I live in a decent sized city but we don’t really have a lot of bookstores. There are a few used bookstores – one of which has the used books priced above the cost you can get them new – plus a Barnes and Noble and a Books a Million in farther out areas. When I was first looking at Bookshop.org and had to declare a local store that my purchases would benefit, the closest listing to me was a store I had never heard of called Elizabeth’s Bookshop. I selected it and then forgot about it because as much as I love the idea behind bookshop.org, they don’t sell ebooks so I don’t buy from there often.
I recently won a contest in a Facebook group I’m in. The prize was a gift card to a local bookstore. I remembered Elizabeth’s and looked up their website to see if I could get a gift card. Then I decided to try to find it in person. It wasn’t far from me but I couldn’t picture it.
It turns out that Elizabeth’s is in a small corner in a coffee shop in an old church. Both the coffee shop and the bookstore benefit nonprofit organizations.
Elizabeth’s Bookshop & Writing Centre (EBWC) is an innovative literacy center designed to amplify and celebrate marginalized voices.
Founded by Rachel E. Cargle, EBWC catalog highlights, amplifies & celebrates the work of QTBIPOC writers, who are often excluded from traditional cultural, social & academic canons. Through curated collections of own voices’ narratives, EBWC seeks to educate & re-shape the lens of readers as they see themselves and how they view the world.
A percentage of Elizabeth’s proceeds go to support the work of The Loveland Foundation, Inc, providing free therapy for Black women, girls and gender non-conforming individuals.
from their website
Of course I ended up buying books. Did I really think I’d get out of there without at least one?
I’ve tried to read Braiding Sweetgrass before but never got through it when I had it from the library. Now I can take it as slow as I need to since I have my own copy. The Making of Asian America looked interesting.
I took the husband back later to the coffee shop. He liked it too and said that he was planning on going back again. We may have a new hang out.
