Around Indies

BookBar to Launch Mavis the Magical Bookmobile

Last month, BookBar in Denver, Colorado, purchased Mavis the Magical Bookmobile, a converted 1994 ambulance, from employee Anna Kongs, who had used the vehicle as part of a nonprofit organization delivering books to those in need.

Kongs, who chronicled Mavis’ previous work at mavisbookmobile.com, will serve as the bookmobile manager and will work with BookBar owner Nicole Sullivan to upgrade the interior and exterior of the vehicle and develop a business plan for Mavis.

Mavis will officially roll out this spring. The bookmobile will continue to deliver books to those in need, but it will also be available for on and offsite BookBar events as well as school visits, on-the-road author events, and streamed mobile author interviews.

“This will take BookBar to a new level of reaching those who need books and hosting even more unique author and store events. We are going to have a ton of fun with this,” said Sullivan.

Interabang Books Coming to Dallas

Interabang Books, a project of Jeremy Ellis, Nancy Perot, and Lori Feathers, will open in Dallas, Texas, in May, reported the Dallas Morning News. The 5,000-square-foot bookstore will carry 12,000 titles and will feature an event space for up to 100 guests.

The bookstore is named for the punctuation mark that is a hybrid of an exclamation point and a question mark. “It’s going to speak to the character of the store. We are going to be a unique and distinctive destination,” said Ellis, the store’s general manager and operating partner. Ellis was formerly general manager of Houston’s Brazos Bookstore.

Feathers, who writes for several publications and serves on the board of the National Book Critics Circle, is a passionate reader and will be the store’s co-owner and book buyer. Perot, the daughter of billionaire and 1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot, said that she had been hoping for an independent bookstore to open in Dallas for 25 years and that everything fell into place when she met Ellis.

“Successful independent bookstores are successful because you have staff that is passionate about sharing their love of books all the time. To do that you have to carry books they are passionate about,” said Ellis. “We’re not going to try to carry one of everything. We’re going to carry books that we’re reading and want you to be reading.”

Read With Me to Open in Raleigh

Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, will welcome new children’s bookstore and art shop Read With Me in March, reported the News & Observer.

“I was fortunate to have teachers that inspired me and also to have a family that valued reading and always made sure I had access to books,” said owner Christine Brenner, a former teacher and school librarian. The store, located a block from Marbles Kids Museum, will host book clubs, illustration classes, and writing workshops, and will participate in the city’s First Friday Art Gallery Walk.

An Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the store launched on January 16. Brenner hopes to raise $50,000 in the next month, which will go toward furnishing and filling the space.