Bookselling Although the site that houses the Curious George Store in Harvard Square is being redeveloped into an indoor mall, the new owner of the site has reached an agreement that will allow the store to stay at the address. The Boston Globe reports that the store will relocate to a new space within the building, likely in summer 2019. Owner Adam Hirsch says, “This was really a relief and we’re thrilled. The whole team is very excited to know that we’re staying in Harvard Square.” As we reported previously, the last of the scheduled Barnes & Noble concept stores […]
Bookstores
People, Awards, Etc.
In personnel news, Pippa White has joined Callisto Media as editor. Previously she was an associate editor at Chronicle Books. Picks Target announced its December, January, and February Book Club Picks. The picks for December are The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak and The Party by Robyn Harding. The picks for January and February are The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill and The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti, respectively. Awards Michael Redhill won the Giller Prize for his novel Bellevue Square (Doubleday Canada). Poets & Writers announced the recipients of their 2018 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Awards: Chimamanda Ngozi […]
Sandell Proposes Desperate-Sounding Plan to Take Barnes & Noble Private with Borrowed Funds
Small-time investor Sandell Capital Management got exactly nowhere with their summer campaign to goad Barnes & Noble into selling itself to a nonexistent buyer for a pricetag not offered by anyone of $900 million. So now they have reformulated the plan into a “proposed transaction” that would have the company taken private at a lower value — $650 million or so — by using crushing leverage from a not-yet-existing lender and the participation of an unwilling Len Riggio and other shareholders. The plan, as described in the WSJ on Thursday afternoon, calls for raising a big $500 million in debt […]
People, Etc.
Maris Kreizman will leave her position as editorial director of Book of the Month club on November 30 after a little over a year with the company, to give her “full attention back to my own writing.” At William Morrow, Heidi Richter has been promoted to senior publicity director, while Anwesha Basu moves up to publicity director. In the UK, Charlie Brotherstone has opened his own literary agency, Brotherstone Creative Management. Brotherstone was at Ed Victor Ltd., representing his own clients and running the film/TV, serial and speakers departments, and a number of years at A.M. Heath. Brotherstone Creative Management will sell rights […]
Briefs: Amazon Books, Books for Amazon Studios, and More
Bookselling Amazon Books is planning a new location on Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland. The retailer filed a building permit on November 8 to renovate the 6,000-square-foot space at 7117 Arlington Road, currently occupied by a home furnishing store. Barnes & Noble will close their big, nearby 37,500-square-foot store at Bethesda Row at the end of the year when their lease expires, after 20 years in the location. In Washington, DC proper, online bookseller Mahogany Books will open a physical store at the Anacostia Arts Center on November 24. Harassment DC Comics has reportedly fired group editor Eddie Berganza, following an extensive report in BuzzFeed recounting […]
Bookselling: Regulator Bookshop Sold; Kinokuniya To Open in Austin; and More
The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC will be sold to two store employees. Longtime owners Tom Campbell and John Valentine announced plans to retire on March 1 and sell the bookstore, which has operated for more than 40 years, to Wander Lorentz de Haas and Elliot Berger. Campbell, a co-founder of the shop, told the Herald-Sun: “We are not as young as we once were and we were thinking of moving on. We had two people who were interested in taking over that we thought would do a good job, and it all kind of came together.” The bookshop is […]