At Viking/Penguin Books, Rebecca Marsh has been promoted to associate director of publicity. Shelby Meizlik has joined as executive publicist. Tricia Lawrence has been promoted to senior agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Awards The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced recipients for its highest honors for excellence in the arts, including two of last year’s Pulitzer-winning authors. Richard Powers will receive the William Dean Howells Medal for THE OVERSTORY. The prize is “given every five years for the most distinguished American work of fiction published during that time.” Yale professor David Blight, author of six books on slavery, […]
Bookstores
Relief Given, and Still Needed
First Book says its Covid-19 Action Response has shipped 1.3 million books and distributed digital access codes for more than 2 million children, all donated by publishers and related organizations. CEO Kyle Zimmer, president, CEO and co-founder of First Book. “These books are so meaningful. They super-charge learning for kids in need, who are particularly vulnerable right now—when schools closed, these kids lost a place that was not only providing education, but so many different forms of critical support…. Not a day goes by that we aren’t grateful to our publishers.” Coffee House Press will commission original, short, digital works […]
Barnes & Noble Warehouse Workers Say Illness Is More Widespread Than Acknowledged
In addition to the five confirmed cases of COVID-19 among employees at Barnes & Noble’s big Monroe, NJ warehouse, the company acknowledged in a recent memo that they “have had nine employees contact us with confirmed cases” of the virus. The first confirmed case of an employee testing positive was back on March 12 by one account (and April 1 by another), which is part of why workers staging a protest Tuesday insisted the company has not done enough to protect them. NJ.com says about 15 employees participated in the protest. Beyond the nine confirmed cases, a representative for employee […]
As COVID-19 Cases Appear at Barnes & Noble’s Warehouse, Workers Organize Protest
With the first cases of COVID-19 at Barnes & Noble’s big 1.4-million-square-foot distribution center in Monroe, NJ, a coalition of warehouse workers and other advocates have planned a protest outside of the facility on Tuesday afternoon “to demand protections.” The organizers note the facility “employs nearly 800 workers, most of whom are Latino immigrants.” Among their demands are asking for a two week closure of the facility — with paid time-off — for “full sanitization,” with “better safety protections, including sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing and cleaning” thereafter along with “hazard pay” and “recognition of the ability to […]
Assistance: Patterson Helps Indie Stores In New Campaign, PEN Increases Grants to Writers
James Patterson is making a personal donation of $500,000 to help save independent bookstores across the country, as part of a new fund to be administered by BINC (Book Industry Charitable Foundation) that is raising money to support stores rather than individual booksellers in need. Patterson is joining with Reese Witherspoon, as well as the ABA, in a new awareness and fundraising campaign, #SaveIndieBookstores, running through April 30. BINC will distribute the pool of funds raised to eligible independent bookstores “by May 15.” Apparently those grants will be available to ABA member stores only. The site indicates, “Funds received are […]
Indigo Books Lays Off 5,200 Employees
Now that Indigo Books physical stores are closed until further notice, the company temporarily laid off 5,200 retail employees as of last Friday. (According to their website, they employed a total of about 7,000 people.) All employees had been paid during the initial hiatus, from March 17 until March 28. Spokesperson Kate Gregory said the company had “made the difficult decision” to layoff employees temporarily. The company expects “to re-embrace as many as possible when this period of store closure is over.” Longer closures will put stress on bookstores large and small. Slate talks to some independent booksellers, for whom […]