When owner Christina Pascucci-Ciampa first opened the queer, feminist bookstore All She Wrote Books in Somerville, Mass., the store was offering curbside service and shipping only. Now, the bookstore's doors have been open to customers for months and Pascucci-Ciampa is focused on building community through events and partnerships, the Boston Globe reported.
Located in Somerville's Assembly Row neighborhood, All She Wrote Books sells new and used titles with an emphasis on intersectionality and underrepresented authors. All genres are available and there are books for children, teens and adults. There is an artists' corner featuring the work of local artists and a box of free advance reader's copies, so no visitor leaves empty-handed.
Pascucci-Ciampa explained that she would often see books like Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique at independent bookstores, and while she loved those titles, she found that most stores shelved the same small collection of related books. She wanted to open a store of her own that would "showcase those authors and those voices and those stories consistently, throughout all of our shelves, all the time."
She also wanted to make sure her store carried books on subjects like domestic violence, which she was unable to find at other bookstores while she was trying to leave an abusive relationship in 2010. One of her goals with the store is to foster an environment where customers and community members can feel comfortable talking to staff members about difficult subjects.
“It’s planting the seeds to let folks know that we’re here for them, we’re a resource for them, we’re a space where you can come and be loved and respected for who you are, no matter where you’re from, or who you are,” Pascucci-Ciampa told the Globe.
All She Wrote Books first began as an all-used pop-up shop in April 2019, with Pascucci-Ciampa doing business at places like local brewery Winter Hill Brewing Company. Now she's hosting events in her own store, such as a teen LGBTQ+ book club and author readings with local writers, and helping support the Somerville community. She hosted a free book fair for students at a nearby school, helped fill Little Free Library boxes with social justice titles and donated books to the Somerville Library.
"It's really important to be part of the community because we're in it, and I wouldn't be anywhere with the bookstore if there wasn't that community," Pascucci-Ciampa said. "It's just a no-brainer."