Coles has abruptly cancelled all its spring buying meetings with publishers’ sales managers, pending the federal government’s decision about whether to permit the merger of Coles and SmithBooks, the country’s two major book retail chains. ... Read More »

Greg Ioannou plucks several thick tomes from an IKEA shelf in his office: a 1,000-page accounting textbook, a woodworker’s handbook, a legal treatise on sexual crimes against children, bound in rich, lawyerly red. “This is ... Read More »

Canadian publishers this fall have felt the impact of a new buying policy at SmithBooks designed to reduce the size of advance orders, increase turnover cycles, and push down inventory levels. “It’s basic retailing 101,” ... Read More »

Some of you may recall Quill predicting two months ago in this space that Diana Atkinson, author of Highways and Dancehalls (caught on film below with her, um, doggy bag), would win the 1996 Chapters/Books ... Read More »

You’re studying what?” This was parents’ reaction 20 years ago when their seven-year-old children announced that Shakespeare was on their curriculum at Hamlet Public School. Lois Burdett, their teacher, was a new arrival in Stratford, ... Read More »

1. The Canadian Encyclopedia (McClelland & Stewart) – the runaway first choice. 2. Encyclopaedia Britannica (Encyclopaedia Britannica) – “Fuel for the imagination,” was the consensus.3. The Bible4. The Complete Works of Shakespeare – “Because I can’t imagine my lifeqq-50-essential-books/> ... Read More »