August 14, 2024 • 31 mins
Behind the Curtain: Celebrating Ann Arbor's Literary Legacy with Rachel Pastiva
In this episode of Behind the Curtain, host Rosanita Ratcliff converses with Rachel Pastiva from the Ann Arbor Book Society. They delve into Rachel's lifelong passion for reading, her journey through various book-related roles, and her mission to highlight the vast network of independent bookstores in Ann Arbor. Discover how Rachel's efforts are fostering a vibrant literary community, supporting local booksellers, and nurturing a love for reading among residents and visitors alike. Join us for an inspiring discussion on the importance of independent bookstores and the rich literary culture in Ann Arbor.
To learn more about the Ann Arbor Book Society, please visit them at their website
Thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagram and sign up for our newsletter.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rosanita (00:00):
Welcome to Behind the Curtain.
(00:02):
I'm your host Rosanita Ratcliff.
In this week's episode, Bindingthe Com munity I'll be talking
with Rachel Pastiva from the AnnArbor Book Society.
Rachel is the driving forcebehind the Ann Arbor Book
Society.
Discover how her efforts arecreating a vibrant literary
community, fostering a love forreading, and connecting authors,
(00:25):
readers, and independentbookstores in a thriving network
of shared passion.
Hi, Rachel, welcome to thepodcast.
I'm really excited to talk withyou this afternoon about the Ann
Arbor book society and how itgot started and what it does for
the booksellers and the readershere in Ann Arbor.
(00:45):
And from what I could tell kindof around the county and part of
the state to before we get intothat, though, I did want to talk
a little bit about your.
Sure.
Owned background in history.
When did you decide that youloved, that you enjoyed reading
and how did that take you wherewe are now?
Rachel (01:06):
Well, yeah.
Thanks.
First of all, Rosanita, thankyou so much for having me.
I'm really grateful to be here.
Excited to talk about the AnnArbor Book Society.
You know, it's reallyinteresting to kind of think
back on my life now and see thethreads of how reading brought
me to where I was still where Iam.
And I think my earliest.
Memory of reading was really mydad reading to me as a kid.
(01:28):
We had this collection of Disneybooks, you know, and he would
read, read when I went to bed.
But then I also really rememberbeing at our local really small
library.
Came from a small town.
And I remember the librarianreading Charlotte's Web to us.
And that really started my loveaffair.
with libraries and reading andlibraries really became a big
(01:50):
part of my growing up.
Whenever I was in middle school,the town built a new library
near, near the middle school.
And so I would ask to stay afterschool so I could walk to the
library, you know, and when Igot my driver's license, the
first place I went by myself wasthe library.
So I felt like reading for me,it's just, you know, I was
(02:11):
always a really shy kid.
And so one of the significantmoments in my life in reading
was when I was in the seventhgrade and I was getting some
books out of the library and theschool librarian said, I think
you might like this author.
And when you're in the seventhgrade, you just feel so
invisible, you know, and youfeel invisible, but you also
don't want to be seen, you know,it's kind of like, you're just
(02:32):
feeling awkward.
But she saw me and she saw whatI was reading.
And she turned me on to.
An author.
And so, you know, I fell in lovewith this author, Lois Duncan at
the time.
And, you know, it just kind of,yes.
So you, yes, you know, yes.
Stranger with my face.
(02:53):
I think it might've been, butyeah.
And so.
That being with books wassomething that I just never felt
alone when I, when I had a book,you know, and I lived in a
really, like, I always call it asuburb of a suburb, it was just
a really small town and ourbookstore was like a Walden
books at the mall, 45 minutesaway.
So we didn't really have accessto books.
(03:15):
And so when there was a book Iwanted to get, I'd have to, Wait
until we were going to the malland then, you know, I'd go to
the bookstore, get it.
And I was halfway done with itby the time we were going home,
you know, but when I was incollege in the mid nineties,
that's when borders started topop up all over, all over, you
know, the States.
I I'm originally from NortheastOhio.
(03:37):
And I remember near the mall,them opening up this border
store and.
The moment I walked into thisplace and this was, you know,
back in the nineties, therereally weren't like a lot of the
big box stores like you seetoday, especially when it came
to books.
And so when I first walked intoborders, I was just blown away
by all of this subjects that Inever even heard of.
(03:58):
And just, you know, there wasmusic and books and DVDs.
Actually it wasn't DVDs backthen it was VHS, but you know,
there were magazines, all kindsof stuff.
And so when I graduated fromcollege, I moved back home.
I got.
My degree, I got a bachelor offine arts and creative writing,
and so I always like to jokethat if I couldn't write the
great American novel, I might aswell sell it.
(04:19):
So I found a Borders that wasopening near where my parents
lived, and I started workingthere.
And I loved borders so much.
I was such a, you know,cheerleader for borders.
And when I found out thatborders originated in Ann Arbor,
I needed to go to Ann Arbor.
Like I needed to find this placethat this came from, you know,
and I wasn't disappointed.
(04:40):
I mean, I remember the firsttime I came to borders, Ann
Arbor, I had to go see storeone, you know, store one, which
wasn't even really its originallocation.
But I mean, I, I came.
Parked at Liberty Square, getdown on Liberty Street and there
was Don Trudder and David'sbooks and there was Kaleidoscope
on State Street and VoltaMidnight was like a block away.
(05:02):
I mean there were seven or eightbookstores just within Three or
four blocks right there, youknow, and I knew that this is
where I needed to be was inArbor.
So I actually transferred from aborders in Ohio to Arbor land
and worked there for a fewyears.
Then I left there, got mymaster's of library science.
(05:25):
And while I was getting mymaster's degree, I ended up
getting a job at crazy wisdombookstore, which was on main
street.
And I, I always kind of.
Thought of myself as a sololibrarian because I was the only
full timer.
I hired the staff, I developedthe inventory, I programmed
events.
But when I was there, I reallygot a sense of how hard it is to
(05:47):
like sustain and grow abookstore.
And at the same time, I was alsogetting to know some of the
bookstore owners in the area.
And I could really see.
What a labor of love it was tohave a bookstore.
So at the same time, I startedto be on the board of the Ann
Arbor book festival, and I wasreally saddened to find out how
(06:08):
few book people really knew howmany bookstores there were in
Ann Arbor at that time.
And at the time that I movedhere, it was about eight, but
Literati was going to open.
This was like 2013 when I was onthe board of the book festival
and Literati was going to openand the newspapers were all
saying, this is so great.
Ann Arbor is getting a bookstoreagain.
This is so great.
And I'm thinking, well, wait aminute, the Ann Arbor has all of
(06:31):
these bookstores, you know, butthe consensus.
In the media seemed to be thatafter borders closed in 2011,
Ann Arbor had become a bookdesert.
And so I was definitely thrilledthat Ann Arbor was gaining
another bookstore.
And in fact, we gained twobecause Book Bound opened around
the same time that Literati didover on the north side.
But I just felt really sad thateven local media wasn't aware of
(06:53):
this incredible book community.
And I had personally moved toAnn Arbor for the bookstores
because of And I just assumedthat Ann Arbor People understood
that as part of their identitythat Ann Arbor's identity is,
you know, books.
I mean, we have access to somany books and it really wasn't
the case.
And so I just really felt likepeople needed to see it from an
(07:16):
outsider's perspective whodidn't grow up having access to
this great book community thatit is something we should be
valuing.
It's something we should besupporting and celebrating.
And so I really felt like thatwas going to have to be my
mission that I was going to bethe 1 to do that.
And in fact, actually, there wasa consortium of bookstores in
(07:37):
the mid nineties who hadstarted, it was called the Ann
Arbor Independent BooksellersAssociation.
And it was surprising to me.
I read a bunch of things on theAnn Arbor district library's old
news collection, you know,around that time.
And they were struggling evenback then when there were all
these bookstores, they werestill struggling.
And so a lot of the bookstoreowners got together and pulled
(07:58):
their resources and But ads inthe paper, so you could get
discounts at any of thesebookstores and they wrote
articles talking about thestores and what kinds of things
we're selling and they evendesigned a map that actually
became the basis of our booktown map that we distribute in
Ann Arbor, but that reallyinspired me.
Cause what I'm doing now, it wasdone before the book sellers
(08:20):
really tried to.
Come together before and make aname for Ann Arbor through what
they were doing.
And I want to carry on thatlegacy, you know, and I want to
try to get it to stick thistime.
Rosanita (08:33):
This is so interesting to me because.
I was born and raised here inAnn Arbor, so I think I just
took all of this for grantedhere.
Right.
My book borrowing experienceswere with the district library
back when we had the lovingbranch library, which was, you
know, just a cute littleadorable branch that I think now
(08:54):
it's a piano store.
But to a little kid, it washuge.
And my goal in life back thenwas just to read every single
book the library had to offer.
And, you know, part of me waslike, darn this place, because
they continuously buy new ones.
Never going to reach my goal.
(09:14):
The other part of me was like,this is so fantastic.
They keep buying new books forme to read.
And so, you know, you mentionedin crazy wisdom and these other
stores, it's just like mychildhood kind of coming back
and especially in the bordersbecause I remember the original
(09:37):
borders, it was tiny.
And then the 1 where it tookover where Jacobson's used to
be, and then it moving to Arborland and then when it went away,
there were still otherbookstores.
So it never really felt like abook.
Desert here, and I think maybethat's kind of a difference
(09:57):
between people who were here andkind of townies or spend a lot
of time downtown.
Maybe it wasn't like a secretclub, but we were just known as
book town or book city.
Rachel (10:11):
Yeah.
Rosanita (10:12):
Right.
And so I wasn't living in AnnArbor.
I don't think when.
Literati opened, but I rememberthe excitement about it, but it
just felt like kind of a yes,we're getting another bookstore
and it's opening over here.
It's going to have this and itjust just sounds so great.
(10:33):
And I don't remember the slantof it being that we were a book
desert, but I also wasn't livinghere and I wasn't paying close
attention.
I was just Having that otherside of the excitement, and so
it's disappointing to hear thatthere are people who didn't
understand how many bookstoreswere still around.
(10:57):
Right,
Rachel (10:57):
right.
Well, and I think that said,it's like, for me, part of
wanting to, you know, bridgethat gap of knowledge of the
people like you, who grew upthere.
And it was like an assumption.
Of course, you knew that AnnArbor is a very transient
population, right?
Because of the university, allthe universities.
And so there really needs to besomething that's kind of.
(11:17):
Perpetually reminding people andI realized that there really
wasn't a resource like if youwere writing an article about
this bookstore literati, and youwanted to kind of understand the
history of books in Ann Arbor orwhat other bookstores were
available.
There really wasn't.
A place that you could go to.
Like, it was really like, you'dhave to do all this legwork and
(11:37):
find these, and, and I thought Iwanted to be a resource to
everybody, to the media, tovisitors, to Ann Arbor rights,
to, you know, just anybody who'sinterested in, in learning about
what the options are in thistown.
You know,'cause it, it justwasn't.
There because like you said, Imean, I love the fact that you
said that, and there werearticles written at different
(11:58):
times about Ann Arbor being abook town.
You know, Joe Gable, who was a,a manager of the Borders
downtown.
I think he wrote an article howAnn Arbor was becoming a book
town, like Chicago or someplaceelse.
But it, it needs to becelebrated like that, right?
When I go places, people ask meabout the football team.
I'm not, I'm not a fan offootball, but there's another
legacy that Ann Arbor should beknown for.
(12:19):
And, and I really believe assomebody who moved here for the
books, well, first of all, Imean, I know that every single
one of Ann Arbor's bookstores,independent bookstores have
people who travel from out ofthe city, sometimes probably out
of the state just to go to thatbookstore.
And if they knew, which they'restarting to learn that there are
all these other bookstores,sometimes within walking
(12:40):
distance, all within a couplemiles of each other.
You know, why not make a weekendof it?
We have these beautifultheaters, great restaurants.
Why not come to Ann Arbor andexperience it as a book
community?
There's plenty to do.
Rosanita (12:54):
That's so true.
And I've lived in other citiesthat were like how you described
growing up, where there was justone library and then, you know,
you having to travel to go to abookstore, right?
And having seen that differenceand then being here is making me
reflect a lot.
(13:14):
And even when I was livingelsewhere, I was reflecting on
how lucky I was to have grown uphere, surrounded by that, not
just because of.
You know, I could basically losemyself in a story and find
myself in some other world, butit was also where kids here are
(13:35):
able to gain so much moreknowledge about whatever subject
they want to be able to learnabout, right?
Not just because of the library,which is amazing, but because
there's access to it.
All of these differentindependent bookstores and not
everyone's as lucky to havethat, but it also fed into why I
(13:57):
wanted to talk with you isbecause I was like, here's
someone who saw all of theseindependent stores and was like,
how is it that we can shine alight on them and what they have
to offer?
Rachel (14:11):
Right.
Well, and I think part of it forme too, was when I met these
bookstore owners, a lot of themwere.
Still the people behind thecounter.
And it's still like that, youknow, for some of them and they
don't have the time, the money,or, you know, or the resources
to really be going out and doingthat work for themselves.
They've, some of them have beenhere for 30 or 40 years.
(14:31):
And so I really felt like thatwas my love letter to the
bookstores in Ann Arbor was tobe that person to shine that
light on them.
And, and, you know, one of thethings I want to speak on.
is my experiences withbookstores so that to me, I
really feel like they are partof the foundation of the
consciousness of Ann Arbor.
I mean, I really do.
Ann Arbor has been considered areally progressive place for a
(14:54):
long time, and I think thebookstores are a big part of
that.
But The bookstores are just partof the book community, like you
said.
We have an award winning librarysystem.
We have the Zell VisitingWriters Series at U of M, so
interesting authors come throughhere.
And we have great local nonprofits, like there's the AAUW
Annual Book Sale, and there'sthe Midwest Literary Walk, and
(15:16):
we have book festivals.
So there are a lot of ways to beconnecting with books in our
community.
And so sometimes I think Even asthe book society, we get tunnel
vision on just the bookstoresbecause they're really concrete
and they have events everymonth.
But we want to make sure thatwe're celebrating all the ways
that books manifest in ourcommunity and how people
(15:36):
interact with them.
Rosanita (15:38):
We're also a community with a lot of authors.
A ton of authors and writerswho, yeah, they, they give book
talks at the local bookstores,at the local libraries, at the
university, everywhere.
I don't always like the termliterary community because it
kind of sounds a littlehighfalutin, if you will,
because sometimes you just wantto read something that's fun
(15:59):
when you don't think.
Yes.
Someone's not going to deem itgreat literature, but on the
other side of it, it's, it's areally good read.
Because it serves its purpose toright because we also have those
authors here too.
And it's kind of like, you canfind whatever it is you're
(16:19):
looking for.
You can kind of find here.
What's not at 1 bookstore.
It's at another bookstore, orthey may not have heard of it,
but they'll look into it andthey'll order it or the library
will order it.
Right?
And I think that having the outof a book society.
Because like you said, we are atransient community, but having
(16:39):
something where you have awebsite you can go to that
shows, oh, yeah, here's all thebookstores here, you know, if
you didn't find it at this one,and you didn't know that there
were like, seven otherbookstores, right?
And how do you know that you cango to to one of them to ask
because some of them arespecialty stores like an antique
bookstore.
Right?
(16:59):
And so, because I learned a lotjust looking at the website
about the different stories, thedifferent activities that are
happening now.
Right?
Rachel (17:08):
And so we really wanted to be.
Just basically aggregatinginformation, you know, go from
all these different places sothat instead of having to go to
literati's website to find theirevents and going to the
library's website to find theirevent.
It's like, oh, you want a storytime.
Let's go to the book societiescomprehensive events calendar
and see where there are storytimes this month.
(17:28):
You know, so that's a big partof what, what we're trying to
do.
Rosanita (17:33):
Yeah.
I looked at that calendar and Iwas like, how can I fit all of
these things into my schedule?
I can't, and then I was like,who's kid can I borrow?
We all know you can't just showup to some things as a grownup
saying, Hey, I want my facepainted as somebody who's
(17:54):
reading a book.
It's okay.
If you've got your niece ornephew with you, right?
Rachel (18:01):
Well, I don't know if book suites still doing them,
but there were those grown folksstory times that I know Patty
Smith, the local authororganized with some local
authors, she'd come in in herpajamas, you can come in wearing
your pajamas and you're beingread to as an adult, you're
being read a book.
So maybe there's room for that.
Rosanita (18:19):
There is, and see, and again, that's why we need
something like the Ann ArborBook Society.
I moved back during COVID, so alot of stuff, I don't know,
like, I've been living in acave, right?
So to hear that there was agrown up pajama book party, I'm
like, this is so awesome.
Yes.
I'm having way too much funright now.
(18:40):
Thank you for putting up withthis.
Before we started recording, onething we touched on and what I
said is that I'm fascinated byhow it is that people are able
to go, you know, I see this gap.
And gosh, darn it, I'm going togo ahead and jump in and try to
create something to fill it.
(19:01):
I love hearing how it is thatpeople made that decision to go
ahead and do it right?
Because there is the level ofcourage in that.
Now, I know that you said thatthere was.
a previous society orassociation of the independent
bookseller.
I mean, you weren't a bookstoreowner.
Right.
Right.
And so it's still where youjumped in and you recreated
(19:25):
something and took it a stepfurther.
I I'd say, because I mean, nowwe're in the 2020s.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And there's a difference in howwe let people know about events.
Right.
Right.
And you have to kind And so howis it that you were able to be
(19:46):
like, okay, I can do this?
Rachel (19:49):
I really think it was meeting some of these bookstore
owners, knowing the labor oflove that it was for them,
knowing the time and energy theyput into it and knowing that if
more people knew about it, morepeople would love it.
Love that, you know, going intothose places and that so much of
it really is just about exposureand my experience being someone
(20:11):
who was an outsider coming toAnn Arbor, I know that there are
a lot of other people who havethat same experience and that
more people would again, if theyjust had, you know, had that
understanding.
And so I think for me, I reallyfelt called to do it.
Like, I really felt like I wasthis vehicle because I did feel
like I had this uniqueperspective of.
Having come to Ann Arbor becauseof the bookstores and working in
(20:34):
an independent bookstore for along time and seeing the
challenges of that, I just, Idon't know, I just felt like it
was like I didn't have a choice,you know, that it was just kind
of like, this is, you know, Thisis where I'm, I'm supposed to go
next.
Rosanita (20:48):
Were you doing this on your own or did you have other
people to, to help with settingthe foundation?
Rachel (20:54):
One of the things that's so humbling about starting a
nonprofit is you really arestarting it from nothing.
And if my dream was to open arestaurant or a bookstore, I
could have gone to the bank.
I could have gotten a loan andthen I'd have money to hire a
staff and rent a building.
But here, when you start anonprofit, you start with an
idea and that's all you have.
Right.
And then you hopefully getpeople to believe in that idea
(21:17):
and want to invest their timeand their energy and hopefully
their money into building it.
So really it was that I hadfound people at different times
who can help.
One of my earliestcollaborators, there was this
consortium of bookstores in themid nineties.
And there was this particulararticle I read called
independent bookstores unitewritten in 1994 by Kay Marsh,
(21:37):
who at the time was the managerof little professor.
And I knew of Kay.
I knew her daughter.
And so in 2016, I actually wasable to connect with Kay.
And she became an earlycollaborator for the book
society.
And you know, she had worked atBorders for a long time in the
eighties.
And so, you know, she, and sheowned Main Street News.
(21:57):
So she also had been embedded inthe book community for a long
time.
So she really just instantly gotit, what I was trying to do.
And actually the funny thing is,is When I started, it was also
called the Ann Arbor IndependentBooksellers Association because
I was thinking in terms of thebookstores, but we realized
early on that not only is thatsuch a long tongue twister of a
(22:19):
name, it confuses people intothinking it's an association for
bookstores.
For the bookstores, like it's amembership association when it's
really an association for thecommunity, for the readers.
So Kay really helped me in thebeginning, refine what our focus
was.
And then slowly over time, Ibuilt a board.
I did all kinds of research onapplying for nonprofit status.
(22:41):
I filed all that paperworkmyself and was one of my
proudest moments when I got theIRS.
Nation is a 501c3.
And so it's just been over time,just like building a board,
getting volunteers.
The same kind of exposure that Iwas trying to gain for the
bookstores and the bookcommunity, I'm also trying to
gain for the book society.
So where we are now is justreally getting people to know
(23:03):
that we exist.
And honestly, one of the mainthings we do is our book town
map.
Which is a free map that wedistribute to all the places on
the map, which is theindependent bookstores, the
Kiwanis or share house placesthat you can get really
affordable books.
And we're trying to get itdistributed into hotels now.
And I'm always so excited whensomebody, I mentioned to them
(23:24):
that I founded the Ann ArborBook Society and say, I have
that map on my refrigerator, youknow?
So I feel like, okay, we'remaking it.
People have heard of us outsideof me talking about it.
They're seeing us.
and around town.
Rosanita (23:38):
That's s having the map placed in when you were
mentioning a weekend of it?
I fully I went to Vegas, I wasat But there's a bookstore
there.
It's an antique bookstore.
And I was like, no, no, you cango ahead.
(24:00):
I'll be here amongst the booksfrom Oh, this was published in
1874.
I'll be right here with this.
Right?
So what that map being in ahotel, someone who came for,
say, the game, right, andthey're tailgating downtown or
celebrating a victory.
They could also wander into oneof those bookstores and I just,
(24:26):
I think that's great.
Rachel (24:27):
Oh yeah.
And, and really I'm alwaysgetting really positive feedback
from the booksellers.
They say, you know, they lovegiving these maps to their
customers and their faces justlight up when they go, Oh my
gosh, it's a trifold map.
You open it up and there's allthese.
places and they're just sosurprised and delighted to see
this thing.
They thought, Oh, I'm just goinginto this bookstore today.
And now they're like, Oh, Imight be going to several more
(24:50):
bookstores or I might go to, youknow, Kiwanis or share house or
the PTO for shop, you know, andfind some great deals on books.
So yeah, I'm really proud of themap.
Our being able to distribute themap is only limited by the
funding that we receive, whichhasn't been much because we're
really just, you know, donationbased at this point, but I just
recently started asking forsponsorships.
(25:12):
for our map.
And so our goal is to try toprint and distribute 10, 000
maps this year.
So I think up until now, sincewe started in 2016, we've
distributed 17, 000 maps.
So if we could distributeanother 10 this year, that would
be a real victory for us.
Rosanita (25:28):
So to donate, would people just go to the website?
Yes.
Yep.
Rachel (25:34):
Yeah, we do have a page on our website for donations.
Rosanita (25:37):
Yeah, you, you mentioned just donations.
Is there a friends of kind ofmembership program potentially
in the works for later on,
Rachel (25:49):
you know, we haven't really thought about that, but,
you know, that's a possibility.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Right now.
We've just been.
You know, I'm giving Tuesday orsomething kind of reminding
people of who we are.
But I mean, I I've been gratefulthat there are people who
believe in what we do and they,they want to support it.
So, and really we were luckybecause when the Ann Arbor book
festival dissolved.
(26:09):
They actually donated the restof their funds to us.
So that really helped to sustainus early on.
Rosanita (26:15):
Oh, wow.
What is it any other nonprofit?
They do have to donate what'sleft to an organization.
But I think that says a lotabout the belief that the board
had in what what it is that youguys are trying to do.
Rachel (26:30):
Yes, I agree.
It was a real honor.
And yeah, we really appreciatedthe funds, but you know, it was
bittersweet because that meantthat the Ann Arbor book festival
was dissolved, which was reallya great festival that we loved
having in Ann Arbor for manyyears.
Rosanita (26:45):
Yeah, but we still have the Kerrytown Book
Festival, the, is itAntiquarian?
Rachel (26:52):
Yeah, Ann Arbor Antiquarian Festival.
Yep.
And the Kerrytown Book Festivaljust recently changed its name
to the A2 Community BookFestival, I believe.
So, yes, we still have those twoand, you know, the literary walk
is in Chelsea every year andthere are some bigger like
Detroit started having afestival about maybe five years
(27:13):
ago.
So that's that's actually apretty, pretty big thing.
So, so we do try to.
You know, promote things thatare happening in other places.
And one of the things, like youmentioned, going to Las Vegas,
one of the things I love to dois a bookstore road trip,
because anytime I'm traveling,you know, in the state of
Michigan or anywhere else, ofcourse I'm going to find a
bookstore there.
So, so we, we have a feature onour website called Bookstore
(27:36):
Road Trip, where we will go tobookstores around.
you know, Michigan and interviewthe owners and take pictures and
talk a little bit about thoseplaces to encourage people in
their travels to find abookstore wherever they end up.
Rosanita (27:51):
It wasn't a bookstore road trip, but I do know that
whenever we go visit mygrandparents in Grand Rapids, my
grandmother would always haveeither books waiting for us or
little gift cards for what'scalled Pooh's Corner after
Winnie the Pooh.
And it was.
Just this little cute,independent bookstore in one of
(28:16):
the malls there.
And what always stood out to meis, yeah, like, they had a great
variety of the authors you'd seeevery day, but for a city that
was considered prettyconservative, they also had a
really good selection of AfricanAmerican books.
(28:36):
Books with black characters andby black authors for kids.
I mean, it was an entire kidsbookstore, right?
And, you know, now when we talkabout it, it was kind of like,
it's this new thing aboutmulticultural books, but it
existed in the past.
It was just a lot harder to findback then there weren't as many
(29:00):
authors, but we still had it.
And it was in some of theseindependent bookstores that we
could.
That we could find the books forkids that, you know, where we
were like, Oh, there's acharacter that looks like me,
or, you know, that we couldrelate to on that aspect.
Yeah,
Rachel (29:17):
yeah.
And I think that's what makesindependent bookstores so
special is that.
I mean, everyone you're going towalk into is going to be
different because they'reinformed by the buyers of that
store.
Right.
And, and hopefully they'refinding things to reflect the
community that comes into thatstore.
Right.
And so I think that that's, youknow, it makes it so special as
(29:39):
opposed to going to Barnes andNoble, where, you know, that
these are, these are the NewYork times bestselling books.
I mean, I personally go into thebookstore to find those books.
under the radar books thatyou're not hearing about.
That's what I think a goodindependent bookstore does well,
is to introduce you tosomething.
That you didn't already knowabout.
Right.
Rosanita (29:56):
Right.
Oh, no, for sure.
That's what my mom does whenshe's looking for books for all
the kids who she's adopted ashonorary grandchildren, but
she'll go in and, you know,there are all the books that are
on display, but she'll spend Um,and then I would spend the time
for the ones that are tuckedinto the shelves and pull them
(30:16):
out and look through them and,you know, really go, okay, which
kid is going to like this, orI'm looking for this specific
kid and, you know, let me lookthrough all of the ones until I
find the perfect book for them.
Rachel (30:30):
Yeah,
Rosanita (30:31):
yeah, it's a great scavenger hunt being yes
bookstore.
Right?
Because oh, yeah, once you makeyour way through the different
sections, you found that 1 bookor 20 that right?
Rachel (30:44):
Yeah, it's more likely the case.
Rosanita (30:48):
That's it for this week's episode of Behind the
Curtain.
Thank you for joining me andRachel Pastiva in our
fascinating discussion about theAnn Arbor Book Society and the
vibrant literary community itnurtures.
Rachel's passion and dedicationare truly inspiring and we can't
wait to dive even deeper intoher journey and the impact of
(31:08):
the Ann Arbor Book Society, andour next episode.
Stay tuned for part two, wherewe'll explore more about the
challenges and triumphs offostering a love for reading and
connecting authors, readers andbookstores.
Remember, if you enjoy today'sepisode, please subscribe, leave
a review and share it with yourfriends.
(31:29):
For more updates and behind thescenes content, follow us on
social media.
Until next time, keep exploringthe stories that inspire you and
don't forget to support yourlocal independent bookstores.
This is Rosanita Ratcliffsigning off.
Happy reading.
Welcome to Behind the Curtain.
(00:02):
I'm your host Rosanita Ratcliff.
In this week's episode, Bindingthe Com munity I'll be talking
with Rachel Pastiva from the AnnArbor Book Society.
Rachel is the driving forcebehind the Ann Arbor Book
Society.
Discover how her efforts arecreating a vibrant literary
community, fostering a love forreading, and connecting authors,
(00:25):
readers, and independentbookstores in a thriving network
of shared passion.
Hi, Rachel, welcome to thepodcast.
I'm really excited to talk withyou this afternoon about the Ann
Arbor book society and how itgot started and what it does for
the booksellers and the readershere in Ann Arbor.
(00:45):
And from what I could tell kindof around the county and part of
the state to before we get intothat, though, I did want to talk
a little bit about your.
Sure.
Owned background in history.
When did you decide that youloved, that you enjoyed reading
and how did that take you wherewe are now?
Rachel (01:06):
Well, yeah.
Thanks.
First of all, Rosanita, thankyou so much for having me.
I'm really grateful to be here.
Excited to talk about the AnnArbor Book Society.
You know, it's reallyinteresting to kind of think
back on my life now and see thethreads of how reading brought
me to where I was still where Iam.
And I think my earliest.
Memory of reading was really mydad reading to me as a kid.
(01:28):
We had this collection of Disneybooks, you know, and he would
read, read when I went to bed.
But then I also really rememberbeing at our local really small
library.
Came from a small town.
And I remember the librarianreading Charlotte's Web to us.
And that really started my loveaffair.
with libraries and reading andlibraries really became a big
(01:50):
part of my growing up.
Whenever I was in middle school,the town built a new library
near, near the middle school.
And so I would ask to stay afterschool so I could walk to the
library, you know, and when Igot my driver's license, the
first place I went by myself wasthe library.
So I felt like reading for me,it's just, you know, I was
(02:11):
always a really shy kid.
And so one of the significantmoments in my life in reading
was when I was in the seventhgrade and I was getting some
books out of the library and theschool librarian said, I think
you might like this author.
And when you're in the seventhgrade, you just feel so
invisible, you know, and youfeel invisible, but you also
don't want to be seen, you know,it's kind of like, you're just
(02:32):
feeling awkward.
But she saw me and she saw whatI was reading.
And she turned me on to.
An author.
And so, you know, I fell in lovewith this author, Lois Duncan at
the time.
And, you know, it just kind of,yes.
So you, yes, you know, yes.
Stranger with my face.
(02:53):
I think it might've been, butyeah.
And so.
That being with books wassomething that I just never felt
alone when I, when I had a book,you know, and I lived in a
really, like, I always call it asuburb of a suburb, it was just
a really small town and ourbookstore was like a Walden
books at the mall, 45 minutesaway.
So we didn't really have accessto books.
(03:15):
And so when there was a book Iwanted to get, I'd have to, Wait
until we were going to the malland then, you know, I'd go to
the bookstore, get it.
And I was halfway done with itby the time we were going home,
you know, but when I was incollege in the mid nineties,
that's when borders started topop up all over, all over, you
know, the States.
I I'm originally from NortheastOhio.
(03:37):
And I remember near the mall,them opening up this border
store and.
The moment I walked into thisplace and this was, you know,
back in the nineties, therereally weren't like a lot of the
big box stores like you seetoday, especially when it came
to books.
And so when I first walked intoborders, I was just blown away
by all of this subjects that Inever even heard of.
(03:58):
And just, you know, there wasmusic and books and DVDs.
Actually it wasn't DVDs backthen it was VHS, but you know,
there were magazines, all kindsof stuff.
And so when I graduated fromcollege, I moved back home.
I got.
My degree, I got a bachelor offine arts and creative writing,
and so I always like to jokethat if I couldn't write the
great American novel, I might aswell sell it.
(04:19):
So I found a Borders that wasopening near where my parents
lived, and I started workingthere.
And I loved borders so much.
I was such a, you know,cheerleader for borders.
And when I found out thatborders originated in Ann Arbor,
I needed to go to Ann Arbor.
Like I needed to find this placethat this came from, you know,
and I wasn't disappointed.
(04:40):
I mean, I remember the firsttime I came to borders, Ann
Arbor, I had to go see storeone, you know, store one, which
wasn't even really its originallocation.
But I mean, I, I came.
Parked at Liberty Square, getdown on Liberty Street and there
was Don Trudder and David'sbooks and there was Kaleidoscope
on State Street and VoltaMidnight was like a block away.
(05:02):
I mean there were seven or eightbookstores just within Three or
four blocks right there, youknow, and I knew that this is
where I needed to be was inArbor.
So I actually transferred from aborders in Ohio to Arbor land
and worked there for a fewyears.
Then I left there, got mymaster's of library science.
(05:25):
And while I was getting mymaster's degree, I ended up
getting a job at crazy wisdombookstore, which was on main
street.
And I, I always kind of.
Thought of myself as a sololibrarian because I was the only
full timer.
I hired the staff, I developedthe inventory, I programmed
events.
But when I was there, I reallygot a sense of how hard it is to
(05:47):
like sustain and grow abookstore.
And at the same time, I was alsogetting to know some of the
bookstore owners in the area.
And I could really see.
What a labor of love it was tohave a bookstore.
So at the same time, I startedto be on the board of the Ann
Arbor book festival, and I wasreally saddened to find out how
(06:08):
few book people really knew howmany bookstores there were in
Ann Arbor at that time.
And at the time that I movedhere, it was about eight, but
Literati was going to open.
This was like 2013 when I was onthe board of the book festival
and Literati was going to openand the newspapers were all
saying, this is so great.
Ann Arbor is getting a bookstoreagain.
This is so great.
And I'm thinking, well, wait aminute, the Ann Arbor has all of
(06:31):
these bookstores, you know, butthe consensus.
In the media seemed to be thatafter borders closed in 2011,
Ann Arbor had become a bookdesert.
And so I was definitely thrilledthat Ann Arbor was gaining
another bookstore.
And in fact, we gained twobecause Book Bound opened around
the same time that Literati didover on the north side.
But I just felt really sad thateven local media wasn't aware of
(06:53):
this incredible book community.
And I had personally moved toAnn Arbor for the bookstores
because of And I just assumedthat Ann Arbor People understood
that as part of their identitythat Ann Arbor's identity is,
you know, books.
I mean, we have access to somany books and it really wasn't
the case.
And so I just really felt likepeople needed to see it from an
(07:16):
outsider's perspective whodidn't grow up having access to
this great book community thatit is something we should be
valuing.
It's something we should besupporting and celebrating.
And so I really felt like thatwas going to have to be my
mission that I was going to bethe 1 to do that.
And in fact, actually, there wasa consortium of bookstores in
(07:37):
the mid nineties who hadstarted, it was called the Ann
Arbor Independent BooksellersAssociation.
And it was surprising to me.
I read a bunch of things on theAnn Arbor district library's old
news collection, you know,around that time.
And they were struggling evenback then when there were all
these bookstores, they werestill struggling.
And so a lot of the bookstoreowners got together and pulled
(07:58):
their resources and But ads inthe paper, so you could get
discounts at any of thesebookstores and they wrote
articles talking about thestores and what kinds of things
we're selling and they evendesigned a map that actually
became the basis of our booktown map that we distribute in
Ann Arbor, but that reallyinspired me.
Cause what I'm doing now, it wasdone before the book sellers
(08:20):
really tried to.
Come together before and make aname for Ann Arbor through what
they were doing.
And I want to carry on thatlegacy, you know, and I want to
try to get it to stick thistime.
Rosanita (08:33):
This is so interesting to me because.
I was born and raised here inAnn Arbor, so I think I just
took all of this for grantedhere.
Right.
My book borrowing experienceswere with the district library
back when we had the lovingbranch library, which was, you
know, just a cute littleadorable branch that I think now
(08:54):
it's a piano store.
But to a little kid, it washuge.
And my goal in life back thenwas just to read every single
book the library had to offer.
And, you know, part of me waslike, darn this place, because
they continuously buy new ones.
Never going to reach my goal.
(09:14):
The other part of me was like,this is so fantastic.
They keep buying new books forme to read.
And so, you know, you mentionedin crazy wisdom and these other
stores, it's just like mychildhood kind of coming back
and especially in the bordersbecause I remember the original
(09:37):
borders, it was tiny.
And then the 1 where it tookover where Jacobson's used to
be, and then it moving to Arborland and then when it went away,
there were still otherbookstores.
So it never really felt like abook.
Desert here, and I think maybethat's kind of a difference
(09:57):
between people who were here andkind of townies or spend a lot
of time downtown.
Maybe it wasn't like a secretclub, but we were just known as
book town or book city.
Rachel (10:11):
Yeah.
Rosanita (10:12):
Right.
And so I wasn't living in AnnArbor.
I don't think when.
Literati opened, but I rememberthe excitement about it, but it
just felt like kind of a yes,we're getting another bookstore
and it's opening over here.
It's going to have this and itjust just sounds so great.
(10:33):
And I don't remember the slantof it being that we were a book
desert, but I also wasn't livinghere and I wasn't paying close
attention.
I was just Having that otherside of the excitement, and so
it's disappointing to hear thatthere are people who didn't
understand how many bookstoreswere still around.
(10:57):
Right,
Rachel (10:57):
right.
Well, and I think that said,it's like, for me, part of
wanting to, you know, bridgethat gap of knowledge of the
people like you, who grew upthere.
And it was like an assumption.
Of course, you knew that AnnArbor is a very transient
population, right?
Because of the university, allthe universities.
And so there really needs to besomething that's kind of.
(11:17):
Perpetually reminding people andI realized that there really
wasn't a resource like if youwere writing an article about
this bookstore literati, and youwanted to kind of understand the
history of books in Ann Arbor orwhat other bookstores were
available.
There really wasn't.
A place that you could go to.
Like, it was really like, you'dhave to do all this legwork and
(11:37):
find these, and, and I thought Iwanted to be a resource to
everybody, to the media, tovisitors, to Ann Arbor rights,
to, you know, just anybody who'sinterested in, in learning about
what the options are in thistown.
You know,'cause it, it justwasn't.
There because like you said, Imean, I love the fact that you
said that, and there werearticles written at different
(11:58):
times about Ann Arbor being abook town.
You know, Joe Gable, who was a,a manager of the Borders
downtown.
I think he wrote an article howAnn Arbor was becoming a book
town, like Chicago or someplaceelse.
But it, it needs to becelebrated like that, right?
When I go places, people ask meabout the football team.
I'm not, I'm not a fan offootball, but there's another
legacy that Ann Arbor should beknown for.
(12:19):
And, and I really believe assomebody who moved here for the
books, well, first of all, Imean, I know that every single
one of Ann Arbor's bookstores,independent bookstores have
people who travel from out ofthe city, sometimes probably out
of the state just to go to thatbookstore.
And if they knew, which they'restarting to learn that there are
all these other bookstores,sometimes within walking
(12:40):
distance, all within a couplemiles of each other.
You know, why not make a weekendof it?
We have these beautifultheaters, great restaurants.
Why not come to Ann Arbor andexperience it as a book
community?
There's plenty to do.
Rosanita (12:54):
That's so true.
And I've lived in other citiesthat were like how you described
growing up, where there was justone library and then, you know,
you having to travel to go to abookstore, right?
And having seen that differenceand then being here is making me
reflect a lot.
(13:14):
And even when I was livingelsewhere, I was reflecting on
how lucky I was to have grown uphere, surrounded by that, not
just because of.
You know, I could basically losemyself in a story and find
myself in some other world, butit was also where kids here are
(13:35):
able to gain so much moreknowledge about whatever subject
they want to be able to learnabout, right?
Not just because of the library,which is amazing, but because
there's access to it.
All of these differentindependent bookstores and not
everyone's as lucky to havethat, but it also fed into why I
(13:57):
wanted to talk with you isbecause I was like, here's
someone who saw all of theseindependent stores and was like,
how is it that we can shine alight on them and what they have
to offer?
Rachel (14:11):
Right.
Well, and I think part of it forme too, was when I met these
bookstore owners, a lot of themwere.
Still the people behind thecounter.
And it's still like that, youknow, for some of them and they
don't have the time, the money,or, you know, or the resources
to really be going out and doingthat work for themselves.
They've, some of them have beenhere for 30 or 40 years.
(14:31):
And so I really felt like thatwas my love letter to the
bookstores in Ann Arbor was tobe that person to shine that
light on them.
And, and, you know, one of thethings I want to speak on.
is my experiences withbookstores so that to me, I
really feel like they are partof the foundation of the
consciousness of Ann Arbor.
I mean, I really do.
Ann Arbor has been considered areally progressive place for a
(14:54):
long time, and I think thebookstores are a big part of
that.
But The bookstores are just partof the book community, like you
said.
We have an award winning librarysystem.
We have the Zell VisitingWriters Series at U of M, so
interesting authors come throughhere.
And we have great local nonprofits, like there's the AAUW
Annual Book Sale, and there'sthe Midwest Literary Walk, and
(15:16):
we have book festivals.
So there are a lot of ways to beconnecting with books in our
community.
And so sometimes I think Even asthe book society, we get tunnel
vision on just the bookstoresbecause they're really concrete
and they have events everymonth.
But we want to make sure thatwe're celebrating all the ways
that books manifest in ourcommunity and how people
(15:36):
interact with them.
Rosanita (15:38):
We're also a community with a lot of authors.
A ton of authors and writerswho, yeah, they, they give book
talks at the local bookstores,at the local libraries, at the
university, everywhere.
I don't always like the termliterary community because it
kind of sounds a littlehighfalutin, if you will,
because sometimes you just wantto read something that's fun
(15:59):
when you don't think.
Yes.
Someone's not going to deem itgreat literature, but on the
other side of it, it's, it's areally good read.
Because it serves its purpose toright because we also have those
authors here too.
And it's kind of like, you canfind whatever it is you're
(16:19):
looking for.
You can kind of find here.
What's not at 1 bookstore.
It's at another bookstore, orthey may not have heard of it,
but they'll look into it andthey'll order it or the library
will order it.
Right?
And I think that having the outof a book society.
Because like you said, we are atransient community, but having
(16:39):
something where you have awebsite you can go to that
shows, oh, yeah, here's all thebookstores here, you know, if
you didn't find it at this one,and you didn't know that there
were like, seven otherbookstores, right?
And how do you know that you cango to to one of them to ask
because some of them arespecialty stores like an antique
bookstore.
Right?
(16:59):
And so, because I learned a lotjust looking at the website
about the different stories, thedifferent activities that are
happening now.
Right?
Rachel (17:08):
And so we really wanted to be.
Just basically aggregatinginformation, you know, go from
all these different places sothat instead of having to go to
literati's website to find theirevents and going to the
library's website to find theirevent.
It's like, oh, you want a storytime.
Let's go to the book societiescomprehensive events calendar
and see where there are storytimes this month.
(17:28):
You know, so that's a big partof what, what we're trying to
do.
Rosanita (17:33):
Yeah.
I looked at that calendar and Iwas like, how can I fit all of
these things into my schedule?
I can't, and then I was like,who's kid can I borrow?
We all know you can't just showup to some things as a grownup
saying, Hey, I want my facepainted as somebody who's
(17:54):
reading a book.
It's okay.
If you've got your niece ornephew with you, right?
Rachel (18:01):
Well, I don't know if book suites still doing them,
but there were those grown folksstory times that I know Patty
Smith, the local authororganized with some local
authors, she'd come in in herpajamas, you can come in wearing
your pajamas and you're beingread to as an adult, you're
being read a book.
So maybe there's room for that.
Rosanita (18:19):
There is, and see, and again, that's why we need
something like the Ann ArborBook Society.
I moved back during COVID, so alot of stuff, I don't know,
like, I've been living in acave, right?
So to hear that there was agrown up pajama book party, I'm
like, this is so awesome.
Yes.
I'm having way too much funright now.
(18:40):
Thank you for putting up withthis.
Before we started recording, onething we touched on and what I
said is that I'm fascinated byhow it is that people are able
to go, you know, I see this gap.
And gosh, darn it, I'm going togo ahead and jump in and try to
create something to fill it.
(19:01):
I love hearing how it is thatpeople made that decision to go
ahead and do it right?
Because there is the level ofcourage in that.
Now, I know that you said thatthere was.
a previous society orassociation of the independent
bookseller.
I mean, you weren't a bookstoreowner.
Right.
Right.
And so it's still where youjumped in and you recreated
(19:25):
something and took it a stepfurther.
I I'd say, because I mean, nowwe're in the 2020s.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And there's a difference in howwe let people know about events.
Right.
Right.
And you have to kind And so howis it that you were able to be
(19:46):
like, okay, I can do this?
Rachel (19:49):
I really think it was meeting some of these bookstore
owners, knowing the labor oflove that it was for them,
knowing the time and energy theyput into it and knowing that if
more people knew about it, morepeople would love it.
Love that, you know, going intothose places and that so much of
it really is just about exposureand my experience being someone
(20:11):
who was an outsider coming toAnn Arbor, I know that there are
a lot of other people who havethat same experience and that
more people would again, if theyjust had, you know, had that
understanding.
And so I think for me, I reallyfelt called to do it.
Like, I really felt like I wasthis vehicle because I did feel
like I had this uniqueperspective of.
Having come to Ann Arbor becauseof the bookstores and working in
(20:34):
an independent bookstore for along time and seeing the
challenges of that, I just, Idon't know, I just felt like it
was like I didn't have a choice,you know, that it was just kind
of like, this is, you know, Thisis where I'm, I'm supposed to go
next.
Rosanita (20:48):
Were you doing this on your own or did you have other
people to, to help with settingthe foundation?
Rachel (20:54):
One of the things that's so humbling about starting a
nonprofit is you really arestarting it from nothing.
And if my dream was to open arestaurant or a bookstore, I
could have gone to the bank.
I could have gotten a loan andthen I'd have money to hire a
staff and rent a building.
But here, when you start anonprofit, you start with an
idea and that's all you have.
Right.
And then you hopefully getpeople to believe in that idea
(21:17):
and want to invest their timeand their energy and hopefully
their money into building it.
So really it was that I hadfound people at different times
who can help.
One of my earliestcollaborators, there was this
consortium of bookstores in themid nineties.
And there was this particulararticle I read called
independent bookstores unitewritten in 1994 by Kay Marsh,
(21:37):
who at the time was the managerof little professor.
And I knew of Kay.
I knew her daughter.
And so in 2016, I actually wasable to connect with Kay.
And she became an earlycollaborator for the book
society.
And you know, she had worked atBorders for a long time in the
eighties.
And so, you know, she, and sheowned Main Street News.
(21:57):
So she also had been embedded inthe book community for a long
time.
So she really just instantly gotit, what I was trying to do.
And actually the funny thing is,is When I started, it was also
called the Ann Arbor IndependentBooksellers Association because
I was thinking in terms of thebookstores, but we realized
early on that not only is thatsuch a long tongue twister of a
(22:19):
name, it confuses people intothinking it's an association for
bookstores.
For the bookstores, like it's amembership association when it's
really an association for thecommunity, for the readers.
So Kay really helped me in thebeginning, refine what our focus
was.
And then slowly over time, Ibuilt a board.
I did all kinds of research onapplying for nonprofit status.
(22:41):
I filed all that paperworkmyself and was one of my
proudest moments when I got theIRS.
Nation is a 501c3.
And so it's just been over time,just like building a board,
getting volunteers.
The same kind of exposure that Iwas trying to gain for the
bookstores and the bookcommunity, I'm also trying to
gain for the book society.
So where we are now is justreally getting people to know
(23:03):
that we exist.
And honestly, one of the mainthings we do is our book town
map.
Which is a free map that wedistribute to all the places on
the map, which is theindependent bookstores, the
Kiwanis or share house placesthat you can get really
affordable books.
And we're trying to get itdistributed into hotels now.
And I'm always so excited whensomebody, I mentioned to them
(23:24):
that I founded the Ann ArborBook Society and say, I have
that map on my refrigerator, youknow?
So I feel like, okay, we'remaking it.
People have heard of us outsideof me talking about it.
They're seeing us.
and around town.
Rosanita (23:38):
That's s having the map placed in when you were
mentioning a weekend of it?
I fully I went to Vegas, I wasat But there's a bookstore
there.
It's an antique bookstore.
And I was like, no, no, you cango ahead.
(24:00):
I'll be here amongst the booksfrom Oh, this was published in
1874.
I'll be right here with this.
Right?
So what that map being in ahotel, someone who came for,
say, the game, right, andthey're tailgating downtown or
celebrating a victory.
They could also wander into oneof those bookstores and I just,
(24:26):
I think that's great.
Rachel (24:27):
Oh yeah.
And, and really I'm alwaysgetting really positive feedback
from the booksellers.
They say, you know, they lovegiving these maps to their
customers and their faces justlight up when they go, Oh my
gosh, it's a trifold map.
You open it up and there's allthese.
places and they're just sosurprised and delighted to see
this thing.
They thought, Oh, I'm just goinginto this bookstore today.
And now they're like, Oh, Imight be going to several more
(24:50):
bookstores or I might go to, youknow, Kiwanis or share house or
the PTO for shop, you know, andfind some great deals on books.
So yeah, I'm really proud of themap.
Our being able to distribute themap is only limited by the
funding that we receive, whichhasn't been much because we're
really just, you know, donationbased at this point, but I just
recently started asking forsponsorships.
(25:12):
for our map.
And so our goal is to try toprint and distribute 10, 000
maps this year.
So I think up until now, sincewe started in 2016, we've
distributed 17, 000 maps.
So if we could distributeanother 10 this year, that would
be a real victory for us.
Rosanita (25:28):
So to donate, would people just go to the website?
Yes.
Yep.
Rachel (25:34):
Yeah, we do have a page on our website for donations.
Rosanita (25:37):
Yeah, you, you mentioned just donations.
Is there a friends of kind ofmembership program potentially
in the works for later on,
Rachel (25:49):
you know, we haven't really thought about that, but,
you know, that's a possibility.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Right now.
We've just been.
You know, I'm giving Tuesday orsomething kind of reminding
people of who we are.
But I mean, I I've been gratefulthat there are people who
believe in what we do and they,they want to support it.
So, and really we were luckybecause when the Ann Arbor book
festival dissolved.
(26:09):
They actually donated the restof their funds to us.
So that really helped to sustainus early on.
Rosanita (26:15):
Oh, wow.
What is it any other nonprofit?
They do have to donate what'sleft to an organization.
But I think that says a lotabout the belief that the board
had in what what it is that youguys are trying to do.
Rachel (26:30):
Yes, I agree.
It was a real honor.
And yeah, we really appreciatedthe funds, but you know, it was
bittersweet because that meantthat the Ann Arbor book festival
was dissolved, which was reallya great festival that we loved
having in Ann Arbor for manyyears.
Rosanita (26:45):
Yeah, but we still have the Kerrytown Book
Festival, the, is itAntiquarian?
Rachel (26:52):
Yeah, Ann Arbor Antiquarian Festival.
Yep.
And the Kerrytown Book Festivaljust recently changed its name
to the A2 Community BookFestival, I believe.
So, yes, we still have those twoand, you know, the literary walk
is in Chelsea every year andthere are some bigger like
Detroit started having afestival about maybe five years
(27:13):
ago.
So that's that's actually apretty, pretty big thing.
So, so we do try to.
You know, promote things thatare happening in other places.
And one of the things, like youmentioned, going to Las Vegas,
one of the things I love to dois a bookstore road trip,
because anytime I'm traveling,you know, in the state of
Michigan or anywhere else, ofcourse I'm going to find a
bookstore there.
So, so we, we have a feature onour website called Bookstore
(27:36):
Road Trip, where we will go tobookstores around.
you know, Michigan and interviewthe owners and take pictures and
talk a little bit about thoseplaces to encourage people in
their travels to find abookstore wherever they end up.
Rosanita (27:51):
It wasn't a bookstore road trip, but I do know that
whenever we go visit mygrandparents in Grand Rapids, my
grandmother would always haveeither books waiting for us or
little gift cards for what'scalled Pooh's Corner after
Winnie the Pooh.
And it was.
Just this little cute,independent bookstore in one of
(28:16):
the malls there.
And what always stood out to meis, yeah, like, they had a great
variety of the authors you'd seeevery day, but for a city that
was considered prettyconservative, they also had a
really good selection of AfricanAmerican books.
(28:36):
Books with black characters andby black authors for kids.
I mean, it was an entire kidsbookstore, right?
And, you know, now when we talkabout it, it was kind of like,
it's this new thing aboutmulticultural books, but it
existed in the past.
It was just a lot harder to findback then there weren't as many
(29:00):
authors, but we still had it.
And it was in some of theseindependent bookstores that we
could.
That we could find the books forkids that, you know, where we
were like, Oh, there's acharacter that looks like me,
or, you know, that we couldrelate to on that aspect.
Yeah,
Rachel (29:17):
yeah.
And I think that's what makesindependent bookstores so
special is that.
I mean, everyone you're going towalk into is going to be
different because they'reinformed by the buyers of that
store.
Right.
And, and hopefully they'refinding things to reflect the
community that comes into thatstore.
Right.
And so I think that that's, youknow, it makes it so special as
(29:39):
opposed to going to Barnes andNoble, where, you know, that
these are, these are the NewYork times bestselling books.
I mean, I personally go into thebookstore to find those books.
under the radar books thatyou're not hearing about.
That's what I think a goodindependent bookstore does well,
is to introduce you tosomething.
That you didn't already knowabout.
Right.
Rosanita (29:56):
Right.
Oh, no, for sure.
That's what my mom does whenshe's looking for books for all
the kids who she's adopted ashonorary grandchildren, but
she'll go in and, you know,there are all the books that are
on display, but she'll spend Um,and then I would spend the time
for the ones that are tuckedinto the shelves and pull them
(30:16):
out and look through them and,you know, really go, okay, which
kid is going to like this, orI'm looking for this specific
kid and, you know, let me lookthrough all of the ones until I
find the perfect book for them.
Rachel (30:30):
Yeah,
Rosanita (30:31):
yeah, it's a great scavenger hunt being yes
bookstore.
Right?
Because oh, yeah, once you makeyour way through the different
sections, you found that 1 bookor 20 that right?
Rachel (30:44):
Yeah, it's more likely the case.
Rosanita (30:48):
That's it for this week's episode of Behind the
Curtain.
Thank you for joining me andRachel Pastiva in our
fascinating discussion about theAnn Arbor Book Society and the
vibrant literary community itnurtures.
Rachel's passion and dedicationare truly inspiring and we can't
wait to dive even deeper intoher journey and the impact of
(31:08):
the Ann Arbor Book Society, andour next episode.
Stay tuned for part two, wherewe'll explore more about the
challenges and triumphs offostering a love for reading and
connecting authors, readers andbookstores.
Remember, if you enjoy today'sepisode, please subscribe, leave
a review and share it with yourfriends.
(31:29):
For more updates and behind thescenes content, follow us on
social media.
Until next time, keep exploringthe stories that inspire you and
don't forget to support yourlocal independent bookstores.
This is Rosanita Ratcliffsigning off.
Happy reading.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.