CBA, the association of Christian retailers, has named Curtis Riskey president of the organization. Riskey joined CBA in 2007 and has served as executive director since 2010. In other news at CBA, Sue Smith, manager of Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Mich., has been elected CBA board chairman and will succeed George Thomsen when his term ends October 1, 2013. Two new board members include Robin Hogan, manager of the bookstore at the Christian Cultural Center (CCC) in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Tim Marshall, SVP of sales and brand management for Word Entertainment, based in Nashville. Both began their two-year terms on Oct. 1, 2012. In a statement, George Thomsen noted that CBA is now debt-free.

Next year will bring the 50th anniversary of the death of C. S. Lewis, and Tyndale House is publishing a biography of the seminal Christian apologist, literary critic, and author of both children’s (the Narnia series) and adult books (A Grief Observed). The biography, C. S. Lewis—A Life (Mar.), is authored by Alister McGrath, himself a well-known apologist, professor of theology, and author. McGrath was an atheist until having a conversion experience while studying at Oxford University, where Lewis taught for nearly 30 years. McGrath served as professor of historical theology at Oxford until 2008, before occupying Chair of Theology, Religion, and Culture at King’s College London. He has debated atheists Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens and is the author of Mere Apologetics (Baker, Jan. 2012) and The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World (WaterBrook, 2006), among other books on the topic. The C.S. Lewis Foundation plans a series of events in the U.S. and U.K. over the next two years “to celebrate the ongoing legacy of the celebrated British scholar and writer.” For information on the events, go to www.cslewis.org.

Worthy Publishing has been recognized by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce with its NEXT award as the entrepreneurial start-up of the year in media and entertainment. Worthy debuted its first list last year, and has published books by BeBe Winans (The Whitney I Knew, July) and Michael Vick (Finally Free, with Tony Dungy, Sept.) that have garnered major national media. John Hagee’s The Power of the Prophetic Blessing debuted at #2 on the Publishers Weekly list in September and at #5 on the Wall Street Journal nonfiction list.

Christianity Today’s “50 Women You Should Know” includes a number of authors. Pictured on the cover and profiled was Amy Julia Becker, who wrote about mothering her Down Syndrome daughter, Penny, in A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny (Bethany House, 2011). Three B&H Publishing Group authors--Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and Jen Hatmaker—also were also selected as women who are “Most Shaping the Church and Culture,” according to the Oct. 19 cover story in CT.