Philomena Polefrone has joined PEN America as senior manager for the Freedom to Read program. She was formerly associate director for advocacy and public policy at the American Booksellers for Free Expression and had joined the American Booksellers Association as advocacy associate manager. She has led bookseller opposition to censorship and created The ABA Right to Read Handbook. 

Philomena Polefrone

At PEN America, she will oversee the Freedom to Read team's research portfolio on book bans and educational censorship in K-12 schools and public libraries, raise awareness about book censorship, and contribute to advocacy and mobilization nationwide.

"PEN America's research on book censorship has been indispensable to understanding the scope of school book bans, the people it hurts, and the danger it presents to education and democracy in the United States," said Polefrone. "I'm excited and honored to join the Freedom to Read team in a moment of historic importance for free expression."

After earning a doctorate in American literature from Columbia University in 2020, Polefrone taught literature, writing, and political philosophy at Columbia until 2023. She is co-author of Alethea, a near-future dystopian audio drama featuring Helen Hunt, Rachel Dratch, and Becca Blackwell.

In 2025-2026, Polefrone was part of the inaugural cohort of Global LGBTQI+ Fellows at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she conducted research about the revival of queer bookstores in the U.S.

Little Lantern Book Co. hosted a ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration on July 17 at 600 Pennsylvania Ave, Hartshorne, Okla. Owner Heather Moore posted on Facebook: "Yesterday was absolutely incredible. Thank you to every single person who came by, shopped, browsed the shelves, shared a post, or simply stopped in to say hello. You all made our Grand Opening weekend feel like something truly special, and my heart is so full.... Thank you for believing in this little dream of mine. Every person who walks through our doors adds another page to the story, and I couldn't ask for a better community to write it with."

Moore told the McAlester News-Capital: "I have always wanted to open a bookstore. That's my dream job, to own a bookstore." 

Making that dream a reality started in May when the building became available in Hartshorne. The property includes a big corner lot, where she plans to host events outside to get the community more involved, including author signings, book clubs, and more.

"We need some new businesses. We need some things to do out here. That's one of the complaints I've heard from everyone is there's no shopping and there's nothing to do in Hartshorne," she said, adding: "I've fallen in love with Hartshorne, and I would love for it to be a little busier of a town where things to do, especially for the teenagers and everybody out here. I want Hartshorne to be a good place to stop."

Tomes & Tonics bookstore and bar will open next month at 2454 W. Clay St. in St. Charles, Mo. The St. Louis Business Journal reported that sisters Sarah and Julie Davison have been working on the project for nearly a year and a half and received all the necessary building permits last month. The bookstore will feature romance, romantasy, science fiction, thrillers, horror, and historical fiction options, as well as some anime and graphic novels.

"The space is part bookshop, part bar, part just a place to chill," Sarah Davison said. "We don't have enough spaces to just be. We have amazing indie bookstores, but a lot of them close by five or six. There is a gap there... where people can go."

The owners are tearing down some walls, building a bar, and making the bathrooms ADA compliant. The front of the building will serve as a small event space. Julie Davison took out a $165,000 home equity loan to fund the renovation of the 3,100-square-foot space and handle operating expenses for the first months.

"I've always wanted to have my own business," she said. "I love books and I was always interested in a bookstore. I just didn't want to go down the path of doing something alone; I wanted a partner."

Tomes & Tonics will hire one full-time employee with bar experience and at least one or two part-time workers to staff the bookstore. The Business Journal noted that the co-owners plan to quit their full-time jobs in the coming weeks as the store nears opening. 

There will be no kitchen inside the building, but Tomes & Tonics will offer bar service, with coffee, tea, mocktails, and cocktails. Patrons are encouraged to order or bring in food from local restaurants while spending time inside the store, which plans to provide take-out menus.

"We want to make sure we are promoting local businesses," Sarah Davison said. "We're focusing on as many local breweries and distilleries as we can."

Books Galore in Erie, Pa., will close permanently on July 31, the Erie Times-News reported. Located at 5546 Peach St., Books Galore has been in business for 43 years and sells new and used books, comic books, graphic novels, gaming supplies, and more. All used books and comic back issues are 75% off, with many other items 50% off. There will be a final goodbye for the store on July 30.

The decision to close comes after previous owner James Wallin, son of founding owner Duane Wallin, died in late June at the age of 72. Ownership then passed to James Wallin's children, Kelli Koppes and Jonathan Wallin, who have decided to close the store.

Koppes told the Erie Times-News the decision was based partly on business trends and partly on the fact that she and her brother both have full-time jobs in other fields. 

"Business trends aren't nearly what they used to be when the business opened years ago," Koppes said, adding that although there is a customer base for new comics, there is lots of competition for used books and comics. At the same time, she and her brother "have full-time jobs and do other things. So taking over a small business ultimately is not something conducive to our schedules."

Rhiannon Pushchak, a Books Galore employee, told the Erie Times-News she was "devastated" by the decision to close the store, and said community members have called asking where they could go for new comic books. 

Prior to the last day of business, Koppes intends to create a memory wall that customers can sign and decorate with their favorite memories of the store.

Barnes & Noble plans to open a new bookstore in November at Pacific Commons Shopping Center in Fremont, Calif., Silicon Valley Business Journal reported, adding that Pacific Commons, which is currently listed as being for sale, "continues to attract major tenants," including Chinese retailer Miniso, "which opened its largest Bay Area store in January, and H Mart, a popular Korean grocer that has revealed plans to open its flagship store in the retail hub."

"This latest lease transaction at Pacific Commons shopping center shows that marquee tenants continue to be attracted to the center and Fremont's incredibly strong demographics," said Donovan Lazaro, economic development director for the city of Fremont. 

B&N's forthcoming location is 24,638 square feet, according to marketing materials. Lazaro said it will also have a cafe and "substantial" indoor and outdoor seating.

Mystery Night at The Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., featured Courtney Psak, author of The Hostess (Hodder), in conversation with Connor Martin, author of The Silver Fish (Mysterious Press).

Sweet Reads Society in Newton Falls, Ohio, is now taking enrollment for its Book Babe Daycare program. "Our Book Babe Daycare includes:

• Cold A/C for the hot summer days
• Rows of romance books to explore
• Cold brew, dirty sodas & dirty alanis
• Stuffed cookies for snack time
• Places to sit and read as long as you want
• Tables if you need to answer a few emails… or just pretend you're working (we won't tell)

"Fair warning: pickup can be a little tricky. Your Book Babe may insist she 'just needs one more minute'... which usually turns into one more chapter and quite possibly one more book. We can't be held responsible for the overflowing bags. Come shop with us & stay a while!"

"We're laying our chalkboard to rest." Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, Wis., paid tribute to its long-serving sidewalk chalkboard with, appropriately enough, a final chalkboard message.

"Good Thursday Morning Sunshines." Anna's New, Used & a Little Abused Books & More in Rockmart, Ga., featured an inviting pic of its storefront to accompany a cheery greeting last week. 

Precious Ugly by Rae Cline (7.13 Books).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Jaime Goodrich, author of Unleashed: How to Bring Out the Best in Your Dog (Simon & Schuster, $29, 978-1668081693). He will also appear on Live with Kelly and Mark.

Today: Joanna Stern, author of I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything (Harper, $32, 9780063446618). 

Tamron Hall repeat: Faith Roberson, author of What Stays and What Goes: Organize with Intention and Create Space for Grace (Scribner, $28, 9781668011744).

Number 9 Films TV and PBS Masterpiece, in association with FOX Entertainment Global, are teaming a new co-production of The Portrait of a Lady, based on the classic novel by Henry James. The project is adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Colette, The Salt Path, She Said) and directed by Aisling Walsh (Room at the Top, Miss Austen, Maudie). Filming has begun and will take place in the U.K., Hungary, and Croatia.

The six-episode limited series stars Nell Tiger Free (The First Omen, Servant) as Isabel Archer, Gemma Arterton (Secret Service, Their Finest) as Madame Merle, Jim Sturgess (Mix Tape, One Day) as Gilbert Osmond, Bill Nighy (Joy, Living) as Mr. Touchett, and Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Touchett. The cast also includes Jack Wolfe, Calypso Cragg, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Hugh Skinner, Hamish Frew, Thomas Coombes, Lydia Leonard, and Edward Rosier.

"We are so pleased to be finally making this Henry James classic, which was far ahead of its time, with our friends at Masterpiece and the BBC," said Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen of Number 9 Films TV. "It's wonderful to be reunited with Rebecca Lenkiewicz who we worked closely with on Colette and The Salt Path and to work with Aisling Walsh, whom we've admired from afar for many years. It's also wonderful that we can reunite with some of the actors that we know so well from our movies in our first TV show.... We find it astonishing that James's prescient story has not been made for television for nearly 60 years, but like all great things, it will definitely be worth the wait."

Books from 13 publishers, seven languages and eight regions are among the 14 winners of English PEN's translation awards, which are selected "on the basis of outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project, and their contribution to U.K. bibliodiversity." 

Nichola Smalley, English PEN translation advisory co-chair and chair of the PEN Translates selection panel, said: "A wonderful thing about PEN Translates panel discussions is the panelists' openness to having their minds changed when presented with new information or perspectives. It was no different this time around. The projects submitted provoked prolonged and impassioned debate. Through thoughtful consideration we ended up with 14 fantastic titles ranging from the radical and political to the wildly imaginative to the intimate and personal (and in many cases a skillful blend of these) from presses big and small and medium, with re-discovered contemporary classics, social commentary and unexpected love stories. With authors and translators from across the experience scale and languages spanning the globe, this portfolio is a microcosm of the literary diversity PEN Translates exists to support."

Preti Taneja, co-chair of the English PEN Translation advisory group and chair of the PEN Translates x SALT selection panel, commented: "Each of these projects will bring writers, translators and their outstanding work to new readers and audiences who might not otherwise have access to them. In a world in which funding is increasingly difficult to secure, the panel is glad to support festivals and publications that celebrate translation and diverse literary culture."

Nadia Saeed, translation and international manager at English PEN, added: "When I see the range of applications we receive each round, the caliber of the work we are yet to be able to read in translation never ceases to amaze me, and these 14 titles are no exception. From love stories from Saudi Arabia to cult queer fiction from Mexico to seminal feminist poetry from Sri Lanka, these titles further exemplify the importance of bibliodiversity in times where we aren't always quick to look beyond the surface of things. We're excited to be supporting such vital contributions to literature in translation."

photo: Ryan Pfluger

Mac Crane is a jock, a sweatpants enthusiast, and the author of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, which was a New York Times Editors' Pick, an Indie Next Pick, and won the Lambda Literary Award for Speculative Fiction. Their sophomore novel, A Sharp Endless Need, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Fiction. Their first short story collection, Perverts (Dial Press, July 7, 2026), is a full-frontal confrontation of the ways we perform desire and shame--from the downright bizarre to the frighteningly relatable.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

Perverts is like if Torrey Peters and George Saunders had a freakier baby.

On your nightstand now:

The Child by Sarah Schulman. I'm not sure yet if I'd recommend it. I have read damn near every novel Schulman has written and loved them all. This one feels different from the rest in a way that I can't quite articulate yet. It's certainly the most controversial, though that's not what I mean. In general, I admire her audacity and risk taking in fiction. I think I will probably end up liking it, but it's one of those books that isn't for everyone.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Hard to pick just one. I was an avid reader. My mom took me to the library once a week and let me load up on books. Louis Sachar's Wayside School series was a favorite, and I'm having so much joy revisiting it with my five-year-old right now. I also loved Franklin W. Dixon's Hardy Boys, Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew, Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series, and Matt Christopher's magic sports novels, such as The Kid Who Only Hit Homers.

Your top five authors:

It may come as no surprise to see Torrey Peters and George Saunders here. Also Justin Torres, Anne Carson, James Baldwin, Jenny Offill, Renee Gladman, Mesha Maren, Hanif Abdurraqib, and T Kira Māhealani Madden. I'm not very good at following rules.

Book you've faked reading:

Anything I was supposed to read for high school, minus The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, which I really read, because, for better or for worse, I felt a kinship with that irritating, alienated loner.

Book you're an evangelist for:

We the Animals by Justin Torres. It is that rare sort of book that makes me feel more and more every time I revisit it. I am a sucker for a slim novel that packs a knockout punch. For one that feels complicated and true. Plus, language-wise, craft-wise, I never stop learning from it.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I simply do not do that. But if I had to name one book that would have seduced me with its cover, it would be We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan, 1961-1991. I like a good butt on my covers. And in life.

Book you hid from your parents:

The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll, which my sister lent to me when I was about 12. I thought it was mostly going to be about basketball, but it ended up being about drugs, namely, heroin. I still remember reading about Jim's hard-ons and sleeping with twins named Winkie and Blinkie.

Book that changed your life:

I hate being a cliché, but sometimes the moment calls for the clarity and honesty of embracing it. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky changed my life when I was a lonely, depressed, extremely sensitive, closeted adolescent. It made me feel like I was part of a cohort of explosive criers who didn't understand what was wrong with them.

Favorite line from a book:

"To feel anything deranges you." And "to live past the end of your myth is a perilous thing." Both from Red Doc> by Anne Carson.

Five books you'll never part with:

We the Animals by Justin Torres
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Margery Kempe by Robert Glück
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson  
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
everything by James Baldwin

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

Trash by Dorothy Allison. Some people just got it going on, and she absolutely did. The experience of reading that book for the first time was that of intense awe (for how good she was), rabid jealousy (that I'd never be that good), and an internal rearrangement of everything I thought I knew about stories.

Traitors' Nest by Frances Hardinge (The Forest of a Thousand Eyes; Deeplight) is an enthralling, action-filled YA medieval fantasy about common folk who are mere pawns in a game played by godlike beings.

"In a place that is not a place, people who are no longer people play a game," a chesslike game in which castles (and those who live within them) are moved by unknowable superhumans called "Players." Fifteen-year-old Burr and his fellow villagers in a quiet valley in the kingdom of Thaletal have never experienced the "Great Game," as their brown castle always stays put--until it doesn't. In its place appears a red castle, with a demanding lord whose unexpected tithes cut into the villagers' winter stores. Burr's previously "quiet, dutiful father," Joett, leads the disgruntled townspeople in a failed rebellion that results in Joett's execution.

Just as quickly as it arrived, the red castle is replaced by a gray one that "hated, with every chill inch of its stones." The gray castle's residents, who were at war when their castle moved, are "haggard, hungry... like feral dogs" and take some villagers hostage. Burr leads a group to infiltrate and capture the castle--only for it to jump to a new location. Now Burr and his "band of rebels" must figure out how to take charge of the Game so they can return home.

Hardinge once again delivers an outstandingly creative and unusual fantasy novel populated with sympathetic characters and powers beyond understanding. She deftly meditates on trust, community, and the fragility of life, as she builds a deeply textured world with immersive scenes of grandeur. Through Burr, Hardinge adeptly examines what it means to accept one's lot in life and also be intrigued by possibility. It is especially poignant when Burr catches himself feeling pleased to receive the smallest sign of approval for being more than just "a shy, awkward ploughboy." His excited reaction to moments such as the prospect of seeing war for himself reveals both his curiosity about a larger future and his discomfort at wanting more from his fated life. This medieval fantasy is a fully realized, spirited adventure and an excellent read-alike for teen fans of Garth Nix or Leigh Bardugo. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader

Shelf Talker: In this fully realized, spirited YA medieval fantasy novel, common people are mere chess pieces in a game played by godlike beings.