulli Lust shows that the role of women in human history has remained largely invisible. The long-prevalent view of humanity as a man is in need of fundamental revision, and this book demonstrates this through an original interweaving of scientific findings from archeology, anthropology, and art history, repeatedly inspired by everyday experiences. With this multifaceted approach, Ulli Lust is able to break down entrenched notions. This also applies to the genre of nonfiction, which is beautifully expanded through the virtuoso combination of image and word."

Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Sacred Smokes; Sacred City) offers a love letter to the city of Chicago via a single-day odyssey in The El, an expansive novel featuring young gang members on a circular journey through an urban landscape. With strong imagery, dreamlike sequences, and gritty considerations of family, love, spicy potato chips, and gun violence, this unusual story will capture and hold the imagination.

On an August day in 1979, teenaged Teddy wakes up early, eats a few buttered tortillas, and gets ready for a momentous event. He will lead 18 fellow members of the Simon City Royals across town via Chicago's elevated train (the El) to a meeting with another "set" of the gang and many others, where a new alliance formed in prison would be applied on the outside. The new Nation will include old enemies, but Teddy is a team player. It is a day of high stakes, and while they all share trepidations, not everyone shares Teddy's hopeful outlook. "Jesus, Coyote, Al Capone... I was sure all of us prayed to them equally."

Teddy narrates as he sets out with his best friend, Mikey. Then the perspective switches to Mikey's. Teddy remains the protagonist and most common narrator, but a broad variety of players cycle through, providing different angles on the potential impacts of the Nation alliance as well on as the scenes themselves: a fire on an El platform, an attempted murder, various deaths, moments of beauty. Teddy's Native identity matters because race is a question for the new Nation, spoken of but not exactly on the official agenda. Teddy can see a character he knows to be Coyote, "walnut brown and wiry, wearing a pair of mirrored Aviators," who "tends to hum in and out of focus." This character, or force, plays an important role in the day.

The El is utterly intriguing at every turn, shifting pace from high-drama action scenes to contemplative minutes and hours spent rocking in rhythm with public transit and the city itself. Van Alst portrays a strong sense of both time and place as his characters grapple with race, class, and culture in a very particular big city. The novel is about cusps: of the season, the turning of the decade, the gangs' political shifts, the move away from "skins-only" violence and toward more guns, and comings of age. Van Alst gives us tragedy as well as beauty, and a sharp, loving portrait of a place, with Teddy "riding all the way back toward the neighborhood, window wide open, warm wind howling in, and me in love with everything we could ever be." --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: Young gang members in 1979 Chicago take public transportation across the city on a single, important day in this shape-shifting, kaleidoscopic novel of big risks and dreams.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Down to the Wire by Rich Galgano
2. Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story by Jeffrey Mason
3. Shoveling $H!t by Kass Lazerow
4. Can You Take It? by Jeneane O'Riley
5. Till Summer Do Us Part by Meghan Quinn
6. Releasing 10 by Chloe Walsh
7. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
8. The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden
9. Release Me by K.A. Tucker 
10. Charity Trickett Is Not So Glamorous by Christine Stringer

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]