Crazy Wisdom Bookstore in Ann Arbor announced yesterday that they will either “be selling or closing” their doors come February 15, 2022, after 40 years in business. Owners Bill Zirinsky and Ruth Schekter, who are in their 60s, said that they are “ready to look out upon a new and different horizon.” Though many independent bookstores struggled financially during the pandemic, Zirinsky and Schekter were clear that this was not the case for Crazy Wisdom. “The bookstore had a very profitable year (due to having closed the tea room at the onset of the pandemic), and that’s not a bad […]
Archives for 2021
Sourcebooks Acquires B.E.S. Publishing
Sourcebooks has acquired B.E.S. Publishing from Peterson’s Publishing, in a deal that closed November 1. The deal includes more than 800 B.E.S. titles, including adult nonfiction and children’s fiction and nonfiction. B.E.S. stands for Barron’s Educational Series; Peterson’s had purchased B.E.S. a little less than two years ago from Barron’s. The line has been distributed by Two Rivers, and accounts should continue to order ttitles through Ingram Content Group through the end of 2021. “The addition of B.E.S. adds breadth, variety, and depth to our rapidly expanding children’s and adult nonfiction catalog,” said Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks ceo and publisher. “We […]
Bogaards to Leave Knopf, Publicity Is Centralized Across the Group
Paul Bogaards, Knopf’s longtime evp, publicity & marketing, and deputy publisher, will step down on January 1. He has been with the company for 32 years. Bogaards wrote in a press release, “My tenure there has been rewarding beyond measure. Sonny [Mehta], as most of you know, died in 2019, shortly before identifying Reagan [Arthur] as his successor. When we spoke of her appointment, he said to me, ‘Reagan is going to need your support and guidance, because this place can be tough.’ Sonny was always a master of understatement. When he was gone, I knew the mandate: keep the […]
December Indie Next List
The ABA named Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan as the No. 1 pick for December’s Indie Next List, excerpted in our Buzz Books 2021: Fall/Winter sampler.
Galgut’s The Promise Wins Booker Prize
Brechner Resigns From ABA Board Citing Free Speech Concerns
Kenny Brechner, owner of DDG Booksellers in Farmington, ME, resigned from the ABA board following a change in the organization’s free speech policy. Brechner asserted in ShelfTalker (his column for Publishers Weekly) that the ABA’s September change in its ends policies would “restrict its active support and defense of free expression.” Citing new language that pledges to ensure “members have the resources in support of their right to freedom of expression,” Brechner charges, “This nebulous statement undermined ABA’s long established role as a defender of free expression in the literary world. Pointedly it constricted ABFE’s [American Booksellers For Free Expression] […]