With a little over two weeks to go until Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday shopping season, independent bookstores around the country are finalizing their plans for the seventh annual Indies First/Small Business Saturday.
This year's spokesperson is science fiction and fantasy writer N.K. Jemisin, the first author to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel, all for her Broken Earth trilogy (Orbit). Her most recent book is the story collection How Long 'til Black Future Month?, published by Orbit last November.
In South Hadley, Mass., Odyssey Bookshop will be celebrating Indies First with refreshments, free gifts, guest booksellers and more. Customers will have the option of getting 20% off their purchases or having the store donate that amount to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. With every purchase of $50 or more, shoppers will receive a free bookish gift, such as an advanced copy of an upcoming book, and refreshments will include a Make-Your-Own hot chocolate bar.
For Indies First, Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston, Ill., will welcome a pair of children's authors to celebrate shopping local. In the morning, Sydni Gregg will read from her debut children's book, Seagull and Sea Dragon, and in the afternoon Betsy Bird will drop by to talk about all sorts of children's books as well as her newest picture book, The Great Santa Stakeout. Bookends & Beginnings will also be partnering with other local businesses for a special promotion that will give customers a chance to win prizes after spending a certain amount on November 30.
Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles, Calif., will welcome a host of authors for Indies First. In the morning, Abbi Waxman, author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill; Naomi Hirahara, author of Hiroshima Boy; and Michael Tolkin, author of The Player, will be among those who stop by. In the afternoon, guests include Devon O'Brien, author of Of Life and Men; Aline Brosh McKenna, author of Jane; and Chris Harris, author of I'm Just No Good at Rhyming. Other planned guests include Steph Cha, author of Your House Will Pay; and Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank with Me.
Indies First/SBS will see a local cheese tasting at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Va. The tasting will be part of a signing with cozy mystery author Mollie Cox Bryan, whose Christmas Cow Bells features an amateur sleuth who's also an organic micro-dairy farmer and cheesemaker. A variety of other local authors will appear as guest booksellers throughout the day.
And in Lake Forest Park, Seward Park and Ravenna, Wash., all three Third Place Books locations will offer holiday book recommendations as well as a special promotion giving customers a $10 gift card with a purchase of $50 or more.