Robb Pearlman has joined Smart Pop Books as editor-in-chief. He was previously associate publisher at Rizzoli.
Chilean author Luis Sepulveda, who lived in Spain after being exiled by Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s, died on Thursday from Covid-19. He first contracted the disease at the Correntes d’Escritas festival in February.
Awards
Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo won the Aspen Words Literary Prize.
Cancelled
Bouchercon 2020, planned for October 15-18 in Sacramento has been cancelled “out of an abundance of caution and concern for the health and safety of our community.” The organizers write in a statement, “We have no way of knowing what the balance of this year holds for groups of people gathering, nor can we tell what the state of travel will be. While we are canceling the actual Bouchercon convention, we are working to develop a different format for some of the Bouchercon events and activities such as the Anthony Awards, the short story anthology and the General Membership meeting.”
Bookselling
Anne Lamott has organized a GoFundMe campaign for Book Passage in San Francisco and Corte Madera, CA, hoping to raise $100,000. She writes on the fundraising page, “Today, without the buzz of customers in their stores or authors on tour, Book Passage is fighting to support its over 50 booksellers and keep the doors open to welcome us back after this crisis.”