Booksellers can sign up now to be included in The Word’s first annual #MarginsBookstore Month [5], a community-led celebration of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and neurodiverse-owned/managed bookstores. The deadline to sign up for the program is February 27 [5].

This event is free to participate in. Booksellers may sign up if their bookstore is: owned by (or for which the main management) identifies as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, or neurodiverse and also includes among its main mission, values, ethos, and/or programming representation of marginalized communities and/or cultural support of marginalized communities.

The Word, a Storytelling Sanctuary, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building cultural equity through the literary arts. Its programming includes [6] the annual Duende-Word BIPOC Bookseller Award, mentorship opportunities, the [margins.] literary conference, educational workshops, and community-building opportunities for writers and publishing creatives from marginalized backgrounds.

In 2021, The Word will work with Chronicle Books [7] to put together an illustrated, interactive map of participant bookstores; work with Chronicle to bring to market a journal featuring the map and additional information about each bookstore, including some of the fun info booksellers can provide in the signup form; and plan in-store festivities for the fall, including exclusive stock of the #MarginsBookstores journal.

Members Angela Maria Spring, owner of Duende District Bookstores [8] in Washington, D.C., and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Kathy Burnette, owner of Brain Lair Books [9] in South Bend, Indiana, have contributed to the planning of this program.

For questions about The Word or about this program, contact Aida Lilly via [email protected] [10].