BTW News Briefs

Podcasts of PubWest 2016 Keynote Speakers Now Available

The presentations of the three keynote speakers at the 2016 PubWest book industry conference are now available as podcasts on the organization’s website.

Keynote speeches at the Santa Fe, New Mexico, conference were given by St. John’s College professor Natalie Elliot on academic Great Books programs and what it means to be a reader today; author Mira Jacob on diversity in the book market; and booksellers Kristen Gilligan and Len Vlahos on their experience buying Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store.

Short Q&A interviews with these speakers and others are also available on the PubWest website.

Those interested in learning more about the other sessions, roundtables, and speeches at the 2016 conference can also check out PubWest’s Facebook posts and the hashtags #PubWest and #PubWest2016.

Ingram Content Group Promotes Three

Ingram Content Group has announced the promotion of three executives: Jacqueline Letson, Michael Bell, and Emily Weiss.

Letson has been promoted to vice president of human resources for Ingram Content Group.  Letson, who is a certified senior professional in human resources, joined Ingram in 2004 and most recently served as a director of human resources.

Bell has been named director of national accounts for Ingram Content Group, overseeing the strategic planning and selling activities for national accounts, internet accounts, mass merchant wholesalers, and associated suppliers. Previously, he was Ingram’s director of consumer direct fulfillment. Earlier in his career, Bell worked as a field sales trainer with Johnson & Johnson. 

Weiss has been promoted to director of corporate communications at Ingram Content Group and will be responsible for leading the company’s global internal and external communication initiatives. She joined Ingram in January 2013 as senior manager of communications and public relations. Prior to that, Weiss, who serves as co-chair of PRSA Nashville’s programs committee, was public relations manager at Dollar General Corp.

Barnes & Noble to Open “Digitally Influenced” Bookstore

Barnes & Noble plans to open a “digitally influenced prototype bookstore” later this year that will integrate online and offline elements, according to a report from the news site Internet Retailer. The move by the chain store follows the opening of Amazon’s first bricks-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle last November.

In an announcement on Tuesday, February 23, at the annual eTail West Conference in Palm Springs, California, Barnes & Noble CEO Ron Boire said, “One of the challenges of that store is going to be the digital experience… I don’t think until you’re fully connected — mobile, desktop, and store — that you’re going to be providing the full experience. That’s our goal.”

Boire would not elaborate on the store’s plans for the prototype bookstore, but said at the conference that now that the Barnes & Noble e-commerce foundation is in place, they must build on it.

2016 L.A. Times Book Prize Honorees and Finalists Announced

Organizers of the 36th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes announced two honorees — novelist James Patterson and U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera — and 50 author finalists on Tuesday, February 23.

Patterson will receive the Innovator’s Award, “which recognizes the people and institutions that are doing cutting edge work to bring books, publishing, and storytelling into the future.” Herrera is to receive the 2015 Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement.

The 50 author finalists for the Book Prize, which honor the best books of the previous year in 10 categories, include Viet Thanh Nguyen for The Sympathizer (Grove Press) in mystery/thriller, Terry Alford for Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth (Oxford University Press) in biography, and Valeria Luiselli for The Story of My Teeth (Coffee House Press) in fiction.

All winners will receive their awards at a ceremony during the 21st Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday, April 9, at the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium.

To see the full list of finalists, click here.