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April 29th is Independent Bookstore Day

The last Saturday in April is Independent Bookstore Day, the day we celebrate our favorite sellers of throw pillows and Margaret Atwood nesting dolls.

This year it falls on the 29th, and it’s coming up at the end of this week. Here’s why the day is important:

Independent bookstores are not just stores, they’re community centers and local anchors run by passionate readers. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. They are lively performance spaces and quiet places where aimless perusal is a day well spent.

In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism.  They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there were last year. And they are at your service.

You can find out more on the Indie Bookstore Day website.

It’s a little too late for bookstores to decide to participate, but readers will find a list of 454 stores that will be celebrating the day with "live music, cupcakes, scavenger hunts, kids events, art tables, readings, barbecues, contests, and other fun stuff".

There are five bookstores in my area that are participating, but I don’t know that I will be able to visit any of them. Saturday traffic is atrocious in northern Virginia, and all of the bookstores are an hour or more away.

Will you be visiting your local indie bookstore on Saturday?

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Comments


8mph Ansible April 25, 2017 um 9:47 am

Seems exciting and worth celebrating!

Now if only I could find an indie in my neck of the woods…

I think all of them went POOF by 2011. =/


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