This year marks the 10th anniversary for Independent Bookstore Day, the national one-day party celebrating bookstores, and below is a look at what some indies around the country have planned for Saturday, April 29.
The Greater Charlotte Book Crawl has returned for its second year and features 15 participating bookstores in and near Charlotte, N.C. Passports have been available at participating stores since April 1, and customers have until April 29 to visit as many as they can.
Readers who collect all 15 stamps will receive a special edition vinyl decal designed by a local artist and will be entered into the grand prize drawing. The grand prize winner will receive gift cards from all participating stores totaling $300. More details, and a complete list of participating bookstores, can be found here.
The week-long Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl will begin on April 22 and include 25 bookstores this year, from Bay Ridge in the south to Greenpoint in the north. Customers who collect five stamps from participating stores will receive a 25% off coupon to use at any of the 25 bookstores, and each stamp will count as a raffle ticket to be used at the afterparty on Independent Bookstore Day.
On April 29, the Center for Fiction will host an open house from noon till 5 p.m. followed by an IBD afterparty. There will be drinks, raffles, and plenty of bookstore swag. More details about the afterparty will be announced soon.
Twenty-three stores across the Minneapolis and St. Paul area have once more teamed up with Rain Taxi to create the Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Day Passport. This year's passports have been illustrated by artist Kevin Cannon, and among the bookstores joining for the first time are Comma in Linden Hills and Black Garnet Books in St. Paul. Uncle Hugo's & Uncle Edgar's, now in a new location, have also returned to the festivities.
Bookstore customers have between April 24 and April 29 to collect stamps from participating stores. Each stamp received activates a coupon for that store, and there will be a variety of prizes, including literary packs from sponsors and a grand prize of two dozen books from each of the participating stores.
More than 40 stores are taking part this year in the Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl. Readers who visit 10 stores on April 29 and get their passports stamped will receive 10% off at participating bookstores for an entire year, while those who visit 15 stores will receive 15% off. Last year, more than 100 people went to 10 stores in a single day and more than 40 visited 15.
More information can be found at ChiLoveBooks.com, and on April 29 readers will be encouraged to post pictures of their purchases on social media using the hashtag #ChiLoveBooks.
In Wichita, Kan., Watermark Books is celebrating IBD with a special storytime and art activity for children, a signing with local author Jill Miller (Never Finished) and a poetry reading featuring poets from the anthology Level Land: Poems For and About the I-35 Corridor. Additionally, Watermark will be rolling out new store shirts and there will be free cookies, a prize wheel, and special deals for shoppers who wear their Watermark merch.