Around Indies

R.J. Julia to Celebrate 25th Anniversary

Madison, Connecticut’s R.J. Julia Booksellers will mark its 25th anniversary on Sunday, April 19, with an all-day bash to thank its customers for their loyalty over the years and to celebrate the day the bookstore was opened in 1990 by owner Roxanne Coady.

From 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., customers will be treated to a party complete with cake, champagne and sparkling cider, treats for children, and discounts, giveaways, and raffles throughout the store.

All week, trivia questions about the store and its history have been featured on social media along with giveaways of store gift certificates and entries to win free anniversary T-shirts.

Bookworks Marks 30 Years With Loyalty Program Launch

On May 2, Independent Bookstore Day, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Bookworks will host a day of events and will mark its 30th anniversary with a launch of its new loyalty program, Book Brood, Broadway World reported.

Regular customers and event-goers can sign up for a free punch card that can be stamped at events and redeemed for a 30 percent discount with 10 punches.

Treats for both adults and kid are also on tap for the day, with visits by young adult writer Carolyn Meyer, author of Diary of a Waitress (Calkins Creek), and mystery writer David Thurlo, author of Grave Consequences (Minotaur), as well as a Blind Date with a Book promotion that will have customers putting their faith in the store and selecting a wrapped “mystery book.”

Kepler’s Plays Host to Weekly Radio Program

Kepler’s Books and Peninsula Arts & Letters have teamed with journalist Angie Coiro to launch a radio show titled In Deep With Angie Coiro, which is being recorded live each week at Kepler’s in Menlo Park, California.

The weekly program, which began on April 15, features an hour-long discussion about a current event or news item between Coiro and a prominent guest, plus a one-on-one conversation with a newsmaker, author, or thinker. Shows will include questions and comments from the live audience.

The show is recorded every Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at Kepler’s.

Literary Hub Profiles San Francisco’s City Lights

For the first of its regular bookstore profiles, Literary Hub, the new daily website for literary content, featured San Francisco’s City Lights Books, which was founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin in 1953.

“Bookshops in San Francisco at the time kept banker’s hours, serving a businessman’s downtown clientele, and the atmosphere wasn’t particularly welcoming for the young writers and readers who wanted a place to congregate and engage with books—and with each other,” City Lights Executive Director Elaine Katzenberger said of the beginnings of the iconic bookstore. “The idea from the beginning was to create a ‘literary meetingplace,’ which became the City Lights masthead.”

About the future of bookselling, City Lights Events Coordinator Peter Maravelis told LitHub: “As texting and tweeting fragment language into a patois of bourgeois jingoism, the booksellers shall arise to their rightful place as protectors of critical thinking, humanism, and democracy.”

Itinerant Literate Bookmobile Holds First Event

Kids make their best “silly underwear” faces as Thompson reads “Vegetables in Underwear” by Jared Chapman.

With plans for a grand bookmobile opening in the fall, Charleston, South Carolina’s Itinerant Literate Books tested its chops and raised community awareness for the new bookmobile with its first event on Saturday, April 11. Rolling up to the Our Neck of the Woods block party in Charleston, the bookmobile hosted a children’s story time and raffles for children’s, young adult, and adult titles.

“The whole event had great turnout, and we were more than pleased to have 10 or so children sit with us for story time,” said Julia Turner, cofounder of the bookmobile with Christen Thompson. “We also got a lot of support from neighbors about opening the store.”

The event was hosted by Revelry Brewing and Big Work Fitness Factory, with proceeds benefiting the Charleston Parks Conservancy’s effort to improve a local playground.

South Carolina Indies Team to Support SC Book Festival

Three South Carolina indies are teaming up in an effort to broaden the reach and promotion of the 19th annual SC Book Festival, which is coming up on May 15–17 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia.

Books on Broad in Camden, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, and Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg are joining in support at the Authors Circle Sponsor Level. The trio plan to share their author contacts and literary expertise to increase attendance and author participation at the event and to enhance the experience of the thousands of readers expected to attend the festival.