Only 10 days after a deal for Baker & Taylor to be bought by Readerlink collapsed, Baker & Taylor has decided to shut down, officially by the end of the year, but a majority of its employees--about 500 out of 800--were let go on Monday in a Zoom call, former employees said. Apparently no severance will be paid, and medical benefits have ended. The library wholesaler was rumored to owe creditors, mainly publishers, as much as $26 million, and it had been having trouble obtaining inventory and filling orders.

As reported by ShawLocal, 253 of the 318 employees at B&T's Momence, Ill., warehouse were let go on Monday, and the rest will be gone by January 3. According to a report about the closing required by Illinois law, B&T said that the collapse of the Readerlink deal led to the decision to close. "Despite Baker & Taylor's subsequent efforts, it was unsuccessful in seeking a path to continue its business operations," the report said. The Momence warehouse has 379,000 square feet of space and has been in operation since 1962.

In a letter almost a month ago about the ill-fated purchase, Readerlink CEO Dennis E. Abboud observed, "The last several months have been a challenging period for Baker & Taylor. The company has faced headwinds, including the pressures of operating independently, emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, and overcoming the debilitating impacts and financial losses resulting from cyberattacks in 2022." The library world has also suffered from budgetary pressures at all levels of government as well as waves of book bannings and anti-librarian laws and campaigns.

Founded in 1828, B&T has long been the main supplier of books, other materials, software, and services to public and academic libraries in the U.S. While it stopped selling to bookstores in 2019, it is a distributor for some publishers through Baker & Taylor Publisher Services.

For more than 30 years, B&T has suffered from a revolving door of owners, including several private equity funds--Carlyle Group, Willis Stein & Partners, and Castle Harlan Partners. In addition, in 2022 the company suffered severe cyber attacks that shut it down for weeks at a time.

Follett bought B&T in 2016 and sold the company in 2021 to a private investment group headed by Aman Kochar, who had joined B&T in 2014 and was named executive v-p in 2019. Under Follett, Kochar became president and CEO.

Charlie Redmayne

HarperCollins UK CEO Charlie Redmayne has resigned from his position, and Kate Elton has been appointed interim CEO. The Bookseller reported that Elton will sit on the global executive committee and have responsibility for the U.K. and Ireland, reporting to Brian Murray, president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide. HarperCollins India and Australia/New Zealand will now report to Murray. 

Redmayne has been CEO since 2013, when he returned to HarperCollins after leaving in 2011 to serve as CEO of Pottermore. He originally joined HarperCollins UK in 2008 as group digital director and was promoted to executive v-p, chief digital officer at HarperCollins. He earlier was head of commercial partnerships for Sky Online at News Corp.'s BSkyB and had launched Mykindaplace, a teen Internet company that he sold to BSkyB in 2006. He also founded and managed RCL Communications and Blink TV.

HarperCollins UK said that an announcement will be made "in due course" about a permanent appointment, the Bookseller noted.

Kate Elton

Since 2023, Elton has been group managing director for the adult commercial divisions. She joined HarperCollins in 2011, initially as publisher for HarperFiction, before taking on additional responsibility for HarperNonFiction and Avon in 2014. Prior to her move to the company, she worked for 15 years at Random House. 

Murray said: "Kate is an inspiring publisher who has a deep understanding of the industry and the HarperCollins business. She has shepherded the U.K. Adult commercial divisions to tremendous success with thoughtful leadership and insight. Kate is an incredible team player who has been instrumental in helping to build a culture of collaboration and innovation. I am delighted that she will be taking the role."

Elton commented: "It is a great privilege to be asked to lead HarperCollins UK. I've been enormously proud to be part of the remarkable HarperCollins team for the last 14 years--it's a genuine honor and joy to work with our wonderful community of authors, and with the talented, creative teams who bring their work to readers around the world."

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Twelve bookshops have been longlisted for the Bookshop of the Year category at this year's An Post Irish Book Awards. The category is "designed to acknowledge the significant role played by independent bookshops and local branches of bookshop chains in helping their local communities to find and savor the titles of their choice." This year's longlisted booksellers are:

Antonia's Bookstore, Trim
Bridge Books, Dromore
Castle Book & Card Centre, Castlebar
Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Galway
Chapters Bookstore, Dublin
Genius Juniors, Ennis
Leaf & Bower, Ballincollig
Liber Bookshop, Sligo
Tales for Tadpoles, Bray
The Book Centre, Waterford
The Company of Books, Dublin
The Maynooth Bookshop, Maynooth
 
A shortlist will now be selected by an independent judging panel and announced on October 22. The overall winner of An Post Bookshop of the Year will be presented with a trophy and €15,000 (about $17,490) at the An Post Irish Book Awards event on November 27.

Maria Dickenson, chair of Bookselling Ireland, said: "For generations, Irish bookshops have been an essential part of our culture. They offer welcoming spaces where readers can explore and celebrate stories of every kind. Booksellers play a crucial role in Ireland's literary landscape, bringing people and books together in ways that truly matter. It's inspiring to see their dedication recognized, and the 2025 longlist reflects that passion and diversity."

Dixon Books will open this weekend in Natchez, Miss., the Natchez Democrat reported. Located at 514 Main St., the bookstore will sell general-interest titles for all ages, as well as coffee. Jennifer Boone, who owns Dixon Books with her husband, Walter, and John and Ginger Weaver, plans to host author readings, children's storytime sessions, book club meetings, and more.

"We want the environment to be that of a third space," Boone told the Democrat. "With all that's going on, I want it to be a comfortable, welcoming, all-inclusive space where people can come together."

The owners of Dixon Books also own the building in which it resides, and they decided to open a bookstore there after the previous tenant, a gift shop, moved to a different city. Boone recalled that she had always thought of owning a bookstore, but imagined it as a "very, very distant dream."  

As she had no prior experience in bookselling, Boone relied on other Mississippi independent bookstores, including Square Books in Oxford, Lorelei Books in Vicksburg, and Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, to help her learn the trade. Boone called them "incredibly helpful," and noted that the "bookseller community is very welcoming."

A grand opening celebration is scheduled for this coming Saturday, October 11, that will include a ribbon cutting, giveaways and prize drawings, and a variety of food and drinks.

Finalists have been selected for the 2025 National Book Awards. The five category winners will be announced at the National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner in New York City on November 19. The winners receive $10,000, a bronze medal, and statue; finalists get $1,000 and a bronze medal. Winners and finalists in the translated literature category split the prize evenly between author and translator. This year's finalists are:

Fiction
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine (Grove Press)
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Knopf)
The Antidote by Karen Russell (Knopf)
North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford (A Strange Object/Deep Vellum Publishing)
Palaver by Bryan Washington (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Nonfiction
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf)
Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe (Ecco)
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Rowe (Abrams Press)
When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas (Riverhead Books)

Poetry
The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (Copper Canyon Press)
Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che (Washington Square Press)
Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark (Washington Square Press)
I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken (Copper Canyon Press)
The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith (Scribner)

Translated Literature
On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (New Directions)
We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers (New Directions)
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay (New Vessel Press)
We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov, translated from the Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega (Yale University Press)
Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer (Seven Stories Press)

Young People's Literature
A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff (Dial Books for Young Readers)
The Leaving Room by Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends)
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido)
Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr (Amulet Books)
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi (Versify)

Two lifetime achievement awards will also be presented as part of the evening's ceremony: George Saunders will be recognized with the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, presented by Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at the New Yorker; and Roxane Gay, author and cultural critic, will receive the NBF's Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, presented by National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson.

Dame Jilly Cooper, "who captured millions of readers with her raunchy tales set amid horse-loving high society," died October 5, the Guardian reported. She was 88. Cooper was best known for the Rutshire Chronicles, which include Riders, Rivals, and most recently, Tackle!. Rivals was adapted as a TV series for Disney+.

The Bookseller noted that Queen Camilla released the following statement: "I was so saddened to learn of Dame Jilly's death last night. Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one, creating a whole new genre of literature and making it her own through a career that spanned over five decades.

"In person she was a wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many--and it was a particular pleasure to see her just a few weeks ago at my Queen's Reading Room Festival where she was, as ever, a star of the show. I join my husband the King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family. And may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs."

Cooper's novels "defined culture, writing, and conversation since she was first published over 50 years ago," said her agent, Felicity Blunt. "You wouldn't expect books categorized as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things--class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility."

Bill Scott-Kerr, her publisher at Transworld, observed: "Working with Jilly Cooper over the past 30 years has been one of the great privileges and joys of my publishing life.... Jilly may have worn her influence lightly but she was a true trailblazer. As a journalist she went where others feared to tread and as a novelist she did likewise. With a winning combination of glorious storytelling, wicked social commentary and deft, lacerating characterization, she dissected the behavior, bad mostly, of the English upper middle classes with the sharpest of scalpels."

He added that Transworld "has been blessed to be her publishers for 50 years since we published Emily in 1975--her work spanned 18 novels and short fiction as well as over 20 books of nonfiction which were not only a window into her own life, but also acute observations on the essence of a certain type of Englishness. The Common Years, in particular, was a particular reader favorite." 

Cooper began her writing career in journalism as a cub reporter on the Middlesex Independent in 1956, before moving into PR. In 1961, she married publisher Leo Cooper and during the late 1960s, she began writing columns for the Sunday Times before moving to the Mail on Sunday in 1982. Her first book, the nonfiction title How to Stay Married, was published in 1969 and her debut novel, Emily, was released in 1975, "the first of a series of romances based on magazine stories she had published. Bella, Imogen, Prudence, Harriet, and Octavia would follow, plus a collection of short stories, Lisa & Co, in 1981," the Guardian noted.

Riders, the first of 11 Rutshire Chronicles books, appeared in 1985, followed by Rivals in 1988. She also wrote several books for children about a mongrel, Mabel, and many nonfiction titles, including Class, about the English class system. Cooper was honored with a damehood in the 2024 new year honors list for her services to literature and charity. 

Author Olivia Laing told the Guardian that Cooper was "the absolute queen, a person of such total generosity and life.... 'Bonkbuster' captures the essential joyfulness of these books, the central role of sex, but it doesn’t quite do justice to their wit and complexity as social comedy, let alone the beadiness of Jilly's eye on class, her knack for satirizing selfishness and pretension, and her gift for understanding loneliness and isolation."

Jenny Colgan noted that "it is nice to hope she got her wish, that: 'When you arrive in heaven, all your dogs come rushing across a green lawn to meet you.' "

On Monday night, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Wash., hosted a midnight release party for Thomas Pynchon's Shadow Ticket (Penguin Press). The evening included themed music, drinks and snacks, trivia, and "plenty of Pynchon" (though, as the store noted: "Thomas Pynchon will not be present."). As soon as the clock struck midnight, the store handed out copies to the eager readers. 

At Books & Company in Oconomowoc, Wis., bookseller Anja Franson shows off the store's Banned Books Week display.

"Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights." That was the signboard message in front of Bridgeside Books, Waterbury, Vt., which noted: "Banned books week is around the corner, but we're starting the conversation early! From 2021-2025 there were 22,810 instances of books being banned in public schools. 

"When books are banned, kids and teens lose access to a safe and accessible way to understand the world and its most difficult ideas. They lose empathy for others living lives different from their own and they lose the comfort of seeing someone facing their own shared experiences. When books are banned, we all lose. 

"Reading is revolution. In libraries, in schools, in homes. Stand with the banned, stand with your schools, stand with authors, stand with kids and teens, stand with freedom. Let's read!"

Roundabout Bookstore, Greenfield, Mass., captured an autumn vibe in a pic shared on Instagram, noting: "Light fall day. Fresh receiving on library carts, and spread out architecture section." 

Just Ducky: A Friendship Takes Flight by Berrie Torgan-Randall (Cardinal Rule Press).

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan, authors of Remain: A Supernatural Love Story (Random House, $30, 9798217154043).

Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon: Logan Jugler and Boone Hogg, the founders of Stick Nation and authors of Sticks: A Collection of Sticks & the People Who Love Them (Ten Speed Press, $16.99, 9780593837528).

StudioCanal and Strong Film & Television have acquired the rights to Robin Stevens's Murder Most Unladylike books to develop as a children's TV series, Deadline reported. Emmy-winner Anna McCleery (Free Rein) is writing the adaptation, with James Strong attached as lead director.

The series is pitched "as Enola Holmes meets Agatha Christie, following two rebellious 1930s teen female detectives, Hazel and Daisy, as they unravel murder mysteries," Deadline noted, adding that McCleery has written a six-part series, and "with 12 books to draw material from, the hope is that Murder Most Unladylike can be a returnable series."

M-K Kennedy, managing director of StudioCanal Television, said: "The lead characters Daisy and Hazel are a duo worthy of Watson & Holmes stature, beloved by millions of fans across the world for their independence, curiosity and wicked sense of humor."

McCleery added: "I could not love these books more; they are clever, thrilling and bursting with humor and heart."

The shortlist has been released for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize, which recognizes "the best of nonfiction and is open to authors of any nationality." The winner, who will be named November 4, receives £50,000 (about $67,100), with the other shortlisted authors getting £5,000 (about $6,710 ) each. This year's shortlisted titles are:

The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s by Jason Burke (British) 
How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner (Australian) 
The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief by Richard Holmes (British) 
Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World by Justin Marozzi (British)   
Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe by Adam Weymouth (British) 
Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson (British) 

photo: Vanda Fleury

katherena vermette is a Michif (Red River Métis) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In 2013, her first book, North End Love Songs, won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. Her work for children and young adults includes the picture book The Girl and The Wolf and graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo. She also co-wrote and co-directed This River, winner of the 2017 Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary. Her third book of poetry, procession (House of Anansi, September 30, 2025), reaches into what it means to be (at once) a descendant and a future ancestor, exploring the connections we have with one another and ourselves, among friends, and within families and Nations.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or so:

Oh lord I leave this up to the experts... This is a poetry collection around the themes of being a good ancestor, being a good descendant. It's about living in that in-between, present moment and trying to do the best you can.

On your nightstand now:

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce

Favorite book when you were a child:

Dr. Seuss rhyming books Hop on Pop; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (don't think that one is Dr. Seuss, though). [Editor's note: this title is by Al Perkins, but it is part of the Bright and Early Board Books series, which launched with Dr. Seuss's books.]

Your top five authors:

Emma Donoghue
Jeanette Winterson
Toni Morrison
Agustina Bazterrica
Lee Maracle

Book you've faked reading:

I will take this one to the grave.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Baterrica. So unnerving.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Something in the Walls, actually. Great cover. So far so good.

Book you hid from your parents:

Haha my parents weren't like that at all. My reading tastes have always been strange, and they've always been fully supportive (or blissfully unaware).

Book that changed your life:

In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton Mosionier.

Favorite line from a book:

The last paragraph of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Five books you'll never part with:

I have very old, very special tattered copies of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Dubliners by James Joyce, and I would never get rid of any of my poetry books because you never know when they will be re-printed. Anything I have had signed by dear friends, most especially those who are no longer here.

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

Beloved by Toni Morrison. I did read it again recently, but it wasn't the same as the first time.

Readers will find a lively introduction to one of nature's most energetic creatures in Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep. The book offers young readers a brisk tour through the everyday habits and adaptations of squirrels as well as a playful glimpse into the variety of species children might encounter in backyards and forests. First published in 2016, the book is newly circulating again, and its return feels especially poignant given the 2021 deaths of both its author, April Pulley Sayre (Raindrops Roll), and its Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator, Steve Jenkins (Tiny Monsters and What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? with Robin Page).

Squirrels are familiar sights to most children, yet their busy lives often go unnoticed, a gap this book helps to fill. Sayre writes in her trademark spare, rhyming style, marked by short, rhythmic bursts and an alternating rhyme pattern that gives the text a pleasing bounce: "Squirrels stretch./ Squirrels yawn./ Munch the acorns./ Are they gone?" The approach keeps the narrative light while weaving in factual content about how squirrels feed, defend themselves, prepare for the seasons, and more. Children will also encounter four different kinds of squirrels (the eastern gray, the eastern fox, the American red, and a flying squirrel), broadening their sense of the animal's diversity.

Jenkins's newly remastered cut-and-torn-paper collages bring texture and an earthy warmth to the pages. Broad green landscapes stretch across spreads, while smaller circular vignettes zoom in on key details. One example depicts a squirrel peering straight at readers ("Eyes for looking/ back at you"), with adjacent spots showing the same animal sniffing and chewing. The compositions feel active and varied, matching the energy of Sayre's clipped verse. Back matter, updated in this edition, expands the book's reach: children learn how squirrels scatter and bury acorns, sometimes sprouting new trees. Practical tips emphasize planting trees, the "best bird and squirrel houses and feeders." A list of sources and suggestions for further reading extends the book's usefulness in elementary classrooms and libraries. The final spread, "Squirrels sleep," shows a squirrel curled in its nest, giving the book a cozy close that also makes it a natural bedtime choice for caregivers. Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep succeeds as an accessible and engaging primer on one of the most familiar backyard creatures and teachers, librarians, and young naturalists alike will likely find it a charming celebration of the squirrel's world. --Julie Danielson

Shelf Talker: With playful rhyme and textured illustrations, this updated reissue of Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep makes the familiar lives of squirrels fascinating for children.