ABA’s Diversity Task Force Seeks Input From Booksellers

Dear Bookseller,

The Diversity Task Force was created by the American Booksellers Association in response to recent calls for issues of diversity to be directly addressed by ABA and the book industry as a whole. As bookstore owners, managers, and employees ourselves, we, the members of the task force, are excited and honored to be helping ABA with this project. We recognize that this is an issue that is far larger than any small group of individuals can tackle on its own.

As we approach our meeting at BookExpo and to begin discussing these issues, we encourage you to make your voices heard by taking this survey. Please distribute this confidential survey to anyone on your staff who may be interested. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

The ABA Diversity Task Force

• DeAndra Beard of Beyond Barcodes Bookstore in Kokomo, Indiana
• Denise Chavez of Casa Camino Real Book Store & Art Gallery in Las Cruces, New Mexico
• Hannah Oliver Depp of WORD in Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey
• Lane Jacobson of Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Melanie Knight of Books Inc. in Berkeley, California
• Veronica Liu of Word Up Community Bookshop in New York, New York
• Erica Luttrell of Chevalier’s Books in Los Angeles, California
• Melanie McNair of Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café in Asheville, North Carolina
• Angela Maria Spring of Duende District Bookstore, to open in Washington, D.C.
• Paul Yamazaki of City Lights Books in San Francisco, California