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

Tyrus Books founder and former publisher Ben LeRoy will serve as executive director [5] of the newly formed Independent Publishers Caucus (IPC) on a part-time basis, though the agenda of the group will continue to be set by an eight-person steering committee of indie publishers. The 120-member group had operated with the support of ABA since its launch last year, but was recently able to hire its own staff thanks to a fundraising push.

Bookmarks Bookshop, a socialist bookshop in London, reported that on August 4 “a dozen mask-wearing fascists” invaded the store, where they tried to intimidate staff and customers and destroy books. The reports have resulted in the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) suspending three members [6]. UKIP has affirmed that there will be a continuing investigation.

Similar to their book collection project for children who ended up in shelters following Hurricane Harvey, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) has reached out to fulfill book requests for KIND (Kids in Need of Defense) [7], which supports immigrant children who have been separated from their parents at the border. KIND has requested bilingual books or books in Spanish (any age) for shelters in cities including Seattle, L.A., Houston, Atlanta, D.C., Boston, and New York City. Bookstores or individuals that would like to send books to one of these cities should contact CBC Executive Director Carl Lennertz [8], who will send along shipping instructions.

Ingram Publisher Services will begin distributing  [9]four new illustrated book publisher clients: Anthology Editions, Trope Reader, Gestalten, and Gingko Press.

The University of Massachusetts Press has announced a new partnership with Tagus Press, [10] the publishing arm of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture. UMass Press began distributing and marketing Tagus’ scholarly and trade series, as well as their textbook series and peer-reviewed journal, on July 1.

Prelude Books, founded in 2016 as a publisher of fiction (through its imprint Farrago) and nonfiction, has acquired Duckworth [11], which specializes in popular science, memoir, and history and had been owned since 2003 by Peter Mayer, who died in May. Effective August 2, Prelude took over publication of a significant portion of Duckworth titles.

The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) has announced several new hires and promotions [12]: Annette Windhorn has joined AUPresses as external communications manager; Angelica DeVoe as program coordinator; and Kate Kolendo in the newly created position of communications program manager. Kim Miller, previously office manager and program administrator at AUPresses, has been promoted to business manager, while Susan Patton was promoted to membership and events director.

The Women’s Media Group has announced the recipients of its 2018 fellowship [13], created to support young women of color who are interested in publishing careers. This year’s two winners, honored at a ceremony in New York City earlier this summer, are Tahmena Hussain and Aurora Soriano.

The Midwest Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA) has announced the winners of the Midwest Booksellers Choice Awards [14], honoring booksellers’ favorite books of the year with ties to the Midwestern U.S. Authors will be honored at the Heartland Fall Forum on October 3.

The Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction announced its shortlist on Monday [15]. The annual award is given to a writer whose work is set in the South, exemplifies the tenets of Southern literature, and reflects, in the words of its namesake, “hope for belonging, for belief in a people’s better nature, for steadfastness against all that is hollow or crass or rootless or destructive.”

Share your news in BTW News Briefs! Publishers and industry partners are welcome to e-mail [email protected] [16] with news about awards, imprint launches, distribution changes, staff promotions, and more.