BTW News Briefs

New Manager Begins at Concord Bookshop

The Concord Bookshop of Concord, Massachusetts, after months of discord between the owners and the staff, has a new manager. As reported in the Concord Journal on March 25, John Netzer, with nine year's experience as manager of a bookstore in New Canaan, Connecticut, and book buying and managing stints at other New England bookstores, including the now defunct Reading, International in Harvard Square, began work at Concord in mid-March.

For more about the recent changes at the Concord Bookshop, click here.

San Fran Saying No to Chains

On Tuesday, March 23, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance banning chains from the hip Hayes Valley neighborhood and is placing them under increased scrutiny in virtually every other neighborhood, as well, reported the Boston Globe. San Francisco has fought with the chain store phenomenon for two decades, the Globe noted, but until now, officials had not developed a plan that they thought could handle a legal challenge. The Hayes Valley law bans any chain store from moving into the area and includes "a right-to-know provision that requires residents to be notified when a chain store has plans to set up shop in their neighborhoods," the Globe article said. The ordinance is subject to a second vote.

John Updike Wins 2004 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

John Updike has won the 2004 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his short story collection, The Early Stories (Knopf) which includes most of his stories published between 1953 and 1975. Updike is the author of more than 50 books, including 20 novels and numerous collections of short stories, poems, and criticism. His fiction has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction.

The Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist for 2004 Announced

On March 31, Scott Griffin, chairman of the Griffin Trust announced the Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist for 2004. The Griffin Poetry Prize is awarded annually for the two best books of poetry (including translations) published in English the previous year. This year, 423 eligible books from 15 different countries, translated from 17 different languages, were submitted. The seven finalists will be invited to read in Toronto at the MacMillan Theatre on June 2. The winners, who each receive C$40,000, will be announced on June 3 at the fourth Griffin Poetry Prize awards event.

The Canadian Shortlist is as follows:

• Now You Care by Di Brandt (Coach House Books);
  
• Go-Go Dancing for Elvis by Leslie Greentree (Frontenac House); and
  
• Loop by Anne Simpson (McClelland & Stewart)
  

The International Shortlist is as follows:

• Notes From the Divided Country by Suji Kwock Kim (Louisiana State University Press);
  
• The Ha-Ha by David Kirby (Louisiana State University Press);
  
• The Strange Hours Travelers Keep by August Kleinzahler (FSG); and
  
• The Owner of the House by Louis Simpson (BOA Editions)