Hanya Yanagihara‘s A Little Life earned its first big award win on Thursday, recipient of the Kirkus Prize for fiction, as Ta-Nehisi Coates won the nonfiction prize for Between the World and Me — and both are in contention for National Book Awards. Pam Muñoz Ryan‘s middle-grade novel Echo won the young readers’ literature prize.
Longtime executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Hut Landon was feted this week as he retires from that position. Bookselling This Week has some testimonials from colleagues and friends reflect on his passion for, and many contributions to, the bookselling community.
At Zondervan, Robyn Burwell has joined Zonderkidz as acquisition editor “championing book titles geared for readers, ages nine and up.” Kevin Traub joins the company as senior marketing director for Kidz Bibles and Storybook Bibles. (He was the children’s product buyer at Family Christian Stores.) Additionally, Sara Bierling has been promoted to acquisition editor overseeing Zonderkidz Bibles.
Former ceo of Harper Canada David Kent will receive the International Festival of Authors’ International Visitors Program Ivy Award — “presented to a person who has made a substantial contribution to Canadian publishing.”
Acquisitions
Rowman & Littlefield announced that it has purchased the book program of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, effective October 15. The list includes approximately 100 active titles. USCJ CEO Rabbi Steven Wernick said in the announcement, “We have re-focused on core priorities that create the most impact for our sacred communities. Partnering with Rowman & Littlefield enables us to continue to develop high-quality content, while allowing our books and materials to be marketed and sold in a much larger universe.”
Payments
Amazon’s retroactively-set monthly cash pool for authors participating in the Kindle Unlimited subscription program for September inched up $200,000 to $12 million — while the payout per page read inched down to .005069 per page (compared to .00514 per page in August).