"Happy independent bookstore day from me and a couple divas who joined me on the road this week. And speaking of being on the road, it is a good day to mention, again, that workers have been immeasurably vital to my being able to be on the road for a year in support of a book, the support from that book, on its own, existing because booksellers put my work into the hands of people in their communities. There are workers carrying boxes of books to venues, writing names on sticky notes, staying late to manage a long signing line, and so on. On stage, I often extend gratitude to workers (booksellers, venue workers, etc.) by saying that my presence on stage is the most visible piece of the machine but not the piece that should get the most gratitude from everyone in any audience. I echo that gratitude today.
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| Hanif Abdurraqib at Two Dollar Radio (via) |
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"If you are in Columbus today, there are signed copies of my books at Two Dollar Radio, Storyline, and Prologue, and they are free, as long as there is still stock of them. If there is a bookstore or community literary space to support where you are, I hope you will consider it today and beyond. Independent bookstores have, in some cases, acted as safe havens for political radicals, have made themselves available for young people in peril, offered material care to people under siege, been sites of organizing and community growth. I'm thankful for all of the booksellers I've met during my life as a person who writes, and what many of them have taught me about the places they work in."