Industry News

The American Booksellers for Free Expression is supporting an effort to overturn a new Pennsylvania law that gives victims of violent crime the power to silence the speech of the criminals who hurt them.

2014 Carla Furstenberg Cohen Literary Prize goes to Lish, Stevenson; Poet Amy King to receive 2015 WNBA Award; Fujii sales rep Ted Heinecken to retire; Chronicle Books launches Third Great Tumblr Book Search; Council Oak Books signs distribution deal with IPG 

Independent businesses experienced strong sales growth in 2014 as more consumers embraced the “buy local” movement and ditched big companies in favor of supporting local retailers and small-scale producers, according to the 2015 Independent Business Survey, conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in partnership with Advocates for Independent Business.

The Small Business Administration has launched an online tool that provides small business owners seeking capital with increased access to SBA lenders.

From May 4 – 10, 2015, more than 100 writers from 30 countries will gather in New York for the 11th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. This year’s program, co-curated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, will provide a rare chance to hear voices and perspectives from contemporary Africa and its diaspora.

ABA’s Board of Directors has approved the Nominating Committee’s recommendation of three director candidates to stand for election to the Board. The Board has also selected a new president and vice president. The petition process for additional candidates is now open.

On Monday, BookExpo America announced the speakers for the Adult Book & Author Breakfast to be held on Thursday, May 28, at the 2015 trade show.

On Tuesday, ABA member booksellers shared their ideas, questions, and concerns about minimum wage, informational resources, industry diversity, and other topics with the ABA Board and staff during the first Winter Institute Town Hall.

On the final day of Wi10, ABA CEO Oren Teicher announced that Winter Institute 2016 will take place in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado, near the 16th Street Mall.

The 10th anniversary celebration of the Winter Institute, held this week in Asheville, North Carolina, brought more than 500 ABA member booksellers, 100-plus authors, and close to 20 international guests from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and France to the stunning setting of the historic Grove Park Inn. 

To Kill a Mockingbird author to release second book; Government censorship may shutter independent Belarus bookstore; Anne Enright named first Laureate for Irish Fiction; Penguin inks sales/distribution deal with America’s Test Kitchen; BISG, ALA to survey library patrons’ digital preferences; Random House’s independent bookstore liaison expands duties to Penguin; Simon & Schuster introduces new multimedia imprint

In 2014, ABA membership grew by the largest number of new stores in a single year since the start of the Great Recession in 2008.

Tony Award-winner Nathan Lane will be the Master of Ceremonies at the 2015 BookExpo America Children’s Breakfast on Friday, May 29. Lane will be joined on the panel by illustrator Oliver Jeffers and authors Rainbow Rowell and James Patterson.

This week, ABA announced the appointment of Robyn DesHotel as the organization’s new chief financial officer, effective March 2, 2015.