Bookstores Against Borders Fundraiser for RAICES
Join Room in supporting RAICES--we are running a fundraiser and donating a percent of our in-store and online sales July 5 -7 and we're calling on other bookstores and publishers to join us!
Booksellers and Publishers interested in getting involved? Read our Call To Action for info & resources and email us at bookstoresagainstborders@gmail.com to let us know you're in!
It's been one year since we (Gretchen and Wes) took over as the owner/managers of A Room of One's Own Bookstore. On a microcosmic level, we're doing great -- we have a dedicated team of staff, sales are steady and strong, and we've got the coolest, smartest, most conscientious customers anywhere. On a personal note, Gretchen's family welcomed a new baby in May. Things are, for the most part, really amazing here at Room.
But we also see the news. Our passionate, concerned staff watch the news. We have been watching atrocity after atrocity unfurl at our border in horror and hopelessness. But we are deciding against hopelessness and deciding against how small we feel.
We are closed on July 4th for Independence Day, but this year, in particular, knowing that human beings, some of whom are children, are being explicitly denied access to basic necessities like soap, food, water, medical care, and shelter, in state-sanctioned detention facilities, we just don't feel very patriotic. We're certainly not celebrating.
In our efforts to feel a better world is still possible, we have begun and built a nationwide coalition of independent bookstores across the country and called it Bookstores Against Borders. July 5th-7th, bookstores across the nation will be donating a portion of their sales to RAICES, a Texas nonprofit providing low-to-no cost legal services to children and families imprisoned at the US-Mexico border.
This weekend, July 5-7th, at least 10% of Room's in-store and online sales will be donated directly to RAICES. Additionally, we have put together a list of recommended reading. Please show your support by buying books online July 4th (the store will be closed!) and in-person or online July 5th-7th.
We love books because they show us ways into other worlds, mindsets, experiences, and futures. Reading, buying, loving books -- and what they do for us -- is not, and has never been, a passive act but is, and always will be, an act of resistance.
Please join us in-store and online July 4th-7th and support RAICES by buying a book (or three) or feel free to skip the book buying and donate directly to RAICES by clicking this link. You can see the list of participating stores (so far!) below.
You can follow Room and Bookstores Against Borders on these platforms:
We can't wait to see you.
In gratitude and solidarity,
Gretchen Treu, Wes Lukes, Sam Faulkner, Misian Taylor, Ely Watson, Alex Neff, Sandi Torkildson, Carson Fish, Jess Sullivan, Russell Potter, Jeff Jordan
A Room of One's Own Bookstore
Madison, WI
Participating Bookstores & Publishers:
Abraham Associates Inc, Minneapolis, MN
Afterwords Books, Edwardsville, IL
Akashic Books, Brooklyn, NY
Antigone Books, Tucson, AZ
Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI
Astoria Bookshop, Queens, NY
Avid Bookstore, Athens, GA
Avoid the Day Book Bar, Far Rockaway, NY
Bagatelle Books, Asheville, NC
Barbara's Bookstore, Chicago, IL
Beach Books, Seaside, OR
Bellevue Literary, New York, NY
Belmont Books, Belmont, CA
Bird in Hand Coffee & Books, Baltimore, MD
Black Dog Book Co, Nashville, TN
Blue Hill Books, Blue Hill, ME
Bluebird Books, Hutchinson, KS
Book Cellar, Chicago, IL
Book Table, Oak Park, IL
Books & Co., Oconomowoc, WI
Books & Mortar, Grand Rapids, MI
Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, NY
Books With A Past, Glenwood, MD
Bookbound Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI
Booked, Evanston, IL
Booklandia, Oakland, CA
BookPeople, Austin, TX
Bookshop Benicia, Benicia, CA
Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
BookWoman, Austin, TX
Breakwater Books, Guilford, CT
Buffalo Street Books, Ithaca, NY
Burning Books, Buffalo, NY
Cafe Con Libros, Brooklyn, NY
Cambridge Naturals, Cambridge, MA
Carmichael’s, Louisville, KY
Casa Camino Real Bookstore, Las Cruces, NM
Catapult, New York, NY
Center For Fiction, Brooklyn, NY
Chapter 2 Books, Hudson, WI
Chapters, Seward, NE
Charis Books & More, Decatur, GA
Chop Suey Books, Richmond, VA
City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco, CA
Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, MN
Community Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY
Con Todo Press, Los Angeles, CA
Content Bookstore, Northfield, MN
Dickens Kids, Vancouver, WA
Downtown Books & News, Asheville, NC
East Bay Bookstore, Oakland, CA
Ellen Plumb's City Bookstore, Emporia, KS
Enchanted Lion Books, Brooklyn, NY
Everyone's Books, Battleboro, VT
Europa Editions, New York, NY
Fact & Fiction, Missoula, MT
Fair Trade Books, Red Wing, MN
Firestorm Co-op, Asheville, NC
Flashlight Books, Walnut Creek, CA
Folio Books, San Francisco, CA
Future Tense, Spokane, WA
Gallery Books, Mendocino, CA
GoGo Books, Newark, DE
Green Apple Books, San Francisco, CA
Green Bean Books, Portland, OR
hello hello books, Rockland, ME
Hedgehog Books, Boonville, CA
Inkwood NJ, Haddonfield, NJ
Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore, MD
Kew & Willow Books, Kew Gardens, Queens, NY
Kids Ink Children’s Bookstores, Indianapolis, IN
Kilgore Books, Denver, CO
La Maceta, Modesto, CA
Left Bank Books, St. Louis, MO
Literati Press, Oklahoma City, OK
Little Joe's Books, Katonah, NY
Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA
Love's Sweet Arrow, Tinley Park, IL
Loyalty Bookstore, Washington, DC
Maggie Maes Bookshop, Gresham, OR
Main Street Books, Davidson, NC
Malaprop's, Asheville, NC
Midtown Reader, Tallahassee, FL
Milkweed, Minneapolis, MN
Moon Palace, Minneapolis, MN
Mystery to Me, Madison, WI
Napa Bookmine, Napa, CA
Narberth Bookshop, Narberth, PA
Next Chapter Booksellers, St. Paul, MN
Old Town Books, Alexandria, VA
Other Press, New York, NY
Our Daily Nada, Kansas City, MO
Page 1, Albuquerque, NM
Paper Hound Bookshop, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Papercuts J.P., Boston, MA
Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN
Phinney Books, Seattle, WA
Point Reyes Books, Point Reyes Station, CA
Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, IA
Prologue Bookshop, Columbus, OH
Read Between The Lynes, Woodstock, IL
Red Balloon Books, St Paul, MN
Restless Books, Brooklyn, NY
River Dog Book Company, Beaver Dam, WI
Rough Draft Bar & Books, Kingston, NY
Run For Cover, San Diego, CA
Scrawl Books, Reston, VA
Second Star To the Right Books, Denver, CO
Seven Stories, New York, NY
Sibling Rivalry Press, Little Rock, AR
Small Beer Press, Easthampton, MA
Soho Press, New York, NY
Spark Books, Aspinwall, PA
Spellbound Bookshop, Asheville, NC
Split Rock Books, Cold Spring, NY
Spurl Editions, Sacramento, CA
Steerforth Press, Lebanon, NH
Subterranean Books, St. Louis, MO
Subtext Books, St. Paul, MN
Terrace Books, Brooklyn, NY
The Book Deal, Madison, WI
The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL
The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence, KS
Two Dollar Radio, Columbus, OH
Uncharted Books, Chicago, IL
Unnamed Press, Los Angeles, CA
Vermont Book Shop, Middlebury, VT
Vintage Books, Vancouver, WA
Volumes, Chicago, IL
Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, NJ
While Whale Bookstore, Pittsburg, PA
Wild Fig, Lexington, KY
Wild Rumpus, Minneapolis, MN
Winding Way Books, Lancaster, PA
Women and Children First, Chicago, IL
Word Bookstores, Brooklyn, NY & Jersey City, NJ
Word Up, New York, New York
Yankee Bookshop, Woodstock, VT
Yellow Dog Bookshop, Columbia, MO
Zandbroz Variety, Fargo, ND
Zenith Bookstore, Duluth, MN