Tom the Dancing Bug 1335 across the globe with jeff sessions
2017 Independent Bookstore Day marks its third year of celebrating independent bookstores nationwide on Saturday, April 29th, with literary parties around the country.Your local indie bookshop will be celebrating with special events for the entire family. Shops will also offer exclusive day-of merchandise created especially for Independent Bookstore Day by major publishers and authors. Since its inception in 2014, more than 150 authors have demonstrated their support for independent bookstores by donating work for Bookstore Day.
The third annual National Independent Bookstore Day is sponsored in part by Penguin Random House, Ingram, and The American Booksellers Association. Last year participating bookstores saw an average increase in sales of 200% on Independent Bookstore Day, with some stores up as much as 1000% over their average Saturday sales in April. “Indie bookstores play a crucial role in society—they are spaces where ideas live freely, thought and conversation flourish, and communities are nurtured and strengthened. Independent Bookstore Day is a national party to celebrate this significance. We love to celebrate with our customers and toast to the vitality of indies, as well the enthusiasm and support of avid readers everywhere!” says Katie Eelman at Papercuts J.P. in Boston. While Benjamin Rybeck at Brazos Bookstore says, “Independent Bookstore Day makes a big city like Houston feel small, cozy, like everybody knows everybody.”
“There are those who love Christmas, and those who love Valentine’s Day, and those for whom Independent Bookstore Day is the only holiday that matters. Three cheers to the readers, the writers, the booksellers, the kiddos, the dogs, the cats, and the bookstores that bring us all together!” says our 2017 Bookstore Day Author Ambassador, Emma Straub. Straub is the bestselling author of three novels, Modern Lovers, The Vacationers, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, and a short story collection, Other People We Married. She is also, with Michael Fusco, the owner of Books Are Magic, a new bookstore opening this spring in Brooklyn.
Independent Bookstore Day is proud to announce a selection of exclusive books and art pieces for Bookstore Day 2017. These limited edition, unique items will be available only at participating IBD bookstores, on April 29. Not before. Not online. And not in chain stores.
Children’s items include:
Adult items include
About Independent Bookstore Day
Independent Bookstore Day began in California in 2014 and became a national event the next year. A host of publishers and authors such as Neil Gaiman, George Saunders, Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, James Patterson, Stephen King and many others have donated work in support of the event. Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) is produced by writer and former bookseller Samantha Schoech in partnership with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Its sponsors include Penguin Random House, Ingram, and the American Bookseller’s Association. http://www.indiebookstoreday.com
New York City-based artist Benjamin Nordsmark’s piece titled ‘NYC Urinal’ is a timely homage to Marcel Duchamp on the centennial of his groundbreaking work ‘fountain’. Although the witty piece isn’t a Dada-esque Readymade, it certainly celebrates the sprit of the movement.
For more than three decades North American travelers have been getting advice on European tourism from a folksy, easy-going travel writer named Rick Steves. Over the years, Rick’s best-selling guidebooks and popular Public Television travelogues have encouraged millions of Americans to get their passports and to visit Europe.
Rick has always encouraged Americans to become more mindful travelers and to engage with local cultures. And although he is often trolled for his “aw-shucks’ TV persona, Rick has long been a staunch supporter of progressive values and social justice causes. He consistently uses his platform to promote economic justice, address hunger and homelessness, free speech issues, and even legalization of marijuana in the United States.
For many years, Rick has donated significant amounts of money to groups such as the ACLU, Bread for the World, and NORML. Recently, and with little fanfare, he gifted a $4 million apartment complex near his home in Edmunds, Washington to the YWCA to provide housing for homeless women and children. When asked why he chose to donate the building, Rick responded, “Hey, I’m just helping people that would be living in cars, or motels, or people’s basements.”
On a personal note, I had the chance to meet Rick many years ago and to hang out with him for an afternoon. I was staying in the small Italian lakeside town of Varenna, when I ran into Rick as he was working on updating his Italy guidebook. At the time I was doing some travel writing and I had a few books in print. We compared notes on some Northern Italian travel destinations and Rick asked me to send him suggestions for additions to his updated guidebook. In response, he very generously plugged my books and a travel newsletter that I was publishing in his own newsletter.
Despite enormous obstacles—think bombs and bureaucracy—a 25 year-old Baghdad bibliophile has succeeded in launching both an indie bookshop and a bookmobile. Ali al-Moussawi has had a life-long passion for reading and books. With the help of friends and a like-minded Facebook group, he opened a small bookshop in a Baghdad mall and also purchased a truck to provide mobile book services around the city that was once the literary capital of the Arab world. Most days, you can find the Iraqi Bookish bookmobile at the University of Baghdad, but if you can’t visit in person, you can follow Ali on Facebook.
Keller Community Library, New Orleans
Every year, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Library Association (ALA) jointly recognize exceptional design in new library construction or renovation. Here are some of the marvelous winners of the 2017 Library Building Awards:
Varina, Virginia
University of Oregon Research Library
NYPL Stapleton Branch
Columbus Whitehall Branch
East Boston Branch Library
National Library of Latvia
Boston Public Library
h/t to Robert Montgomery
Travel Between The Pages 