BTW News Briefs

Sam Weller's to Leave Main Street Location

On March 12, Catherine and Tony Weller announced that Salt Lake City's Sam Weller's Books is planning to leave its 40,000-square-foot location at 254 South Main Street, in the David Keith Building, where it has operated since 1961.

"We are very enthusiastic about the possibilities of a newly conceived bookstore in a better location," said the Wellers in a statement. "It is our intent to remain somewhere in the downtown area, and to maintain the mix of new, used, and rare books that readers have found at Weller's books for years."

On March 16, the bookstore began discounting books and has begun searching for a new, smaller location in downtown Salt Lake City. The Wellers said, "We are confident, despite current economic circumstances and challenging factors in the book industry, that our new bookstore will become a nexus of downtown community and culture."

Coalition Forms to Help Shaman Drum Bookshop

University of Michigan professor Julie Ellison has formed a coalition to help Shaman Drum Bookshop, according to the Ann Arbor News. The coalition seeks to help recast the store as a nonprofit "humanities commons,'' perhaps involved with the University of Michigan.

Karl Pohrt, owner of Shaman Drum, announced earlier this year that he might have to shutter the bookstore and that he was looking for avenues to save it. He had applied to become a nonprofit last year, incorporating the store as the Great Lakes Literary Arts Center. However, local government has not yet reviewed the application.

Upon learning that Shaman Drum was in danger of closing, Ellison drafted a letter to appeal to the academic community for support. She told the Ann Arbor News that 40 people had signed up to support the coalition. Two former Poet Laureates -- Robert Hass and Robert Pinsky -- have added their name to the list.

"What I am interested in is what the new model for bookshops will look like," Pohrt said. "This is an opportunity to try and invent it. And it's not a Lone-Ranger thing. This is collaborative."

B&T to Consolidate Distribution Centers

On March 17, Baker & Taylor announced the consolidation of its distribution centers in Woodland, California, and Indianapolis, Indiana. The Northern California facility currently services the wholesale club book division, Baker & Taylor Marketing Services (BTMS), which will continue to provide products and services to wholesale club customers.

This transition to the Indianapolis facility will occur over the next 60 days, and should be completed by Friday, May 15.

Lambda Literary Finalists Announced

The Lambda Literary Foundation announced the 105 finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards representing 72 publishers in 22 categories. 

Finalists include:

Gay Fiction

• Stray Dog Winter, David Francis, Macadam/Cage Publishing
• The Torturer's Wife, Thomas Glave, City Lights Publishers
• We Disappear, Scott Heim, HarperCollins
• The Conversion, Joseph Olshan, St. Martin's Press
• The Boomerang Kid, Jay Quinn, Alyson

Lesbian Fiction

• The Slow Fix, Ivan E. Coyole, Arsenal Pulp Press
• The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Map of Ireland, Stephanie Grant, Scribner
• All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press
• Breaking Spirit Bridge, Ruth Perkinson, Spinsters Ink

For the full list, visit lambdaliterary.org. Winners will be announced on Thursday, May 28, at a gala awards ceremony in New York.

Man Booker International Prize Longlist Announced

This week, the judges for the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction announced their longlist of books in the running for the prize this year. The 14 writers come from 12 countries and seven are writers in translation.

The longlist is:

• Peter Carey (Australia)
• Evan S. Connell (USA)
• Mahasweta Devi (Bangladesh)
• E.L. Doctorow (USA)
• James Kelman (UK)
• Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
• Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia)
• Alice Munro (Canada)
• V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)
• Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
• Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
• Ngugi Wa Thiong'O (Kenya)
• Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)
• Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)

For more information, visit www.themanbookerprize.com