US bookselling: ABA responds to criticism, B&N employees ratify union contracts
At the 2025 Winter Institute booksellers event in the US, several bookstore owners ‘once again protested the [American Booksellers Association (ABA)] board’s failure [to] take a clear stance on Israel’s war in Gaza,’ reported Publishers Weekly (PW).
Said Camino Books operator John Evans: ‘We aren’t asking you to come out with a stance on the Israeli war. We are asking you to support booksellers in a censorious environment by making this statement publicly that it is not antisemitic to provide books to people who want them.’
In a follow-up article, PW reported that the ABA has since dedicated an issue of its weekly Bookselling This Week (BTW) newsletter to respond, including an open letter signed by all members of the board. The letter emphasised that the board, ‘along with the staff of American Booksellers for Free Expression and ABA, condemns all attacks on bookstores, in particular the targeting of bookstores who have chosen to highlight Palestinian books and authors in their stores’.
‘Each bookstore’s curation is their own expression of their freedom of speech, and verbal attacks, demands to carry or not carry certain titles, and threats to stores are not acceptable,’ said the letter. The board also promised to support any booksellers ‘during times of persecution, harassment, curation challenges, and other attacks on booksellers and stores,’ reported PW.
Other concerns covered in the dedicated issue of BTW included ‘discrepancies in the financial compensation provided to speakers and panellists participating in Winter Institute, as well as restrictions placed on the freedom of expression of moderators of panels,’ according to PW.
In other US bookselling news, PW reported that the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced that Barnes & Noble (B&N) employees at three New York City locations have ratified their first union contracts, with the agreements covering more than 200 workers. Separately, employees at the B&N location in Bloomington, Illinois, have also ratified an agreement, bringing the total number of unionised B&N stores represented by the RWDSU to seven, reported PW.
Category: International news
