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

On Cyber Monday, dozens of protesters rushed an [5] Amazon Books store on Manhattan’s 34th Street to protest Amazon’s plans to establish a new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. Opponents believe it will drive up prices in adjacent neighborhoods and strain existing infrastructure and transportation routes. PIX11 News reporter Cristian Benavides captured the protest on video [6].

Attorneys for former Barnes & Noble CEO Demos Parneros, who filed a breach of contract and defamation suit against the company after he was fired in July, have informed the New York district court that they plan to file a motion to dismiss B&N’s counterclaim [7], which the company made in October.

Minneapolis-based Lerner Publishing Group has acquired Zest Books [8], a young adult nonfiction publishing house in San Francisco. With this change, Zest will be transferring its office to Minneapolis, and Lerner will add about 60 Zest backlist titles to its catalog.

Former Quarto CEO Marcus Leaver will join [9] Trigger, an independent mental health publisher, as chairman on December 1. Leaver left his post at Quarto in May.

Shari Black has joined [10] Harper Christian as senior director of marketing for the company’s specialty publishing division.

At Workman Publishing, Constance Edmonds has been promoted [10] to promotion coordinator across all imprints, and Ashley McPhee has joined as promotion coordinator for the Workman imprint.

Alexis Banyon has joined [11] HarperCollins Children’s Publishing as marketing director. Banyon was previously at Disney Publishing.

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has named its 2019 Grand Masters [12]: Linda Fairstein and Martin Cruz Smith. The honor was established “to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality.”

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