BTW News Briefs

Here’s what’s happening this week in the book industry:

Progressive weekly magazine The Nation has published an open letter co-signed by more than 40 immigrant and/or refugee authors that protests the inhumane conditions that have been reported in detention centers at the U.S.’ southern border. Signees include Neil Gaiman, Khaled Hosseini, Gary Shteyngart, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Wayétu Moore.

Publishers Weekly, in association with Frankfurter Buchmesse, has announced the 50 honorees of the fifth annual PW Star Watch program. Honorees include booksellers Nicole Brinkley of Oblong Books & Music, Hannah Oliver Depp of Loyalty Bookstore, Andy Perham of Books Inc., and Noelle Santos of The Lit. Bar.

Simon & Schuster has signed an agreement with global games company Asmodee to handle sales and distribution throughout North America for Aconyte, the company’s new fiction imprint. Distribution by S&S will begin with Aconyte’s first releases in late spring 2020.

The National Association of College Stores’ (NACS) Board of Directors has unanimously elected NACS COO Ed Schlichenmayer to succeed Robert Walton, who is resigning as chief executive officer. Prior to NACS, Schlichenmayer managed stores and operations in higher education; he is also a former NACS trustee.

KJ Grow has been named publisher of Shambhala, the eponymous imprint of Shambhala Publications. which publishes books about Buddhism, mindful living, spiritual traditions, yoga, psychology, health, and personal growth. Grow joined the company in 2015 as director of sales and marketing and went on to become vice president of sales and marketing.

Allison Verost has been promoted to senior vice president and deputy publisher at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Shina Patel has been promoted to marketing coordinator at Penguin Press.

At Chronicle Books, Kate Herman has joined the company as senior sales manager, and Eva Zimmerman has been hired as a publicist for the children’s department.

The Center for Fiction has announced the longlist for its 2019 First Novel Prize, which is awarded to the best debut novel of the year. The shortlist will be announced in September and the winner will be announced in December.

The finalists were announced for the 2019 Library of Virginia Literary Award, which are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and literary lifetime achievement.

The shortlist was announced for the $10,000 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction. Named for the late author, the award honors a work of fiction that reflects “hope for belonging, for belief in a people’s better nature, for steadfastness against all that is hollow or crass or rootless or destructive.” 

Indigenous author Melissa Lucashenko is the winner of the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Too Much Lip (University of Queensland Press). As her reward for receiving Australia’s most prestigious literary award, Lucashenko will receive $60,000 in prize money.

Share your news in BTW News Briefs! Publishers and industry partners are welcome to e-mail [email protected] with news about awards, imprint launches, distribution changes, staff promotions, and more.