Whatever are you doing?

Hello! I speak to you from the land of the eternally behind, where Sisyphus is our patron saint. Like any baby its age, this almost 9-month-old bookstore needs constant care!Blog posts are often last on the list.

First off, I'm writing now to update you on three projects that we cherish here at the bookstore, and that you have kindly supported.

the little gallery
This program continues, but we are taking a one-month break while Taz, who has been so generous with their time and energy, focuses on some life essentials and Nena pays close attention to the plethora of other events scheduled for April. We do have our May artist lined up for you, and we earnestly invite you to come appreciate Dacey Eliot's work that is currently hanging on the gallery wall.




First Sunday Community Book Fair
Our first book fair, featuring Disability Alliance of BC, was a wonderful success in many ways--thank you for your support! We raised $140 to support programs serving our disabled neighbours. We also learned a thing or two, so we are taking a breath and thinking through how to best make this program as useful as possible to the orgs and people it's supposed to benefit. We will be checking in with orgs that have reached out hoping to participate, and scheduling future events with our new experiences in mind.

Bread of Life Zine
The last time I made a zine, I was running an established bookstore and I was quite a few years younger. I somehow imagined that producing a zine while running a new shop, living in my middle-aged body, and being a functional member of my family would go smoothly. Well, no. A project I thought would take a month at most has taken three. I'm still working at it. However, I can report that I'm close to done--the text pages are ready to print. Updates with release info coming soon.

Next, I want to exhort, encourage, urge you to check out our upcoming events! We've got amazing author guests and events lined up, most of them centring and celebrating queer authors, as is our heart, our purpose, our reason for being. We are also thankful to have been invited to provide books for some offsite book launches by local writers. Click here to jump over to our events list and get the details, or pop in to look at the diverse and wonderful books these authors have created. As a new shop, we did not anticipate being able to bring you such a rich list of great author guests and activities at this stage. This is exciting for us and we hope you'll come check out the offerings.

On that note, we are extra-specially excited about our very first Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! Saturday, 27 April is the annual day when readers, writers, illustrators, publishers, and others come together to celebrate indie bookstores across Canada. By joining the celebration, you are advocating for independent businesses, supporting a flourishing bookselling community, and investing in Canadian culture. How can you participate? Come to the bookstore! There will be swag, there will be a guest artist--and every book you buy that day comes with a chance to win a $1000 gift card to your favourite indie (which, you know, we hope we are). Click here for more!

And now I'm going to answer two of the store's most frequently asked questions: How are things going? How can we support you?

Well, things are going okay. Winter has been a bit rough, bracketed by six (yep, six) days of sidewalk closures in December when we were hoping to really build up momentum, and an unexpected entire long weekend of sidewalk closures at the end of March. We did plan for winter to be challenging, and for construction to be challenging, but that was kind of a lot, especially the latest bit. It has hit us right in the budget. The shelves are thin, especially in our very popular Queer section, and we are working hard to build up our selection and keep it fresh for you. That said, we are excited and proud to note that 8 out of 10 people who walk in the door find something here they like, and take it home. And we are happy to see the queer and trans creators we champion so joyfully embraced by so many of you.

What it comes down to is that we would love to see more of you, more often, and hook you up with books. So--if you don't see it, ask for it! Especially when our budget demands we be very choosy, your special orders are key to helping us identify the right books, and keep them coming. And of course, they help us fund more books! Also, do please join us for our author events and other activities. Your presence is what makes them great occasions. Finally, if you like us, tell the world! Your social media shares and stories help us find new friends and make the new connections a young bookstore needs to grow strong. Every time a post of ours gets more attention than usual, that leads to measurable amounts of new activity and new energy in the bookstore. Your data-driven bookseller can see it! It really does matter enormously and we are so thankful for all your boosting on the socials.