The Book Burrow in Plugerville, Tex., has found a new home thanks to an outpouring of community support, KXAN reported.

Store owner Kelsey Black is moving the bookstore less than a half mile to a storefront at 401 W. Pecan St. in the Pecan Street Plaza; she plans to host a grand reopening for the bookstore on August 26.

Kelsey Black

Previously, the Book Burrow resided in a wine bar called the Three Legged Goat, which is closing this summer for renovations. With the bookstore's future in question, Black put out a call to the community in late June asking customers to support the bookstore, and in less than two weeks the Book Burrow sold close to 2,000 titles. Black also launched a GoFundMe campaign that has brought in nearly $1,700.

"I am blown away with all of the love and support we were shown during these past few weeks," Black wrote. "I owe each person a debt of gratitude for reaching out in our time of need. I will forever be grateful for each individual who supported us, shared our posts, and volunteered their precious time to help us. Thank you for being a part of our community."

Ralph Tedeschi, who spent three years as manager of the Book Warehouse at Premium Outlets in Williamsburg, Va., will fulfill a longtime dream of owning and operating his own bookstore when he launches Turn the Page Bookshop this month, the Virginia Gazette reported. Book Warehouse closed in August 2022.

Turn the Page Bookshop, also located at Premium Outlets, will feature new titles as well as used books in a space between Nautica and Banana Republic. "It's just a sweet spot and a beautiful space. It has hardwood floors and built-in shelves on all the perimeter walls," Tedeschi said. New shelves and tables have been purchased to fill out the interior space. In addition to the new and used books, there will be sections for children's books, record albums, CDs, and DVDs.

Books have long been a great love for Tedeschi, who noted: "I prefer (working with books). My father built a library in our house, and my sister and I grew up around books. I've been reading since my earlier age."

Debbie Foy

The Quarto Group is launching a new children's nonfiction imprint for ages 12-plus that will specialize in "trend-driven content as well as fresh takes on classic topics across a range of areas from popular culture to graphic novels." Planned to be revealed later this year, the imprint will be launched simultaneously in the U.K., North America, and internationally.

Debbie Foy will be publisher of the imprint. Foy has been at the Quarto Group since March 2022, as publisher for Wide Eyed Editions and Ivy Kids while Georgia Buckthorn was on parental leave. (Foy is also publisher, in a job-share with Buckthorn, for Wide Eyed Editions.) As publishing director, she previously launched the Wren & Rook imprint at Hachette Children's.

Group publishing director for children's Shannon Cullen called Foy "a smart, commercial and considered publisher, which is why she is so well-respected and valued by authors and illustrators, agents and colleagues. To have a publisher of her talent and experience to launch a carefully curated imprint for the 12+ audience brings further opportunities to our trade publishing, and complements our other imprints, including Frances Lincoln Children's Books, Happy Yak, and Words & Pictures.

"To have Debbie also working alongside Georgia to grow and develop the Wide Eyed Editions list--one of the most widely acclaimed and admired imprints in illustrated children's publishing--brings even more expertise to our team, which is already bursting with commercial and creative talent."

Foy said, "The opportunity to launch a new imprint aimed at the savvy 12+ market was immediately appealing. I'm already a huge admirer of the Wide Eyed list so am delighted to continue working with the support of the awesome teams--both here in the U.K. and in the U.S. My aim is to publish a breadth of voices and illustration talent from around the world, so I look forward to speaking to agents about every opportunity."

Mark Rubbo

Australian bookselling legend Mark Rubbo, the long-time managing director of Readings bookshops in Melbourne, has retired after nearly 50 years in the book business, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, adding that yesterday was the first day of his official retirement.

"I'm getting physically not as able to do it anymore, although my back's been quite good recently," said Rubbo, who at age 74 is relinquishing control of the company to his son, Joe Rubbo. 

Readings grew from one outlet in Lygon Street into a chain of eight shops, and Mark Rubbo "has been in the vanguard of nurturing new Australian writers, writing, and the country's vibrant independent publishing scene," the Morning Herald noted. 

"He is one of the world's great independent booksellers," said Text publisher Michael Heyward. "For all of us who have spent a lifetime in books, working with writers, trying to extend the culture and doing something new, we have been really lucky to have him as a partner and a supporter."

Author Helen Garner described Rubbo as "the sort of guy who makes a good feeling in a room. I like him, I respect him, I'm grateful to him for his hard work, and his generous temper, and his imaginative presence in our lives. I'll miss him."

Author Peter Carey, who recalled buying a record at Rubbo's Professor Longhair music shop in the '70s, wrote him into the novel Amnesia, "with a character stealing a copy of Lord of the Rings from Readings (Rubbo hates shoplifters)," the Morning Herald noted. Carey said, "He's a very pleasant man who has sold a shitload of good books."

Rubbo was influential in setting up the Melbourne Writers Festival, helped to obtain Melbourne's status as only the second Unesco City of Literature, served on the board of the Wheeler Centre, judged the Miles Franklin Literary Award and several other writing prizes, set up Readings prizes for new writing, YA and children's writing, and in 2009 established the Readings Foundation. Rubbo has received several awards from the book industry, and became a member of the Order of Australia in 2006.

He will remain chairman of the board at Readings, and might even take occasional shifts on the sales floor. He also plans do some work with his friend Henry Rosenbloom, publisher at Scribe.

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Bookselling Ireland, part of the Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland, has submitted proposals for consideration by the government in advance of the finalization of the next budget "to enable the sector to continue to grow and thrive." 

Noting that the book industry "makes an important and positive social, economic and cultural contribution to Ireland," Bookselling Ireland wrote that there are currently more than 220 bookshops across the country, employing more than 3,000 people, and that bookshops "are an integral part of our cultural landscape and generate €189 million [about $208.3 million] to the economy." Among the measures proposed to the government:

• Culture voucher to allow young people to experience Ireland's cultural offering
• Expansion of the night-time economy support scheme
• Improve school procurement processes to allow bookshops to thrive
• Ensure all libraries have a ringfenced discretionary budget to source books of local interest
• Commercial rates relief
• Urban renewal

"We look forward to engaging with you and your officials as we work to sustain and promote the Irish bookselling sector and its vital role in maintaining the vibrancy of Ireland's town centres," Bookselling Ireland's chair Dawn Behan wrote. 

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The bouquinistes, the legendary booksellers along the River Seine, "say the Olympics threaten to erase a symbol of Paris, after they were told by local authorities that they will have to remove their stalls for the Summer Games opening ceremony in 2024 for security reasons," Reuters reported. City authorities claim that about 570 stalls, or nearly 60% of the total along the river, need to be dismantled and moved for the opening ceremony next year on July 26.

"People come to see us like they come to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, (but) they want to hide us during a ceremony that is supposed to represent Paris," said Jerome Callais, the president of the Paris booksellers association.

Paris authorities said they met with the booksellers recently and offered to pay for the costs of removing the stalls as well as any repair work in the event of damage. Reuters noted that it "was not clear whether the booksellers had been told they must move for the duration of the Games or only for the opening ceremony." --Robert Gray

James Hayman

James Hayman, who wrote the McCabe & Savage police procedural mysteries that sold more than a half a million copies and were published worldwide, died June 15.

The six McCabe & Savage books featured Portland, Maine, police detectives Mike McCabe and Maggie Savage. The first in the series, The Cutting, appeared in 2009. The next five were The Chill of Night, Darkness First, The Girl in the Glass, The Girl on the Bridge, and A Fatal Obsession, which appeared in 2018.

Hayman had a long career in the advertising business, including more than 18 years at Young & Rubicam, where as senior v-p/group creative director, he led creative development of TV and print advertising for clients like the U.S. Postal Service, Procter & Gamble, Lincoln/Mercury, J&J, and the U.S. Army. In 2001, he moved to Portland and a few years later, he decided, as he put it, "that if I didn't start writing the suspense thriller I'd been itching to write for years, I probably never would."

Hayman was also a ghostwriter and editor of corporate books, white papers, and bylined articles.

Lee Wind has been promoted to the newly created role of chief content officer at the Independent Book Publishers Association. In his new position, he will lead the IBPA's "integrated content strategy across its various programs and events, including its annual IBPA Publishing University, create customized educational pathways for IBPA's different types of members, as well as explore additional opportunities for IBPA publishers to reach more readers."

He has been with IBPA for six years, most recently as director of education and programs. During that time, he developed new educational programs for indie publishers, including two online workshops on branding and marketing, and consultation packages that enabled members to connect with experts in areas where they needed advice such as metadata, Amazon, book marketing, and media lists. He also initiated partnerships with several book industry nonprofits such as Binc, We Need Diverse Books, NABU, and Benetech, which have raised more than $25,000 through members' participation in IBPA's bookstore catalog. He also led the planning and production of IBPA's Publishing University Conference in May.

Wind is an author, too. His books include Red and Green and Blue and White (illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Paul O. Zelinsky, Levine Querido), No Way, They Were Gay? Hidden Lives and Secret Loves (Zest Books/Lerner), and the crowdfunded YA novel Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill. He also runs the blog I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read?.

"Summertime windows. Come see our new window displays full of sunshine, green and some great suggestions for that perfect last days of summer reading, Odyssey Bookstore, Ithaca, N.Y., posted on Facebook. 

Last of the Lions by Clarence B. Jones (Redhawk Publications).

Today:
Fresh Air: Richard E. Grant, author of A Pocketful of Happiness: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster, $28.99, 9781668030691).

NPR's Here & Now: Tania James, author of Loot: A Novel (Knopf, $28, 9780593535974).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Danielle Steel, author of Palazzo: A Novel (Delacorte, $28.99, 9781984821898).

Today Show: Brad Thor, author of Dead Fall: A Thriller (Atria/Emily Bestler, $29.99, 9781982182199).

Nicholas Winding Refn has set the cast and unveiled first look images for The Famous Five, BBC's upcoming adaptation based on Enid Blyton's iconic stories, Deadline reported. 

Diaana Babnicova will play the role of George, alongside Elliott Rose as Julian, Kit Rakusen as Dick, Flora Jacoby Richardson as Anne playing George's cousins who come to stay at Kirrin Cottage. Joining the five are Jack Gleeson (Game of Thrones) as Wentworth, Ann Akinjirin (Moon Knight) as Fanny, James Lance (Ted Lasso) as Quentin, and Diana Quick (Father Brown) as Mrs. Wentworth. 

The series is being co-produced for ZDF and comes from Drive creator Winding Refn's by NWR along with Moonage Pictures. Filming set to take place shortly in the southwest of the U.K. The Famous Five is one of the highest-profile series to come out of the BBC Children's department in recent years, Deadline noted.

The 13-title longlist for the £50,000 (about $64,150) 2023 Booker Prize has been announced:

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Pearl by Siân Hughes
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

The shortlist will be announced September 21 and the winner on November 26.

Chair of judges Esi Edugyan said: "We read 163 novels across seven months, and in that time whole worlds opened to us. We were transported to early 20th-century Maine and Penang, to the vibrant streets of Lagos and the squash courts of London, to the blackest depths of the Atlantic, and into a dystopic Ireland where the terrifying loss of rights comes as a hard warning.

"The list is defined by its freshness--by the irreverence of new voices, by the iconoclasm of established ones. All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways. Their range is vast, both in subject and form: they shocked us, made us laugh, filled us with anguish, but above all they stayed with us. This is a list to excite, challenge, delight, a list to bring wonder. The novels are small revolutions, each seeking to energise and awaken the language. Together--whether historical or contemporary--offer startling portraits of the current."

In The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice, and Courage, Philippe Sands combines a moving story of human tragedy and injustice with the complexities of international law to great effect.

The Chagos Archipelago is a little-known collection of islands in the Indian Ocean near Mauritius, colonized over centuries by the Portuguese, Dutch, and French before becoming a British colony as part of Mauritius. In 1973, the British forcibly removed its longtime residents, ostensibly to make way for a United States military base on a single island. Residents for generations, in many cases descended from enslaved coconut oil workers, were deported en masse with no notice, forced to leave behind their homes, memories, pets, and any possessions that didn't fit in a single small trunk. Among them was Liseby Elysé, recently married, 20 years old, and four months pregnant. Decades later, in 2018, Madame Elysé would be present for the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague that would allow her to return to her home island, for which she'd yearned all those years. Her testimony would be an important part of that case.

Sands (East West Street; The Ratline) was part of the legal team representing Mauritius in its bid to free the Chagos from British control. With decades of international law experience and an intimate knowledge of many of the judges and lawyers involved, Sands brings authoritative expertise to this subject matter; as an actor in the case at hand, he acknowledges his personal perspective, including an admiration of Madame Elysé and other Chagossian activists. Madame Elysé cannot read or write, but in Sands's recounting she is a natural storyteller, has an excellent memory, and speaks eloquently and unwaveringly of her strong feelings for her home. This sense of place and feeling of loss for her homeland, even nearly 50 years after leaving, strikes a common chord of human connection to the place from whence one came.

With a lawyer's careful research and methodical laying out of the facts, Sands rewinds to 1945 and Ralph Bunche's work on decolonization at the founding of the United Nations; briefly reviews Chagossian history over centuries; and then zooms into the finer points of international law on separation of colonies after World War II. The Last Colony is both a neat work of detailed legal points and history, and a deeply felt narrative about the injustice of deportation and the dwindling number of Chagossians with strong ties to their homeland. Madame Elysé is an impressive, courageous figure and emblem, putting a human face on colonialism's continuing wrongs, both for the International Court and this book. There is much to appreciate about this little-known story in Sands's sensitive telling. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: The 2018 freeing of an Indian Ocean archipelago from British colonial rule is both a complex case of international law and a stirring tale of injustice and homecoming.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
2. Twisted Love by Ana Huang
3. Twisted Games by Ana Huang
4. Wednesdays at One by Sandra A. Miller
5. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
6. Hooked by Emily McIntire
7. Twisted Hate by Ana Huang
8. Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins
9. The Fine Print by Lauren Asher
10. Twisted Lies by Ana Huang

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]