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| Amber Collins at The Soul Book Nook | |
The Soul Book Nook will open at 110 E. Fourth St. in Waterloo, Iowa, on Saturday. Owner Amber Collins had tentatively planned a September 1 launch, but posted on Facebook Sunday: "Due to the overwhelming response and support we will be rescheduling our grand opening to Saturday, September 5th so that we can further accommodate the community and adhere to the public health requirements for Covid-19. Your continued support and encouragement is greatly appreciated."
Collins credits her mother for her love of reading. "As a girl, Collins would hop a plane, train or bus from Waterloo to south-central Los Angeles to spend summers with her mom--an avid reader, writer and poet who loved to send Collins books from her travels abroad," the Courier reported. "Part of that was taking her daughter to the Aquarian Bookshop.... The shop, which historians believe was the longest continuously-Black-owned bookstore in the U.S., was transformative for the young Collins, who recalled meeting black authors and celebrities at the store in the late 1980s."
"When I was little, she started to birth that love of reading and literacy," Collins said. "That was when I knew that I would one day own a bookstore. As I got older, that vision of what I would have in the book shop kept materializing."
With the help of her five daughters, including Shalaya, whose artwork will decorate the space, Collins said the Soul Book Nook is "going to be a place where, when you walk into it, you're gonna find the section that makes you feel like you belong."
While opening a new bookstore during the Covid-19 pandemic presented unusual challenges, "she's planned for that, noting she'll be taking reservations for groups to come in, and if she has live musicians or poets, they'll be in an upstairs loft with a window open to ventilate the air," the Courier wrote.
"I'm gonna tell you the truth: It was day by day. This is what I believe: The Holy Spirit was giving me direction," said Collins, who will also sell products from her wellness site, the Healing Source, and plans to offer book clubs, featured authors and hot beverages. "Physically coming to read a book, I believe, is fundamental to the well-being of a person's thoughts and minds and what they're feeling at the time. Come visit, come browse.... This is community."
Collins told KWWL News that books can help teens of color see themselves represented: "They don't have to be limited to a book where the story is always told that they ended up in teen pregnancy or the hero in the story is in a gang and gets killed, then their friends got killed. They need to see themselves in history, they need to see themselves in science, they need to see themselves adding to the power, education, and history of the country.... Everyone is welcome. There is a book here for everyone."