Spencer Ruchti
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spencerruchti.bsky.social
Spencer Ruchti
@spencerruchti.bsky.social
510 followers 220 following 130 posts
bookseller in Seattle / author events / co-founder of the Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation
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spencerruchti.bsky.social
Congratulations again to Christina MacSweeney!
November 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
The Queen of Swords is a portrait of the influential Mexican writer Elena Garro (1916–1988), a founder of “magical realism,” and an activist on behalf of indigenous Mexicans.
November 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
🎉 The committee for the Cercador Prize confers this year’s prize to Christina MacSweeney for her translation of ‘The Queen of Swords’ by Jazmina Barrera (Two Lines Press). Congratulations to Christina, Jazmina, and @twolinespress.com!
The book cover of QUEEN OF SWORDS by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney, overlayed on a graphic.
November 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Oof, buddy

IS A RIVER ALIVE? coming this May
February 6, 2025 at 3:44 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
I know how the TikTok girlies feel now. @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
December 26, 2024 at 2:11 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Yeah, try running author events for a living…
Seattle Times headline that reads: “Despite RSVPs, Oregon newlyweds show up to mostly empty wedding reception”
November 27, 2024 at 4:11 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Jeanine Cummins, it seems, has quietly moved to Henry Holt.
Book cover of 'Speak to Me of Home' by Jeanine Cummins, author of American Dirt
November 22, 2024 at 11:16 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Over on Instagram, recommending a few of our favorite Percival Everett books with my friend Zac. @graywolfpress.bsky.social @nationalbook.bsky.social @doubledaybooks.bsky.social

www.instagram.com/reel/DCp_VVy...
November 22, 2024 at 2:45 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
For as long as I live, I’ll remember where I was when Percival Everett won the National Book Award… waiting in line for a burger, with friends, looking up briefly from the livestream on my phone to say: “Percy’s got it.”
November 21, 2024 at 6:59 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Not Mac Barnett in a Cercador Prize hat (sorry Mac)
November 20, 2024 at 10:23 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
New Elizabeth Kolbert on GLACIERS.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of THE SIXTH EXTINCTION Elizabeth Kolbert‘s ON ICE: HOW GLACIERS SHAPED OUR WORLD AND WILL DETERMINE OUR FUTURE, weaving natural history and the history of science with contemporary research to tell the story how of ice has shaped our past and how its melting triggers feedback loops that will produce a world that is unrecognizable; and LIFE ON A LITTLE KNOWN PLANET, a collection of her most important pieces about climate change and the natural world.
November 19, 2024 at 5:11 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
The Cercador logo under "honors" in Edelweiss is the greatest of acknowledgments... we're in the metadata.
November 18, 2024 at 8:17 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
I’m extremely proud of all of our finalists, and grateful for our bookseller committee. The Cercador remains the only US prize for literature in translation run exclusively by booksellers. This yearms committee: @emilytarr.bsky.social, Oscar Almonte-Espinal, Thu Doan, and Riley Rennhack.
November 18, 2024 at 4:47 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Since the Cercador Prize isn’t here yet, I’ll do the honors…

The committee awards the 2024 prize to Thomas Bunstead for his translation of ‘The Book of All Loves’ by Agustín Fernández Mallo, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.
An image of a blue book on a yellow background. The book is titles The Book of All Loves by Agustin Fernandez Mallo, translated by Thomas Bunstead. An image of Thomas Bunstead An image of Agustin Fernandez Mallo The title page of The Book of All Loves
November 18, 2024 at 4:47 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
That’s it… I need a full exposé on how PRH turned the guy who wrote GLYPH and DR NO into this year’s Bonnie Garmus. If he wins the National Book Award on Wednesday then I don’t know what timeline I’m living in.
B&N Picks ‘James’ as 2024 Book of the Year.
November 15, 2024 at 11:27 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
This kind of solidarity is so awesome. I think the distinction between “bookseller” and “indie bookseller” (on the individual, frontline level) is no longer useful, and maybe never has. Booksellers are booksellers are retail workers, whether you work for Barnes & Noble or City Lights.
Publishers Lunch article that reads as follows. The text “and were joined by workers from other unionized bookstores including The Strand and Mcnally Jackson” is highlighted. “B&N Workers Rally for Union Contract On Thursday, Barnes & Noble employees rallied outside of its flagship store and corporate headquarters in Union Square to demand their first contract be reached by the end of the year. The employees of the unionized stores in NYC--Union Square, Park Slope, and the Upper West Side--are members of RWDSU, and were joined by workers from other unionized bookstores including The Strand and McNally Jackson. "The company’s refusal to pay a fair wage has thus far prevented the union from settling the first union contracts and getting union benefits, healthcare, and protection from store closure and relocation," the union said in a release. "(Note: the company has refused a master agreement even in single cities like New York where the union represents multiple stores.) As the largest brick and mortar corporate book retailer, what Barnes & Noble workers win in this contract will impact everyone in the industry."
November 15, 2024 at 9:56 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Wielding this in my pocket in case of emergency
November 15, 2024 at 6:15 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
It’s in the hats.

Wonderful time at the @aster1sm.bsky.social Books warehouse tonight.

On a sidenote, the Cercador Prize winner is announced on Monday
November 15, 2024 at 5:38 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
We have an author all the way from Uzbekistan in the store tonight—and every seat is full, plus some. Congratulations to Shahzoda Samarqandi and her Seattle translator and community leader, Shelley Fairwether-Vega. (Pictured here in the red sweater)
A bookstore full of people sitting, some standing
November 14, 2024 at 3:33 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Going to be here more often for a variety of reasons. As proof of existence here is me and fellow Blueskyer @jamescrossley.bsky.social that I swear is from this morning (nice to see you James!)
November 11, 2024 at 7:23 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
On Tuesday afternoon I’m jumping on Zoom to talk to Damion Searls about his new book, The Philosophy of Translation.

If you’ve ever read and loved one of Damion’s translations, then this book will illuminate and delight in more ways than I can accurately communicate

us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
November 10, 2024 at 7:32 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Last night I read Paul Yamazaki’s “Reading the Room” from Ode Books, a series of interviews over the course of 24 hours on his life and bookselling. The book ends with Paul’s answer to “what constitutes a meaningful life?” I wanted to write out his answer in full here.
What to you constitutes a meaningful life? “The point of justice, to me, is that everyone has an equal shot at joy, but joy is much more more than just being so-called ‘happy.’ Joy is the enhancement of happiness through knowledge. We as booksellers have more of an opportunity to spread that joy through the books we present and those we find meaningful. Books are still, in my mind, one of the great technologies. For the transference of imagination, there is nothing better, to my mind. For the broad expanse of sharing and the interplay of imagination, it’s hard for me to think what could be better. “The length and breadth of the possibilities of joy are extended by the more we know and the more we are to make out own informed decisions. Books become the fulcrum of conversation. The books by themselves could get you there as an individual, but for most of us, the dialogue back and forth increases the possibility of joy. I think that’s the point of being a bookseller and the point of reading—and, really, the point of life.”
January 22, 2024 at 4:34 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Booksellers—my colleague Sarah Canon has drafted this open letter in solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for immediate ceasefire, and to amplify Palestinian voices in our stores. Here’s the link. Graphic by Lou Barcott.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
December 10, 2023 at 8:00 PM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
I’m gonna miss the heck out of @jamescrossley.bsky.social when he moves to St. Louis. But I’m privileged to have just watched this guy absolutely demolish his competition in trivia. Love you, James. You’ve made me a better bookseller.
November 23, 2023 at 5:05 AM
spencerruchti.bsky.social
Announcing the winner of the 2023 Cercador Prize: @zoeperry.bsky.social’s translation of Ana Paula Maia's OF CATTLE AND MEN.

The Cercador committee says OF CATTLE AND MEN "lays bare the brutal labor of the slaughterhouse trade," hailing the novel as a "new breed of western."
A Publishers Weekly news item that reads: The winner of the inaugural Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation is translator Zoë Perry for her translation, from the Portuguese, of Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia (Charco). The book is Afro-Brazilian author Maia’s second book translated into English. Her first, Saga of Brutes, was translated by Alexandra Joy Forman and published in 2016 by Dalkey Archive Press. The prize was launched this July by Spencer Ruchti, the author events manager at Third Place Books in Seattle, and Justin Walls, the coeditor of translation-focused pick-of-the-month series Du Mois Monthly. Its winners are selected by a committee of independent booksellers from across the country. It is the only award of its kind.”
November 13, 2023 at 6:44 PM