This Independent Bookstore Day, authors and staff from NYU Press are highlighting the local booksellers who keep our communities vibrant. In this post, you’ll find five new stops for your bookshop bucket list.
Book Club Bar
New York, New YorkBy Ian Rosenberg, Author of The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases That Define Our First Amendment Freedoms
Book Club Bar feels like a dream come true. Not only is it a neighborhood hangout with a fantastic selection of new and classic books, but it also hosts wonderful events that bring the community together (including the paperback release of The Fight for Free Speech). To top it all off, Book Club Bar also has a real bar that serves coffee, wine, beer and specialty cocktails! What more good you wish for? Probably just more time to spend there browsing, drinking and reading.
Malaprop’s Bookstore
Asheville, North CarolinaBy Jenny Rossberg, Publicity Manager
On a vacation to visit friends in Asheville, North Carolina, I insisted that we check out Malaprop’s Bookstore in between day-hikes in the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. I excitedly pointed out a stack of Paisley Currah’s Sex is as Sex Does facing out on the shelves and bought myself a great lesbian romance novel from the fiction section. When NYU Press published Asheville-based author Bryan E. Robinson’s Chained to the Desk in a Hybrid World, Malaprop’s hosted a book talk in their always welcoming event space.
IndyReads
Indianapolis, IndianaBy Edward E. Curtis IV, author of Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest
It’s a little bookstore in a funky neighborhood, but it’s much more than that, too. IndyReads offers free adult literacy classes, workforce certification programs, and high school equivalency diplomas. The bookstore serves immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ+ Hoosiers, and everyone, really. It also offers copies of Muslims of the Heartland.
Watchung Booksellers
Montclair, New JerseyBy Ilene Kalish, Executive Editor, Social Sciences, and Assistant Editor-in-Chief
At Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, New Jersey, they have themed tables in the front of the store with new releases, and I always see one or two great finds that I didn’t know about. They have an amazing classics section—always the first place I go. They put out little cards with employee recommendations that are always great. They also love to support local authors and have wonderful in-bookstore events. I also love that whenever I special order a book they will often order another book and put it on display or in the stacks: they trust their customers are ordering good books too.
Mil Mundos Books
Brooklyn, New YorkBy Lia Hagen, Marketing Associate
At Mil Mundos Books, I always find something unique. This bilingual bookstore and community center is beloved for both its well-curated shelves and its friendly volunteer staff. When you visit, you’ll find a wide selection of English and Spanish titles celebrating Black, Latinx, and Indigenous heritage. My partner and I were able to find some of our favorite Samuel R. Delaney books, including Times Square Red, Times Square Blue.
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