Literacy/Reading

To celebrate the appointment of Gene Luen Yang as the fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, First Second Books has made downloadable shelf-talkers, sell sheets, and signs for his titles available through Edelweiss.

On Tuesday, December 15, bestselling author and literacy advocate James Patterson announced the names of 87 independent booksellers chosen by him to receive holiday bonuses totaling $250,000.

Coffee House Press, an independent publishing house and nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focuses on supporting innovation, celebrating the book and book arts, and representing the true diversity of American voices.

Tamblyn to become CEO of Kobo; Outstanding science trade books for students K–12 announced; Author/founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day organizes bookstore field trip; Vicki Lansky to retire from Book Peddlers

Don Weisberg named president of Macmillan, Jen Loja promoted to president of Penguin Young Readers; Penguin Random House launches 2015 #GiveaBook campaign; Chronicle Books launches #GiveBooks campaign; PBS to provide online coverage of Miami Book Fair; The Rise of the Robots named 2015 Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year

BookCon announces celebrity-studded guest list; HarperOne to publish new digital-first fiction line; 2015 National Outdoor Book Award winners announced; District of Columbia Library Association wins 2015 WNBA Eastman Grant

Liberty Bay launches holiday pop-up shop; DDG Booksellers honored for literacy efforts; Mulberry Bush celebrates 40th anniversary; The Bookshelf marks 40 years

Higher audience turnout at last Saturday’s Library of Congress National Book Festival translated into a big jump in sales for Politics & Prose, the event’s official bookseller for the second consecutive year.

 A crowd of thousands is expected at the first annual Mississippi Book Festival, which is scheduled for August 22 at the State Capitol in Jackson. Indie booksellers are looking forward to promoting new and established authors, as well as the state’s great literary tradition.

Lambda Literary Foundation welcomes new board leadership; “The Other NBA” basketball game to benefit BookUp; First-ever Mississippi Book Festival to take place August 22

Booksellers, educators, and literacy advocates at April’s ABC Children’s Institute offered insights on what works best for inspiring children to want to read.

Here are some of the best tips and tricks for planning engaging story time events that were shared by booksellers at last month’s Children’s Institute.

Author Jewell Parker Rhodes delivered a stirring closing keynote speech at the ABC Children’s Institute last week, earning a standing ovation for her talk on the importance of diversity in children’s literature. “I do believe that in not seeing myself in books, I almost missed my calling as a writer,” Rhodes shared.

More than 100 writers from 30 countries will gather in New York City from May 4 to 10, at the 11th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, where the theme will be “On Africa.” Booksellers are invited to use a special discount code for online ticket orders and to share the code with their customers.

Last year, Mississippi’s independent booksellers and the University Press of Mississippi began working together to revitalize the Books pages in the Jackson-based Clarion-Ledger. Since then, the section’s resurgence has enlivened the state’s literary culture.