Scott Shannon

Scott Shannon has been named president of Ballantine Bantam Dell at the Random House Publishing Group and will no longer lead Random House Worlds. Kara Welsh, president of the Ballantine Publishing Group, is leaving the company March 31. 

Sanyu Dillon, president of the Random House Publishing Group, called Shannon "a deeply collaborative leader whose ability to align teams, champion talent, and build ambitious publishing programs has defined his remarkable 30-year career in publishing. He leads with clarity, trust, and a genuine belief in partnership--qualities that will serve BBD especially well as the group focuses on expanding the reach of its publishing programs."

At the same time, Keith Clayton will become senior v-p, publisher, Random House Worlds. Dillon said that Clayton has been "a key architect of RHW's growth, bringing deep expertise in licensed and genre publishing, a steady hand, and a highly collaborative approach to leadership. Keith's leadership is marked by sound judgment, operational rigor, and a clear commitment to teamwork... Keith will continue to build on the extraordinary momentum of Random House Worlds, shaping the collective imprints into the home for best-in-class genre talent and leading pop culture fandoms while ensuring continuity, focus, and ambition across the programs."

Jamie Raab is stepping down as publisher-at-large at Macmillan, where she has worked for more than seven years. She joined the company in 2017 and co-founded, with Deb Futter, Celadon Books, where she was president and publisher. In 2022, she became publisher-at-large, focusing on acquisitions, strategic initiatives, and mentorship. From August 2023 through January 2024, she was also interim publisher at Holt after Amy Einhorn left and until Andrew Miller was appointed to the position. Before joining Macmillan, Raab had been president and publisher at Grand Central Publishing. She worked at Grand Central and at its predecessor, Warner Books, for 30 years.

Jamie Raab

Macmillan CEO Jon Yaged called Raab "an impeccable publisher" and "a generous colleague and mentor, as well as a trusted presence. Colleagues from across the company have benefited from her thoughtful counsel and her willingness to engage meaningfully and openly. She has set a tone that values care, perspective, and good judgment alongside strong publishing instincts."

He added, "I am personally grateful to Jamie for being a trusted sounding board and for helping support my transition first to president and later to CEO."

Raab said, "I have loved my years working at Macmillan. It was a joy to launch Celadon, see its wonderful team come together, and watch the division flourish and become a force in the publishing world. And it was an honor to stand in as Holt's interim publisher, getting to know the remarkable people who make the division special and who welcomed me so warmly into their fold. Most of all, I am grateful to the many talented colleagues I have had the pleasure of working with over the years and, of course, to the incredible authors I had the privilege of collaborating with, who are the beating heart of the work we do.

"As I step away from my role as a publisher-at-large, I plan to draw on my experience and skills in areas that are deeply meaningful to me, particularly in childhood literacy and political action. I am motivated by these words from Jane Goodall, 'What you do makes a difference. And you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.' I hope to put these words into action."

Susie Wilmer, longtime owner of Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colo., has sold the shop to staff members Revati Kilaparti and Teresa Steele, effective January 1. A celebration "of everything Susie Wilmer has accomplished in her 25 years of ownership and congratulations to the new owners" is scheduled for Saturday, January 31, the bookstore noted.

Wilmer said she has loved selling books and running the store, but "after 25 years it's time." She added that she wants the store to continue to prosper, and selling to Kilaparti and Steele was the best solution for her: "Both Revati and Teresa are ready and well prepared to take Old Firehouse Books into the future of bookselling in Fort Collins."

Kilaparti started working in the store as an undergraduate, left to become a veterinary technician for a few years, then returned to school to earn her MBA. She could not leave the world of bookselling, however, and has been at the store for more than 17 years. 

Steele's bookselling career began in Loveland before she eventually landed at Old Firehouse Books. She runs two of the store's book clubs, fosters dogs for Bounce Animal Rescue, and organizes the store accounts. 

From left: Revati Kilaparti, Susie Wilmer, Teresa Steele

"Like many true readers, both are obsessed with books, reading and the business of books. They are excited to continue to be a part of the local community making Old Firehouse Books now a BIPOC and women-owned business," the bookstore noted.

Old Firehouse Books was launched by Bill Hawk in 1980 as the Book Rack of Fort Collins, offering used paperbacks at first, though the collection grew over time. In 2001, the store was sold to Susie Wilmer and the late Dick Sommerfeld, longtime Book Rack owners in Cheyenne and Greeley. 

Wilmer and Sommerfeld increased the used stock and began ordering new books. In 2009, the store moved from 1801 S. College Ave. into the old historic firehouse, a Fort Collins landmark. The name was changed to honor the building, which was constructed in 1881 as the first city building for the City of Fort Collins. The space also features two other local businesses, Happy Lucky's Teahouse and The Forge Publick House.

Following a soft opening in December, Nomadic Bookshop in Oakland, Calif., will have its grand opening this weekend, the Oaklandside reported.

Located at 326 23rd St. in Uptown Oakland, Nomadic Bookshop debuted on December 1 and will host its grand opening on Saturday, January 17. It is a nonprofit bookstore founded by J.K. Fowler and his husband, Uriel Landa; previously Fowler ran Nomadic Press, which closed in spring 2023 after more than a decade in business.

The store's inventory is about 75% new books and 25% used, with an emphasis on books from small and independent publishers. Fowler, who curates the books selection, has eschewed traditional book categories and sections based on genre and age group. Instead, there are categories like "Radical Life Stories and Testimonies" and "Transformative and Imaginative Worlds."

"All the books are pushing at the edges, asking, 'What's next, given the current climate that we're in?' which is a total mess on so many fronts," Fowler told Oaklandside. "What's the world that we want to support?" 

Landa, meanwhile, organizes the store's events, which so far have included open mic nights and book launches. He is from Mexico, and he and Fowler plan to bring in Spanish-language titles from Mexican publishers eventually. This year, Fowler also intends to relaunch Nomadic Press and publish two or three titles.

"The vibe that we're going for is all about lifting up voices of power, recognizing the inherent resilience, the ability for us to imagine new worlds, to deconstruct the old world, to learn the history to inform the way in which we want to build the new world," Fowler said.

The grand opening festivities Saturday will include food, poetry readings, and live music.

The harsh overall economic situation is having an impact on the German book market, with turnover across the central sales channels (retail bookstores, e-commerce including Amazon, railroad station bookstores, department stores, electronic goods stores, and drugstores) falling by 2.9% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to findings of the industry monitor BUCH report, which were released by Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (the German book trade association).

In a weak year for the retail sector as a whole, turnover of books in 2025 was not able to match the positive results of the two previous years (up 1.8% in 2024 and up 2.8% in 2023). However, turnover is still 1.6% higher than in 2022. Business in local bookstores last year was 3% compared to the previous year, but also reflected a gain compared to 2022 (plus 1%). 

Despite declining overall turnover, fiction grew by 1.3% compared to 2024 (and by 14.9% compared to 2022). Books for children and young adults, however, closed the year with a drop in turnover of 2.5% and nonfiction of 4.7%. 

"The book market is currently in the same situation as the entire retail sector: in view of the ongoing adverse consumer climate, the assessment for 2025 is somewhat mixed," said Sebastian Guggolz, chairman of the Börsenverein. "High cost pressure and an immense amount of bureaucracy pose additional hurdles for retailers, publishing houses and book logistics companies. The continuing enthusiasm for books among young people gives cause for hope: interest in new adult titles in particular, and therefore turnover in fiction, continues to grow. This means that the book industry is heading into the new year faced with many challenges, but also with optimism and confidence." 

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Jessica Sänger

Jessica Sänger, director for European and international affairs at Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, has been elected chair of the International Publishers Association Freedom to Publish Committee, Publishing Perspectives reported. Sänger succeeds Norwegian publisher Kristenn Einarsson, who has led the committee for eight years.

Sänger has been on the IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee for eight years and previously chaired the IPA's Copyright Committee. The IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee monitors freedom to publish issues around the world and administers the Prix Voltaire, the IPA's freedom to publish prize, and the newly created IPA Freedom of Expression Defenders Award.

Sänger said, "Kristenn led the IPA's freedom to publish committee with courage and integrity and I will endeavor to bring those same qualities as chair. The freedom to publish challenges across many IPA members are increasing, but the Prix Voltaire shows us every year that there are brave publishers out there, fighting for the freedom of expression of their authors."

Einarsson said, "It has been an honour to chair this vital committee in IPA's work and a pleasure to have worked with so many committed colleagues from other countries. I know the Committee is in good hands as we face mounting threats to the freedom to publish."

In a related move, Jacob Søndergaard, CEO of Gutkind Publishers, Denmark, has joined the Freedom to Publish Committee.

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In its latest "Shop Talk" series, Quill & Quire interviewed Dana Corbett and Catherine Quaglia, owners of Boundless Books in Ladysmith, B.C., Canada. Among the highlights from the q&a:

What has been most surprising or unexpected about opening a bookstore or about your first few months in business?

With both of us having come from bookselling and managing backgrounds, we are very grateful for the experience and knowledge we brought to being owners. We recognize that without those experiences, opening a bookstore would have been very different, with a much steeper learning curve. That said, we are always learning and adjusting to the interests of our community. 

Stacks Book Club in Tucson, Ariz., hosted Jaclyn Rodriguez for the launch of her debut novel, A Vow in Vengeance (Slowburn). The sold-out event drew 150 attendees.

The most popular book club titles at Reading Group Choices in December were Huguette by Cara Black (Soho Crime) and The Heir Apparent: A Novel by Rebecca Armitage (Cardinal).

"A New Year's resolution: to read 6-7 nites a week!" That was the sidewalk chalkboard message in front of Excelsior Bay Books in Excelsior, Minn., which channeled the mysterious slang term 67 (Dictionary.com's Word of the Year) into a reading goal, noting: "It takes 21 days to create a habit. How's it going?"

Once Upon a Time Bookstore, Montrose, Calif., shared a video tour on Instagram featuring 'Things That Just Make Sense in Our Bookstore.' 

Sam Wiener has been promoted to associate publicist at Holt.

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Oona Metz, author of Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women (Gallery, $20, 9781668075388).

Today: Martha Stewart, author of Entertaining (Clarkson Potter, $50, 9798217034871).

The View: Kenan Thompson, co-author of Unfunny Bunny (Feiwel & Friends, $19.99, 9781250364814). He will also appear on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Scott Galloway, author of Notes on Being a Man (Simon & Schuster, $29, 9781668084359).

Sky has greenlit "the long-gestating" Girl with the Dragon Tattoo TV series from Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna (Behind Her Eyes) and The Crown producer Left Bank, Deadline reported. The series is based on the bestselling Millennium book series by Stieg Larsson.

"The big-budget adaptation comes 15 years after the movie starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, which, as with the new TV show, came from Sony Pictures Entertainment," Deadline noted. Three English-language movies were made and were preceded by a Swedish film trilogy featuring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace.  

Casting has not yet been set for the new TV project, which is described as a "bold and contemporary reimagining" and is currently being shopped to the U.S., Deadline noted. 

The Mystery Writers of America has announced recipients of its Grand Master, Ellery Queen, and Raven awards. They will be honored on April 29 at the 80th annual Edgar Awards Ceremony in New York City.
 
Donna Andrews and Lee Child are the 2026 Grand Masters, representing "the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality," the MWA noted. 

The Raven Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing, will be presented to Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif. John Scognamiglio of Kensington Books will receive the Ellery Queen Award, which honors "outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry."

"Donna Andrews has given us more than 50 novels, proving the cozy subgenre is more relevant than ever," said MWA executive v-p James L'Etoile. "In addition to her significant literary accomplishments, she has given back to the community in so many ways, by mentoring aspiring mystery writers, and serving as the MWA executive v-p. I'm thrilled to see Donna named as MWA Grand Master. And Lee Child's contributions to the genre are unparalleled. Aside from his thirty critically acclaimed novels featuring the iconic Jack Reacher, Lee Child is considered one of the most thoughtful and generous members of the mystery community. Writer, mentor, and past president of MWA, he is a role model, and most deserving of being named MWA Grand Master."

Book Passage founder and president Elaine Petrocelli said the bookstore "is honored and thrilled to receive the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Many of the 10,000 or more author events that we've had over the years have featured mystery writers. During the last 30 years or so, many of these writers have given of their time to participate in our annual Mystery Writers Conference and have helped nurture new writers towards successful careers. We've found mystery writers to be resourceful, fearless, and ingenious in describing the problems of the world. More than that, they know how to keep their portrayal of the dark side of humanity on the written page. In person, they are wonderful, personable, and a pleasure to be around." 

Scognamiglio commented: "As a long-time mystery reader, I'm thrilled and honored to be receiving this award." MWA's L'Etoile said: "It was gratifying to see this year's Ellery Queen Award go to Joe Scognamiglio. Few publishing industry insiders have done more to create a place where authors are valued and diverse voices have a place in the business."

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Finalists have been selected for the Story Prize:

Other Worlds by André Alexis (FSG Originals)
Atavists by Lydia Millet (W.W. Norton)
Long Distance by Ayşegül Savaş (Bloomsbury Books)

The winner receives $20,000 and runners-up receive $5,000. The winner will be announced March 31 at a private event that will be livestreamed and will feature readings by and interviews with the finalists, before the winner is revealed.

Larry Dark, director of the Story Prize, said, "We continue to encounter artistically inspired and original work every year--even after reading thousands of entries. Books like these exemplify the vast range of potential forms a short story collection can take."

photo: Bart Nagel

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of Memoir Nation, co-founder of the Flash Fiction Institute, co-founder of 100 Word Story, and an executive producer on the upcoming reality TV show America's Next Great Author. He has published several collections of stories and books on writing. His "flash novel" something out there in the distance (Unm Press) is a linked series of short-short stories that weave their way through photos by Gail Butensky.

Handsell readers your book in 35 words or less:

Have you ever read a novel whose stories flow from photos? A story that is a prose poem? A book that is like watching a film? Read something out there in the distance.

On your nightstand now:

The Use of Photography--Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie's book of photos and stories about their affair 20 or so years ago, translated by Alison L. Strayer. I love Annie Ernaux. I love books about affairs and love. And I love stories told with photos (as evidenced by my book something out there in the distance).

Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows. I love his dreamy, searching writing, the way he writes to the questions, not the answers, in a melody of words.

Andrea Gibson's Lord of the Butterflies. I've been obsessed with them since they died last summer. Their writing, their life--their capacity to feel so deeply and express deep feelings in such an emotional yet unsentimental way.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I was an avid reader from the start. I wanted to be President of the United States when I was a kid, so I largely read biographies of Presidents when I was in grade school. Then I became captivated with the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was 11 or so.

I think the best art is art that you experience before you're supposed to, though. I "accidentally" read Crime and Punishment when I was researching a paper on crime for a class in the ninth grade. I didn't know who Fyodor Dostoyevsky was, but I was intrigued by his name. It was my introduction to sin in literature. My introduction to a godless world. I'm haunted by Rodion Raskolnikov.

So to answer your question, it's a tie between a biography of Ulysses S. Grant, the Little House on the Prairie series, and Crime and Punishment.

Your top five authors:

F. Scott Fitzgerald because I read him during a semester in France, the semester I decided to be a writer. I thought I'd be an expat writer living in glorious places, cavorting through many a drink, and writing novels. My life has sadly been more ordinary.

James Salter has been described as a writer's writer, and I learned the importance of rhythms and moods and contours from his sentences.

Denis Johnson is a writer whom many writers try to imitate but always fail. Menacing. Absurd. Funny. Tender. Desultory. Hallucinatory. Religious. Poetic. I still try to imitate him.

Sigrid Nunez is a writer whom you read to be with, to think with, as if you're taking a walk with her. So intimate, so wise.

Nathalie Sarraute focuses on capturing the "tropisms" of life: the spontaneous, subconscious, and fleeting internal movements that occur during human interactions. She has formed my aesthetic as much as anyone.

Book you've faked reading:

I've never faked reading a book, but I like to joke that almost every writer I know, including me, has a copy of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace on their bookshelves but has never read it. I no longer even plan to read Infinite Jest.

Perhaps a better answer is that The Savage Detectives (by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer), is one of my favorite novels, but I've failed to finish it in two attempts. I've only read the first half. It's an amazing first half of a novel.

Book you're an evangelist for:

I could easily say Nunez's The Friend, Johnson's Jesus' Son, Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky, or Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano, all of which I've given as presents innumerable times, but I'm going to go with A Lover's Discourse by Roland Barthes and translated by Richard Howard because I'm obsessed with thinking about love, which we should all think about more.

It's really a rejected lover's discourse. The book was spawned by the forlorn love letters that Barthes wrote to a man whom he had an affair with. The book is structured as a collection of 80 short chapters, or "fragments," each dedicated to a different type of amorous feeling, such as waiting or jealousy. He creates a piercing portrait of a lover's fevered consciousness.

Book you've bought for the cover:

When I first moved to San Francisco in 1989, it seemed that Kathy Acker books were everywhere, and her covers often featured the body, nude or seminude, reflecting her themes of female desire, power, and identity. The covers were daring and subversive and punk and brash. How could I not read her?

Book you hid from your parents:

I never had to hide a book from my parents, but there was one book I hid from myself. I bought the Necronomicon when I was a teenager because I was interested in the occult and mysticism, and this book cried out to me with a sinister siren's song at the Waldenbooks in the Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines, Iowa. Every time I went to Des Moines, I found myself looking at it, but too afraid to open its pages. Even after I bought it, I never opened it up. I was too scared of it.

I just Googled it, and I see it is a fictional book of spells and incantations from the horror stories of writer H.P. Lovecraft. I didn't know who Lovecraft was as a teen.

Book that changed your life:

The aforementioned Crime and Punishment very deeply immersed me in the complexities, contradictions, and darkness of the human spirit--and showed me how deep needs and obsessions can smother a person's more reasonable and generous side. I quit believing in God around this same time, and I haven't viewed life the same since then: everyone carries some sort of sin with them.

But on a more hopeful note, when I was 20, I studied in France and decided to be a writer, and one of the expat books I read was Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.

I am from a small town in Iowa, so the idea of being an author, living in exotic places, and dedicating all aspects of my life to my art was quite foreign to me. I read the book as a type of instructional manual to writing, and then I returned home and lived in a renovated chicken coop that summer and carried out Hemingway's creative process.

Favorite line from a book:

Sigrid Nunez said that all stories are about loss in some way, and I ponder this often.

In The Friend, she wrote, "What we miss--what we lose and what we mourn--isn't it this that makes us who, deep down, we truly are."

I loved her "trilogy on loss," comprised of The Friend, What Are You Going Through, and The Vulnerables.

Five books you'll never part with:

Just to add five more to the mix mentioned above--all of which I've reread many times:

Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, which took me to Mexico several times.

The Stranger by Albert Camus, my first book by an existentialist.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, because it made me cry more than any other book.

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. I love his meditation and fascination with the desert, the ultimate Bowles metaphor. I love how the book shows what can happen when people are unanchored, drifting, elsewhere, not truly knowing where they want to be.

Open City by Teju Cole, because I love a story about a character walking around and noticing and thinking. The book uncovers layers of a city, layers of a traumatic personal and collective history. It opens and keeps opening.

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

Most of my transformative reading happened in my teen years, when books shaped all of my perceptions, thoughts, and dreams. Let's say Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse for its dark mysticism, or On the Road by Jack Kerouac because nothing makes me happier than a road trip. I haven't reread either of these books because I don't want to blemish my teen impressions. I don't want them to disappoint me.

Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria, originally published in Australia in 2024, is the first in a darling and adventurous series for younger middle-grade readers by author L.M. Wilkinson and illustrator Lavanya Naidu.

Mouseling Tithonia Proudleaf daydreams of adventure, often at the expense of her chores. While her mother wants her to shepherd pufflings from pasture to pasture, Titch wants to practice "being a warrior." Although their village on the Plateau has been safe for "over a hundred years," she loves the stories of Bravepaw, "the BRAVEST mouse who ever lived," and wants to be like him. Her mother tries gently to remind Titch that "there are lots of ways to be brave" and "life isn't all about swords and battles."

Moments later, a "warrior" hare in a glider lands on the Plateau, chased by many somethings "twisting and wriggling in the sunshine, like eels made of smoke." Titch, accompanied by friend Huckleberry, helps the warrior. It's a surprise to everyone when Titch grabs the hare's magical staff and can use its power to fend off the curseworms. When the "shadowy" creatures return, Titch again uses the staff, this time to lure them away from the Plateau. Titch lands safely in the Forest, where it becomes clear that Alluria is facing a danger that only Bravepaw can defeat. Titch might not be Bravepaw, but she can be brave, and so, accompanied by Huckleberry and Dollop, one of her pufflings, she sets off into the woods to do what Bravepaw would: protect Alluria.

Wilkinson, who also writes as Lili Wilkinson (Unhallowed Halls), doesn't shy away from the darker elements of fantasy stories and places her characters in real peril. Naidu (Bread Is Love) creates expressive and action-filled digital black-and-white illustrations, describing the movement of tails, whiskers, and clothes. The formatting of the book adds both heft and whimsy to the story with its brilliant balance of text, illustration, and white space: the text shifts size and weight to emphasize certain words or phrases and Naidu's art wraps in and around the words. Caretakers who want to share the joys of classic fantasy adventures with children too young for Lord of the Rings and Redwall will likely be as delighted by Bravepaw as their young readers. --Nicole Brinkley, bookseller and writer

Shelf Talker: Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria launches the first of a darling and adventurous illustrated series for younger middle-grade readers that pays tribute to classic fantasy stories.