About Bookstores

The Women's National Book Association has announced the winners of the 2009 WNBA Pannell Awards, given annually since 1983, to two bookstores that excel in contributing to their communities in ways that bring books and young people together.

Pass Christian Books, which was leveled in Hurricane Katrina, has finally moved back to downtown Pass Christian, Mississippi. After the 2005 storm, co-owners Rich Daley and Scott Naugle operated online and out of their homes, then moved to a temporary storefront on the outskirts of town. On April 1, the bookstore reopened near its former location.

This column by Lucy Kogler of Talking Leaves Books appeared on the Opinion Page of The Buffalo News on April 29, 2009.

Little did T.S. Eliot know when he wrote the first five words of "The Wasteland" in 1920 -- "April is the cruelest month" -- just how portentous his words were.

Keebe Fitch of McIntyre's Fine Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina, this week invited the community to celebrate two decades of independent bookselling with cake and an all-day, 20-percent off sale. "The McIntyre's Anniversary party was a simple open house for a couple of hours on Monday, April 20, the actual anniversary of our opening in 1989," said store manager Jamie Fiocco.

When news spread this week via Twitter and other social networking sites that Amazon.com had removed certain titles with LGBT-related content from its sales rankings and made them harder to find in a site search, it elicited strong reaction from booksellers, others in the book industry, and the book-buying public concerned about censorship.

Luanne Kreutzer, the owner of the St. Helens Book Shop in St. Helens, Oregon, for the past 17 years, has announced the sale of the business to Lori Cardiff, effective April 27, 2009. Cardiff has been an employee of the bookstore for several years.

Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse in La Canada, California, has been operating out of its back office since an out-of-control 18-wheeler barreled through a nearby intersection and into the store on April 1. In about 10 days, however, the bookstore, which has experienced a strong show of community support, will move to a trailer in the shopping center parking lot.

How does a children's bookstore celebrate 30 years in business? With the Banana Slug String Band, of course! On April 18, San Jose's Hicklebee's will host a daylong party featuring the string band, children's authors, prize drawings, and a slide show looking back at the highlights of three decades.