Philomena Polefrone, associate director of the American Booksellers Association's American Booksellers for Free Expression, has been named to the inaugural cohort of eight Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellows at the Harvard Kennedy School's Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights.

Philomena Polefrone

The non-residential fellowship spans the 2025-2026 academic year and will allow Polefrone to pursue research revealing the role of independent bookstores as the vanguard and final line of defense for the right to read in the U.S. She will produce a series of articles on the history of booksellers creating enduring legal precedent, organizing against book bans, and fostering literary community in times when literature is under attack.

At ABFE, Polefrone offers education on free expression, supports bookstores experiencing intimidation and harassment, and organizes independent booksellers to resist legislation seeking to censor books. Last year, she released The ABA Right to Read Handbook: Fighting Book Bans and Why It Matters, an guide for the average reader organizing against book bans.

She said, "Every day I am honored to represent independent booksellers in the struggle to defend the fundamental right to transmit and receive information. This recognition by Havard's Carr-Ryan Center really belongs to generations of indie booksellers who have tenaciously fought government censors, predatory national franchises, global mega-corporations, and rogue pressure groups to create vibrant literary communities. I am so excited to continue telling their story with the Carr-Ryan Center."

Dr. Timothy Patrick McCarthy, faculty chair of the Carr-Ryan Center's Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program, said, "Joining senior fellow Jessica Stern, these eight individuals represent the brilliant talent and global diversity of our community and movement. Their original research projects and other public engagements will deepen and broaden our work at a time when we need to ask bold questions and encourage new connections and collaborations in the face of fierce backlash."

An all-ages bookstore called Courageous Books will open in downtown Dexter, Mich., later this year, the Sun Times News reported.

Owner Jen Stevenson, a longtime Dexter resident, has been dreaming of opening her own bookstore for about a decade and started seriously considering it roughly six years ago. She has four years of experience working at Schuler Books in Ann Arbor, Mich., and she has completed a bookstore management workshop and learned from mentors within the industry.

In addition to books, the store will serve coffee and tea, with Stevenson remarking that having a warm beverage while reading is "just a natural thing." She noted that having a coffee bar was not originally part of her plan, but decided to add one because it worked well with the space.

Stevenson's event plans include author readings, craft nights, writing workshops, and high school book fairs. She told the Sun Times News that she hopes the store will "be a third space for our community to just be together," and she is particularly enthusiastic "about getting young people engaged, because I think it's important, and I think they would like it."

Stevenson is aiming for an early fall opening.

Johns Hopkins University has named Follett Higher Education Group to replace Barnes & Noble Education as its campus bookstore operator, effective this month, according to the university's communications office. The Hub newsletter reported that B&N has managed and operated the university's bookstore since 2006, when it was relocated from the basement of Gilman Hall to the corner of St. Paul and 33rd streets. 

Follett was chosen after a review process that included feedback from university officials, more than 2,000 students, and more than 500 faculty members, the university noted. A large-scale renovation of the store is planned for next summer.

"Throughout the selection process, Follett demonstrated a profound understanding of higher education and the bookstore industry while balancing innovation and enhancing service to university faculty, students and community members," said Matt Moss, assistant vice provost for dining and auxiliary services. 

Joel Fram, founder of Eeyore's Books for Children in New York City, died on May 6 from complications following cancer surgery. He was 81.

Fram opened one of the first children's-only bookstores in the country, Eeyore's Books for Children, in 1974 on the Upper West Side. In 1981, he opened a second location, on the Upper East Side. Both locations hosted many author visits, as well as popular weekly story-times on the large plush Eeyore's cushions. Because of difficult economic times and the expansion of superstore chains, both locations closed in 1993.

After the stores' closings, Fram started a book packaging business, and wrote and compiled several books, including (with Carol Boswell and Margaret Maas) I Heard It Through the Playground: 616 Best Tips from the Mommy and Daddy Network for Raising a Happy, Healthy Child from Birth to Age Five; and (with Sandra Salmans) Weird Cures: The Most Hilarious, Disgusting, and Downright Dangerous Medical Treatments Ever; Slip of the Tongue: Offhand Remarks That Ended High-Flying Careers; and Untying the Knot: An Irreverent View of Divorce. He also re-published The Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook in 1999.

A private memorial was held on May 31, where "Joel's sense of humor, his kindness, and his generosity, as well as his love of travel, were highlighted. Eeyore's representatives mentioned his foresight as he envisioned the first all children's bookstore in New York City, his strengths as a bookseller, and his ability to hire excellent staff who went on to become award-winning children's book authors and illustrators, school librarians, publishers, editors, publicists, and marketeers, as well as continuing as booksellers."

[Thanks to Kate Kubert Puls]

"The best stories are the ones where everyone has a voice," Tome Books & Novelteas in Cincinnati, Ohio, posted on Facebook. "You are part of ours, and we wouldn't write it without you. All love is welcome at Tome Books & Novelteas. Happy Pride. Keep shining."

Kim-Salina I has been promoted to associate marketing manager at Berkley.

Portraits in a Nutshell: The Art and History of Coquilla Nut Snuff Boxes and Bottles edited by Donna S. Sanzone (Brandeis University Press).

Today:
Kelly Clarkson Show: Kwame Alexander, author of Say Yes: Find Your Passion, Unleash Your Potential, and Transform Your Life (Andrews McMeel, $16.99, 9781524899820).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: George Takei, co-author of It Rhymes With Takei (Top Shelf Productions, $29.99, 9781603095747).

Tonight Show: Edward St. Aubyn, author of Parallel Lines: A Novel (Knopf, $28, 9780593535349).

The first trailer has been released for Dracula, BAFTA and César Award winner Luc Besson's (Léon: The Professional, Dogman) adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel, Deadline reported. Starring Caleb Landry Jones (Dogman) as the legendary vampire, the cast also includes Christoph Waltz, Matilda De Angelis, and Zoë Bleu Sidel. Dracula opens in French theaters July 30 via SND.

Besson, who also wrote the screenplay, told Deadline last year that his interest in the new movie wasn't spurred by anything particular in the Dracula tale but rather his lead actor's appeal: "It's not Dracula, my fascination is Caleb. We were just chatting about other roles that could work for him. I said, 'You'd be great as Dracula.' Then, I thought, 'You know what, I'm just going to write it.' "

The winners of 2025 Nebula Awards, sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, were announced on Saturday at the 60th annual Nebula Awards Ceremony, in Kansas City, Mo.:

Novel: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)
Novella: The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui (Neon Hemlock)
Novelette: Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being by A.W. Prihandita (Clarkesworld 11/24)
Short Story: "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole" by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld 2/24)
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction: The Young Necromancer's Guide to Ghosts by Vanessa Ricci-Thode (self-published)
Game Writing: A Death in Hyperspace by Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Jingjing Xiao, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Infomancy.net)
Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: Dune: Part Two by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve (Warner Bros.)

---

Two books are sharing the Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2024, sponsored by Biographers International Organization. The winners will share the $3,000 prize.

The winning titles are Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar by Cynthia Carr (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) and Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (Harper).

Award committee chair Ruth Franklin said, "As works of biography, these books are so different that they are almost impossible to compare. We thought it was worth acknowledging both: Scapegoat for its innovative structure and engaging, intelligent style; and Candy Darling for its emotional pull and sensitive handling of its subject."

BIO president Steve Paul added, "The pool of Plutarch finalists reflects what feels like a bountiful period for biography in general. I commend our panel of judges for breaking precedent and highlighting two wildly different but highly engaging life stories."

A popular soul food eatery on the South Side of Chicago is the scene of a possible homicide in Sandra Jackson-Opoku's action-packed mystery, Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes. The unforgettable narrator and cafe owner, Sapphire "Savvy" Summers, is a former English teacher with a knack for whipping up delectable dishes, including her famous sweet potato pie. Things start to go wrong, however, when she concocts a vegan version of her famed dessert.

The cafe, known fondly as Essie's and inspired by Savvy's beloved late great-aunt, is a cheerful gathering spot for an assortment of locals and is a flourishing enterprise until the unfortunate day that a customer, Grandy Jaspers, drops dead at his regular table. The cause of death is a heart attack precipitated by an overdose of Viagra, but all anyone remembers is that the deceased sampled Savvy's new vegan pie before keeling over.

Jackson-Opoku (The River Where Blood Is Born), a Chicago native, is an award-winning poet and writer. She has created in Savvy a charismatic woman who has survived a myriad of losses and is determined to be the author of her own story. Savvy's lively narration often veers into a Black vernacular and she liberally quotes her great-aunt Essie's wise proverbs. The plot, brimming with comic relief, finds Savvy fending off an unsavory developer who wants to buy her cafe while she tries to resurrect her struggling business after Grandy's sudden demise frightens away customers.

Convinced that the death is no accident and eager to redeem her new signature dessert, Savvy and her nosy sous-chef, Penny, set out to do some amateur detective work. The suspects on their list include the corrupt alderman Delbert "Do-Right" Dailey, Grandy's much younger girlfriend, Shysteen Shackleford, and his grieving widow, Miss Mattie. Savvy's handsome ex-husband, Fanon Franklin, is a police officer who still carries a torch for her and his presence adds a charming dash of romance to the action.

Savvy's "devious yet delicious plan" to track down Grandy's would-be murderer might be far-fetched but it's perfectly harmless, at least until the fateful night she realizes--almost too late--that it would be safer to leave the sleuthing to the real detectives.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is an entertaining, suspense-fueled crime drama with a bonus chapter featuring recipes for dishes served at Essie's, including Savvy's infamous and subsequently prize-winning vegan sweet potato pie. --Shahina Piyarali

Shelf Talker: A Chicago soul food cafe owned by a charismatic teacher-turned-chef is the scene of a possible homicide in this action-packed crime drama that includes a recipe for vegan sweet potato pie.