Author and editor Olivia Nightingale has started a crowdfunding campaign to help her launch Crowne Books, a Black bookstore based in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. It will debut as a mobile bookstore on Juneteenth, with Nightingale looking to open a bricks-and-mortar location sometime in 2027.
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| Olivia Nightingale | |
Nightingale has set the target for the GoFundMe campaign at $7,500. Money raised will go toward inventory; a POS system; shelving, signage, and other fixtures; and permits, licenses, and insurance. So far, the campaign has raised more than $2,100.
Crowne Books will "stock a variety of frontlist and backlist titles, maintaining a healthy mix of new and used books across all genres of Black literature, including comics, manga, and graphic novels," Nightingale wrote on the campaign page. She noted that while there is a Black-owned mobile bookstore in Utah called the Book Lovers Era, there is no Black-owned bricks-and-mortar bookstore in the state.
"One thing I've noticed is that we are really kind of lacking third spaces for Black people," Nightingale told the Tribune. "I think Utah, not only could support, they want to see a Black bookstore in our state." She also called the state's Black population "small but mighty," and said the state is "long overdue for something like a Black bookstore."
Nightingale said that launching on Juneteenth was important to her, as "literacy is liberation." She elaborated: "Because for many, many years Black people weren’t even legally allowed to read or write; it was outlawed, and so that’s why I really want to push the fact that literacy is not only important, but it is actually a real blessing if you are around today in the United States, and you are Black."