Help Keep Bookwoman Alive!

[Lithos]

While this article is essentially a plea to save a single independent bookstore, I thought the overall topic about the demise of writer-friendly, independent bookstores of interest here.

If you are in the area, stop by and buy a book from Bookwoman, or at their website eBookwoman.com. Or perhaps from any friendly indy book store.

The Nation -- Remember when feminist bookstores dotted the land? In l993 there were 124. A woman writer could give readings in women's bookstores from Los Angeles to Baltimore. But 1993 was the high point. Ever since, like other independent bookstores--I'm still mourning the death of Ivy's Books at 92nd Street and Broadway, which closed a year ago--ones catering to feminists have been closing, felled by economic forces with which we are all familiar: chain stores and online sellers who offer big discounts, skyrocketing rents, changing neighborhoods and, arguably, declining interest in reading. True, every Barnes & Noble now has a women's section, but feminist bookstores, even more than most independents, are not just places where books are sold They are places where small-press, new, local and midlist writers are cherished and hand-sold by staffers who actually care about books, where there's room to stock offbeat items, pamphlets and magazines, and where literary and political communities are shaped through events, readings, book groups, talks, and parties. It can't be good, for either books or feminism, that there are only around 15 women's bookstores left in the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20071207/cm_thenation/25257876

Note: Because there is a plea in the article, I obtained Skinner's permission before posting. However, I would love to hear stories about writer friendly bookstores.

L-