Claire Kirch

3 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Claire Kirch

The U.K.’s largest online retailer of used books is moving in new directions. World of Books is growing its inventory and expanding into the U.S. market after acquiring and rebranding two U.S.-based online used book retailers, SecondSale and SellbackYourBooks.com, in 2022.

3 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Claire Kirch

The 11th annual Bay Area Book Festival took place May 31-June 1 in Berkeley, Calif., drawing crowds to various venues for author events, writers workshops, panel discussions, and other festivities. A “Bookworm Block Party” on Sunday took place on several streets radiating out from the main branch of the Berkeley Public Library; there, self-published authors, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, and other vendors displayed, sold, or—in some cases—gave away books and other wares.

3 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Claire Kirch

Approximately 60 people impacted by Albert Whitman & Co.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition gathered virtually on May 29 for a court-required Section 341 meeting of creditors that shed new light on the company’s finances and its future. Karen V. Newbury, a trial attorney at the U.S. Trustee Program’s Chicago office, presided over the meeting, noting that there were more creditors present than is typical during such meetings.

1 month ago | publishersweekly.com | Claire Kirch

The Book Manufacturers Institute, a trade association for book printers and their suppliers in North America, is joining the industry’s fight against book bans. Through the “BMI Challenge,” the association is encouraging its 110 members donate to We Are Stronger Than Censorship, an initiative cosponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association and EveryLibrary Institute; if members raise $16,000, BMI will match that sum with its own $16,000 donation.

1 month ago | publishersweekly.com | Claire Kirch

Employees at Quirk Books have announced via social media that 13 of the 22 employees in nonsupervisory positions at the Philadelphia-based independent press have elected to form a union and join the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia, Local 38010. The NewsGuild filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on May 22, one day after the employees requested that the company’s management voluntarily recognize the union or else agree to an election.