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| Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas with Cori Smith (via) | |
BLK + BRWN bookstore opened Saturday at 104 1/2 West 39th Street in Kansas City, Mo., the Star reported, adding that owner Cori Smith "grew up reading Black writers such as Bell Hooks, Assata Shakur and Toni Morrison. Now, she's selling their books." Opening day was a big success.
Smith said she chose to open on Juneteenth, during Pride Month: "It felt very important and intentional to bring awareness about Black queerness and brown queerness and Black liberation. June to me is a month about freedom for all of those reasons." Prior to becoming a bookseller, Smith was the program director at Justice in the Schools, a project offering free legal services to students and families in the Kansas City and Hickman Mills school districts.
"I always was surrounded by Black and brown literature," Smith noted. "And so I always was just very interested in Black books, Black authors, stories about people that look like me. And so that's kind of been steadfast throughout my life."
Smith said her title selection at the bookshop is an effort to acquaint readers with genres they may not typically associate with Black writers: "I'm also trying to incorporate other books--just different genres that I feel like a lot of Black and brown people don't necessarily see or get a chance to experience from other Black and brown authors. Suspense and thrillers are things that I don't necessarily associate with Black and brown authors or stories that will have a character that looks like me."
When she chose BLK + BRWN's location, Smith was also thinking about accessibility. "I really, really wanted it to be in a neighborhood that felt very Black and brown," she said. "And it was very intentional for me to find a space where I could still get my foot in and still be surrounded by people within my community. This was perfect. Right next door to me, there's a barber shop that is predominantly Black and brown. And then on the other side of them is an African braiding salon. It just made sense. It was really good alignment that it just happened this way."