JULY 2025: THE FIFTH ANNUAL #MARGINSBOOKSELLING MONTH
Celebrating BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, Disabled, & Neurodiverse Booksellers!
Bookstore or Bookseller? Learn more about getting your store on the map and sign up for bookseller events!
Bookstores sign up here.
Booksellers sign up here.
What programming do you want to see during #MarginsBookselling?
Take a couple of minutes and fill out our e-suggestion box here.
TAKE ACTION.
Support #MarginsBookstores all year long
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Discover how you can support, uplift and celebrate the #MarginsBookselling community all year long with The Word's #MarginsBookselling Month Action Calendar created in collaboration with bookseller, author and The Word's Writers' Circle advocate, Danny Caine.
The calendar lists 31 actions we can all try and take to support bookstores, booksellers and the community. Practice these during #MarginsBookselling Month and all year long.
Download your copy using the link below. Share with your community, post to your websites, in your store, on socials and more!
*Please note the download includes two versions: an easy to print version and one more stylized depending on your use.
PAST EVENTS
July 10, 2024 at 6:00 pm MT (Virtual)
Angela María Spring in conversation with Vanessa Angélica Villarreal to celebrate Magical / Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders. Hosted in partnership with Duende District. RSVP here.
July 17, 2024 at 6:00 pm MT (Virtual)
Bookselling as Culture Work: A Celebration: A discussion and celebration of bookselling as culture work featuring the 2023 Bookseller Award winners Jhoanna Belfer (Bel Canto Books), Erica Tso Haidas (Belonging Books), and Egypt Otis (Comma Bookstore & Social Hub). RSVP here.
July 19, 2024 at 10:00 am MT (Virtual)
Writing Paths Workshop: Decoding the Language of Publishing and Acquisitions with Lashanda Anakwah (Editor at Tiny Rep, Dutton, and Plume). RSVP here.
July 25, 2024 at 5:00 pm MT (Virtual)
Storytelling and Solidarity: Bridging the Gaps Between Our Communities & Movements: A special panel discussion on the power of storytelling, what solidarity means, and how to build it between communities. A teach-in event hosted in collaboration with I Stand With Immigrants. RSVP here.
July 27, 2024 at 7:00 pm MT (In-person)
At the Inkwell's, 7935 E 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80220.
Join Counterpath in Denver for an evening with author and Editor-Writer Mentee Graduate, Samuel Kọ́láwọlé, as we celebrate his book, The Road to the Salt Sea, with special guests Arvin Ram, Julia Madsen, and Wendy J. Fox. Hosted and organized by Hillary Leftwich. More info.
August 15, 2023 at 1:30 pm MT (Virtual)
Book Previews with Dutton featuring Maya Ziv, Executive Editor at Dutton.
August 16, 2023 at 11:00 am MT (Virtual)
Book Previews with Melville House featuring Janet Joy Wilson, VP of Sales at Melville House.
August 16, 2023 at 1:30 pm MT (Virtual)
Book Previews with Tiny Reparations featuring Emi Ikkanda, Executive Editor at Tiny Reparations Books.
August 23, 2023 at 1:00 pm MT (Virtual)
Book Previews with Plume, Dutton and Tiny Reparations featuring Jamie Knapp, Director of Publicity for Plume and Tiny Reparations Books and the Associate Director of Publicity for Dutton.
September 29, 2023 at 9:00 am MT (Virtual)
Book Previews with Steerforth Press featuring David Goldber, Sales & Marketing Director.
October 5, 2022 at 5:00 pm MST (Virtual)
Bookseller Workshop: The Future of Bookselling. A roundtable discussion with our COO Michelle Malonzo, Christine Bollow (Loyalty Bookstores), Andy Hunter (Bookshop.org), and Angela Maria Spring (Duende District).
October 11, 2022 at 4:30 pm MT (Virtual)
The Family Izquierdo: A reading and conversation with Rubén Degollado & Nneoma Amadi-obi! Hosted by our friend Duende District in partnership with The Word.
October 14, 2022 at 5:30 pm MT (In-person)
Shop at MATTER: 2134 Market Street, Denver, CO
Join writers & creatives from the margins as we gather for inspiration + community. We will spend the first hour hanging out & writing, and the second hour in conversation. Light snacks & beverages will be provided.
October 18, 2022 at 5:00 pm MT (Virtual)
#MarginsBookselling Presents: Lisa Lucas in conversation with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah to discuss Chain-Gang All Stars! A very special event for all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, Disabled, & Neurodiverse indie booksellers!
October 19, 2022 at 5:00 pm MT (Virtual)
Bookseller Workshop: Novel Model Bookstores: A Blueprint for the Future of Independent Bookselling
A roundtable discussion with Kathy Burnett (Brain Lair Books), BrocheAroe Fabian (River Dog Book Co.) and Candice Huber (Tubby & Coo's)!
October 26, 2022 at 5:00 pm MT (Virtual)
#MarginsBookselling Presents: Nicole Counts in conversation with Camonghne Felix (Dyscalculia) and Nicole Cuffy (Dances) for a pre-publication bookseller event! A very special event for all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, Disabled, & Neurodiverse indie booksellers!
The Margins Bookstores Journal celebrates our community of #MarginsBookstores. Learn more about your favorite bookstores & keep your travel notes as you explore them.
Buy the journal through your favorite shop or via Bookshop.org.
A portion of the proceeds will directly support participating bookstores.
THE MARGINS BOOKSTORES JOURNAL
Illustrated by Kah Yangni
Chronicle Books
Get the exclusive Untold Stories Tee
All proceeds support The Word
The Word is thrilled to collaborate with National Book Award Finalist Ingrid Rojas Contreras to bring this exclusive tee reminding us that the most important story is the one that lies untold in each of us.
"The Word is doing the labor that matters most — uplifting BIPOC booksellers and giving the floor to authors and writers who are writing from the margins. What happens when the margin takes centerstage? I feel a new literature and culture emerges, one that can define and tell of what has gone ignored or untold before. I am so thrilled to be joining The Word’s Writers’ Circle and look forward to supporting their mission."
- Ingrid Rojas Contreras, The Man Who Could Move Clouds
2023 Word Writer's Circle Member
MARGINS BOOKSTORES GEAR
Support the #MarginsBookstores every day with
these t-shirts, tote bags, and coffee mugs.
All purchases will directly support the participating bookstores.
2022 JOY AMBASSADORS
With
2022 marked the launch of the Joy Ambassador program at The Word, A Storytelling Sanctuary during this years #MarginsBookselling Month.
The Joy Ambassador Program began as a way to honor the joy, abundance, and the multitude of lived realities for marginalized storytellers. Joy Ambassadors are literary artists who help center the joy in stories from these communities, helping to breathe space for that radiance and sense of possibility.
JASMINE GUILLORY
Jasmine Guillory is a New York Times bestselling author; her novels including The Wedding Date, the Reese's Book Club selection The Proposal, and By The Book. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Time, and she is a frequent book contributor on The Today Show. She lives in Oakland, California.
LAURA TAYLOR NAMEY
Laura Taylor Namey is the New York Times and international bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, The Library of Lost Things, When We Were Them, and two forthcoming titles entitled A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak and Echo Park. A proud Cuban-American, she can be found hunting for vintage treasures and wishing she was in London or Paris. She lives in San Diego with her husband and two children. This former teacher writes young adult novels featuring quirky teens learning to navigate life and love. She holds a BA in Elementary Education from the University of San Diego and is the winner of the Peggy Miller Award for excellence in young adult fiction.
ANGELINE BOULLEY
Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island. Firekeeper's Daughter is her debut novel.
ABOUT #MARGINSBOOKSELLING
#MarginsBookselling is a celebration of BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, Disabled, and Neurodiverse booksellers and their communities. This is a community collaboration coordinated by The Word | A Storytelling Sanctuary.
We are excited to support 200 booksellers and showcase 150 bookstores via our map and database that are working to center diverse voices and stories.
A giant thank you to Bridget Watson-Payne, Natalie Butterfield, and the entire team at Chronicle Books for the incredible work that brought together the Margins Bookstores Journal, beautifully illustrated by Kah Yangni.
We thank Kathy Burnette, Founder of Brain Lair Books, Candice Huber, owner of Tubby and Coo’s, Christine Bollow, Programs & Marketing Manager at Loyalty Bookstores, Isis Asare, owner of Sistah SciFi, and The Word board member Deidre Dumpson, for their insight, feedback, and time on the 2022 #MarginsBookselling Planning Committee.
A message from The Word:
The Word is based in the city of Denver on the homelands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe peoples in the area known as Colorado which was traditionally home to at least 48 contemporary indigenous communities, each of which has made innumerable contributions to our region. We recognize that the map in this work has taken its form through genocide, theft, and forced removal. We acknowledge that these lands are unceded and continue to be indigenous lands. We recommend the following resources as a starting point for learning how we may each work to stop perpetuating systems of oppression and erasure:
Information about the Southern Ute Indian Tribe
Information about the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
National Congress of American Indians
Find contemporary and historical native children’s books bibliographies
Members of the #MarginsBookselling Planning Committee have made donations to LANDBACK as we acknowledge and support this movement.
We invite you to donate as well here.
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
#MarginsBookselling celebrations would not be possible without our major sponsors:
A warm, deep thank you to our additional sponsors:
