Bookstore Emphasizing Diversity Planned for Louisville, Ky.

Kristen and Agyei Williams

Aiming to highlight stories of diversity and create a welcoming space for the community, Kristen and Agyei Williams plan to open Blackberry Books and Coffee in Louisville, Ky., sometime this fall, the Courier-Journal reported.

The couple has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $55,000 that will be used to purchase and renovate a location in the Russell neighborhood in West Louisville. They have, they wrote, already purchased furniture, bookcases and "collected thousands of books."

The Williamses early on began searching for ways to bring stories of diversity to their neighborhood, the newspaper wrote, and for the last four years have been holding storytelling events featuring "revised tales that addressed issues facing kids in the community." They've partnered with nonprofits Louisville Grows and New Roots and worked with libraries, too. At some performances, they've sold books under the name Blackberry Bookstand.

"We had parents coming up to us, we thought they would be buying two to three books," Kristen Williams told the Courier-Journal. "But they would walk away carrying as many books as they could carry.

She added, "When you go into a bookstore nowadays, it's very difficult for you to find characters of color. Being able to know that you are a main character in this world, that you have a main role to play and that you belong here, that's why we wanted to do the bookstore."

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