April 24th is Independent Bookstore Day.
To most of the world, April 24th is Shakespeare’s birthday — a day surely deserving of a bank holiday if every there was one.
It is also, this year, Independent Bookstore Day, — a day to celebrate your local bookshop, attend some of the special events they have planned, and take advantage of some of the sales and special items only available on this day, from these stores. Everything from free audiobooks to signed special editions of books, limited edition prints, fun gifts, and in many cases special discounts only available for the day.
Over 750 bookstores are participating, and events range from virtual to socially distanced in-person celebrations. Itinerant Literate in Charleston, SC has “transformed our backyard” for a “Big Monsters Only Garden Party“.
The “store without a store” in Huntsville, AL, Snail on the Wall will have a pop-up store that day and special “Mother’s Day bundles”
Avid Bookshop in Athens Georgia has not yet opened its doors for browsing but has exclusive items for sale on its website, and has created a “donations only sidewalk sale” to benefit a local nonprofit, Help Mutual Aid Athens.
Indie Bookstores in New Orleans: Garden District Bookshop, Baldwin & Co., Blue Cypress Books, Octavia Books, and Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Bookshop have banded together to create a city-wide Scavenger Hunt. Pick up a Bookstore Passport at any of the stores to play. And yes, there are prizes.
Check the map to find out what your local bookstore is doing. Shop local now, so you can shop local later.
More bookseller reviews at SBR:
Read This Now | Read This Next | The Bookseller Directory
In this issue:
Bookseller Buzz: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Reviews of Sparrow Envy by J. Drew Lanham, Girl, 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke, Clues to the Universe by Christina Li, Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown by Brandon Jew, Tienlon Ho, Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley, and A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib.