Rebel Bookseller in Pittsburgh

I've invited Andrew Laties, longtime bookseller and author of Rebel Bookseller, to Pittsburgh (from Massachusetts) for an event next Monday, October 3rd. Copacetic Comics (Polish Hill) is graciously sponsoring this event, and one phase of the event will be held downstairs at Lili Coffee Shop. Laties thinks that 2011 is a great time to open a bookstore, and he'll tell you why. Event schedule will be as follows:

Rebel Bookseller in Pittsburgh
6:00pm: Meet & greet with author Andrew Laties upstairs at Copacetic Comics
7:00pm: Reading & panel discussion downstairs at Lili Coffee Shop
8:00pm: Book signing upstairs at Copacetic

The subtitle of the book, "Why Indie Bookstores Represent Everything You Want to Fight for from Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities" makes me think of the resilience of, and communities that surround, so many mom and pop stores in Pittsburgh, as well as the creativity that drives so many Pittsburgh small business ventures. I should note that Rebel Bookseller, although a chronicle of Laties' years of starting and running indie bookstores, has been embraced as a helpful manual by indie businesses of various kinds. The book is now out in its second edition on Seven Stories Press but was originally published by Vox Pop (a Brooklyn bookstore/cafe and publisher opened by Laties and Sander Hicks) in 2005.

As part of Laties' visit, I've organized a panel discussion with local store owners in some kind of transition. Bill Boichel at Copacetic has been selling comics in the Pittsburgh area for over 30 years; he just moved his bookstore from Squirrel Hill to Polish Hill a little over a year ago and added a branch at the Toonseum about 6 months before that. Frank Oreto has been co-running Eljay's Used Books since the mid-90s and recently relocated the store to Dormont from the South Side. And Jovon Higgins recently opened 720 Music, Clothing, & Cafe on Butler Street with her partner; the store also sells select music books and lifestyle magazines, and the space hosts readings, book talks, and music events. Pittsburgh mom and pop businesses seem to be doing well overall (whenever I go back to New York, I see more and more small businesses shuttering and chains moving in), and community seems to be a big part of that success: I want to hear more from these indie entrepreneurs about how their businesses build sustaining communities. The event was also definitely inspired by the event site: 3138 Dobson opened last May as a triple-threat of indie businesses: bookstore, record store, and groovy cafe. The building has become a favorite hangout and the gem of the neighborhood.

I invite other small business owners as well as anyone interested in bookstores, the future of Pittsburgh storefronts, the semiotics of indie businesses, or grassroots urban planing to come to the event and join in the conversation.

Panel Discussion: "Indie Bookstores and Small Businesses Creating Communities"
Andrew Laties, Rebel Bookseller author
Bill Boichel, Copacetic Comics
Jovon Higgins, 720 Music, Clothing, & Cafe
Frank Oreto, Eljay's Used Books
Karen Lillis--moderator

Rebel Bookseller in Pittsburgh
Monday, October 3rd
6:00-9:00pm
3138 Dobson Street
Polish Hill

Facebook event page is here.

More Small Press Tourism in Pittsburgh

As seen on the Short List in City Paper:
LITERARY READING:
Mike Faloon (stories) and James Jay (poetry)
with ArtNoose (zinester)
Monday, July 12th
7:00pm
Cyberpunk Apocalypse House
5431 Carnegie St
Upper Lawrenceville
Pittsburgh
Free/Donations Appreciated

I'm very excited to welcome writer and editor, Mike Faloon to Pittsburgh tomorrow, Monday, July 12 at the wonderful Cyberpunk Apocalypse Writer's House. Mike will be reading from his new book of stories out on Gorsky Press, THE HANGING GARDENS OF SPLIT ROCK. He is touring with the poet James Jay, whose new book THE JOURNEYMEN, is also on Gorsky, a small press based in LA.

I have had the privilege of working with Mike through his truly great punk zine, GO METRIC, and I can attest to the fact that he's a hilarious storyteller. He also contributed to the Richard Leck Memorial Reading, and although he was not able to attend, you can see Tom Hendrickson reading Mike's very funny tribute to Richard on Youtube.


Do come out to the reading on Monday and support Small Press Tourism in Pittsburgh (Mike and James are on a reading tour from New York and Arizona respectively), the great venue Cyberpunk Apocalypse in Upper Lawrenceville, and three great readers: Cyberpunk resident Artnoose will represent as the local writer. And I can't promise, but there are often vegan treats at Cyberpunk events.

Read more about the books here.

Lit News: Novelist Michael Kimball Visits Pittsburgh This Week

I'm really excited that novelist Michael Kimball is coming from Baltimore to read TWICE in Pittsburgh this week. I could tell you that I loved his heartbreaking and tragicomic new book, Dear Everybody, in which we get to read the thank you notes and apologies a suicided young weatherman left behind, but why take my word for it when you could take the LA Times', Time Out New York's, The Believer's, New Pages', or Just Listen Book Reviews'. Dear Everybody has been getting non-stop rave reviews for several months, and you shouldn't miss this opportunity to see Kimball read from it.

For a taste of the readings, check out this beautiful video for the book, an excerpt in the author's voice that plays like a visual short story: Dear Everybody, the Book Trailer

Kimball is also the author of the ongoing blog and forthcoming book, "Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a Postcard)".

Michael Kimball reads on:
Monday, March 16th @ 7:30 pm
University of Pittsburgh English Department
Cathedral of Learning
5th floor, room 501

and

Wednesday, March 18th @ 8:00 pm
TNY Presents at ModernFormations Gallery
4919 Penn Avenue
$5 or free with pot luck item
with Kelly Ramsey, Andy Mulkerin, & Colin Baxter

"Pittsburgh Small Presses" opens Friday, May 2nd

The May exhibition at the "Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery" is "Pittsburgh Small Presses". About a dozen of Pittsburgh's small presses will be represented, with plenty of interesting work available for purchase. The show opens this Friday, May 2nd, with a reading from 6 - 8 pm, and the reception continuing to 10 pm with live music. It should be a lot of fun.

The Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery is located at 5015 Penn Avenue in Garfield.

More Japan in Pittsburgh

This just in: New York author and debut novelist, Ellis Avery, will be reading from The Teahouse Fire in Pittsburgh on March 13th. Her novel is set in late 19th century Japan, and is based in part on her five years spent studying the tea ceremony, both in New York and Kyoto. The book is getting rave reviews, from the LA Times, Publisher's Weekly, and everyone inbetween. “Beneath the beautiful surface of Avery's artfully controlled prose...the novel's essential question is that of desire: By what ceremonies, through what pains and past what obstacles must we endure in order to have not just any life but the one we most want to claim as our own?” --Buffalo Artvoice; and “Ellis Avery's research included a stay in Kyoto where she studied the tea ceremony, but that alone doesn't account for her perceptiveness about Japan; she's simply a keen cultural observer.” --Japundit

See more at Ellis' website

This reading, reception and book signing will be on March 13th, 6:30pm, at University of Pittsburgh--Room 501 of the Cathedral of Learning. Free and open to the public.