BTW News Briefs

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Perseus Books Group Back on the Market

A little over a year after a deal to sell Perseus Books Group to Hachette fell through, the company is back on the market and has hired Greenhill & Co. to consult on a possible sale, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In a public announcement on Wednesday, Perseus CEO David Steinberger said that since January, there have been significant expressions of interest in the company, and the publishing house’s board had determined that this is the right time to explore a possible sale.

Back in June 2014, an agreement was struck to sell both the publishing and distribution sides of Perseus to Hachette, which in turn agreed to sell the distribution business to Ingram Content Group. Last August, the three-way agreement was abandoned when complications arose.

Perseus has been owned by Centre Lane Partners, a New York-based private investment firm, since late 2014.

WNDB Announces Winner of First Short Story Contest

Kelly Baptist of Michigan is the winner of We Need Diverse Books’ (WNDB) first short story contest for previously unpublished authors. Baptist, a human resource specialist, will receive a cash prize of $1,000 and have her story published in the WNDB Middle Grade Anthology, whose official title is yet to be announced. The anthology will be released by Crown Books for Young Readers in January 2017.

Second prize winner Ami Boghani, a writer and producer based in Brooklyn, New York, and third place winner Reese Eschmann, an elementary school social worker in North Chicago, will receive $250 and $100, respectively.

The anthology, which was inspired by the Walter Dean Myers’ quote “Once I began to read, I began to exist,” will be edited by WNDB President Ellen Oh.

Authors contributing to the anthology include Kwame Alexander, Sherman Alexie, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition to Honor Joyce Meskis

The announcement that Joyce Meskis will retire in 2017 as owner of Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store has free speech advocates lining up to honor her work as a defender of the First Amendment. The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition (CFOIC), a media group that opposes efforts to restrict the public’s right to know, will honor Meskis at a benefit in Denver on October 9. The event will be held in the lobby of the Denver Post during the National Freedom of Information Summit. The CFOIC is seeking sponsors for the benefit; details are available from the coalition’s executive director, Jeff Roberts.

Concurring Opinions reviewed aspects of Meskis’ career as a free speech advocate in a blog post published on September 9.