Around Indies

Florida’s BookMark to Celebrate 25 Years

Rona Brinlee, owner of Neptune Beach, Florida’s The BookMark, is planning a celebration later this month to thank the bookstore’s many customers for their loyalty over the past 25 years, the Florida Times-Union reported.

On August 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., BookMark will be hopping with festivities, including treats, prizes, and socializing in honor of the store’s 25th anniversary.

Brinlee became owner of the BookMark in 1995, when it was five years old. “You get to a point in your life where you realize life is short and you want to do something you enjoy,” she told the newspaper. “As I think about it, it is a great way to spend the day with people who are interesting and intelligent and who want to talk about books. It’s also fun to deal with publishers and authors. But it’s turned out to be even more than that, you know. We really feel like a major part of the community.”

While BookMark experienced its share of struggles with the rise of chain stores and online retailers, Brinlee said the strong buy local movement and consciousness of community are winning over customers and will continue to do so. “I think independent bookstores are not going to be struggling. I think it is our time,” she said.

TurnRow Book Company Hits the Stage for Charity

This weekend, TurnRow Book Company in Greenwood, Mississippi, is staging a production of Glengarry Glen Ross, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Mamet. A percentage of proceeds from the show will go to the Greenwood Mentoring Group, a local nonprofit that provides leadership opportunities for area youth.

Store owner Jamie Kornegay told the Clarion Ledger that Glengarry Glen Ross is a favorite play among staff and was so frequently read by booksellers that it became the obvious choice for staging. Bookseller Ben Arnold is directing the play, which will be performed on the first floor of the bookstore; about 40 people can be accommodated for each of three shows, and tickets will cost $20.

TurnRow’s booksellers have been rehearsing the play since May and will be joined on stage by customers and local actors, as well as Kornegay himself.

“This is just straight-up entertainment,” said Kornegay. “And it’s just another way of contributing to the local art scene.”

Itinerant Literate Raising Funds for Bookmobile

Charleston, South Carolina’s Itinerant Literate Books, a roaming pop-up bookshop, is raising funds to purchase a used Airstream trailer to turn the business into a proper bookmobile. Owners Christen Thompson and Julia Turner are looking to raise $65,000 via an Indiegogo campaign, which ends October 7.

Thompson and Turner are currently operating the shop on their own personal incomes. Last month, the team hosted a book launch at Tricera Coffee for Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (Harper), and recently coordinated the “Park Circle Pop-Up” event, which supported Begin With Books, an organization that gives a free book each month to children enrolled in the program.

With the funds raised, Thompson and Turner plan to launch a full-service mobile bookstore. In addition to the Airstream, they need to purchase shelving and storage for the books, a point-of-sale and inventory system, and a broader spectrum of titles. Their goal is to have the bookstore in full operation by the end of the year.

“The majority of the funding is needed for the books themselves, which is something we’re proud of: Keeping most of the overhead for the books,” said Turner.

Book Soup Campaigns for Joan Didion on $10 Bill

Los Angeles’ Book Soup has launched the #JoanOnTheTen hashtag to raise support for placing author Joan Didion on the new $10 bill, according to Hollywood Reporter. Alexander Hamilton will also remain on the bill in some fashion.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Treasury approved plans to put the first woman in more than a century on a U.S. bill. The bill is slated to be released into circulation in 2020.

Book Soup graphic designer Rob Bieselin has hung a large poster of the redesigned bill with Didion’s head in place of Hamilton’s in the store’s front window.

Didion, Bieselin noted, “is a big L.A. voice and a best-seller at the store.”