Booksellers gathered Wednesday morning at Winter Institute 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the American Booksellers Association's Community Forum. The hour-long event, which has replaced the ABA's Town Hall, saw booksellers call for the association to put its platform and advocacy structure to use in support of Palestine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza; reaffirm its support for BIPOC booksellers; and radically rethink the bookselling model.
The forum's charged atmosphere was reminiscent of the Town Hall at Winter Institute 12 in Minneapolis, Minn., seven years ago, where booksellers from around the country called for the ABA to diversify its board of directors and take a more proactive role in fostering greater diversity in bookselling.
Far and away the largest topic of conversation yesterday was Palestine. As soon as the floor opened to audience members, a bookseller from Richmond, Va., asked the ABA to show its "vocal and unequivocal support for a free Palestine, an immediate ceasefire, and an end to antisemitism."
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| ABA CEO Allison Hill (far left) and the board yesterday. | |
A succession of booksellers, including one from New York City and another from Lincoln, Neb., wondered what sorts of internal conversations the ABA and its board have had about advocacy related to Palestine, and remarked on the absence of any specific panel discussions and speakers regarding the subject at this year's conference. One called it "an elephant in the room," and a bookseller from the Sacramento, Calif., area said she "could not believe" it took some 48 hours at Winter Institute for her to hear someone on stage mention Palestine.
Others, including a bookstore owner from Arkansas and another from Southern California, emphasized that they wanted "actionable steps" they could take as booksellers and, noting the possibility of backlash, harassment, and loss of customers for hosting pro-Palestinian speakers or selling pro-Palestinian books, said they did not feel supported by the ABA in that regard. On the subject of actionable steps, a bookseller read a portion of the open letter by Booksellers for Palestine, which so far has gathered more than 300 signatures.
A bookseller from Richmond, Va., said, "We are doing what we can locally, in our communities, but we are here these days together to harness our strength as our collective, and we are asking you, board members, ABA, as voices of our collective, to speak for us and with us for an end to genocide in Palestine and everywhere." At her invitation to "stand up against genocide," booksellers across the room rose to their feet, with a few chanting "free Palestine."
Danny Caine, board member and co-owner of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kan., stressed that the board was "here to listen and we are listening," and apologized for the "lack of urgency" on the subject, saying that the comments during the forum as well as during the previous days of the conference have "renewed our urgency" in discussing it.
ABA CEO Allison Hill said she sees the association's role as "providing you all with support," and when it came to conference programming, the team had tried to "thread" relevant educational programming, such as anti-racist training and de-escalation training, throughout the schedule.
The owner of a Black bookstore in Minnesota took the floor to say that it was "not enough" to simply invite Black people and people of color to these events and ask them to sit on panels and boards if, at the end of the day, "all of the content of this week is still aimed towards white people." Throughout the entire week, she continued, people of color have seemed like an "afterthought," and she noted that in rep pick sessions, there would be long stretches of time during which she did not hear about a single book written by a non-white author. She called for the ABA to "do better."
The founder and owner of a Black bookstore and creative space in Los Angeles, Calif., said she had "felt very invisible" at both this Winter Institute and the previous year's conference, and pointed out that while she has seen some "incremental change," it is not enough. She acknowledged considering if it would even be worthwhile attending Wi again and asked, if the ABA truly does want a more diverse membership, what can be done "beyond being on a committee?"
There were also calls for bookselling to explore ways to "move away from capitalism," as well as radically "rethink fulfillment and terms." On the subject of alternative models and futures for bookselling, Jeff Deutsch, a board member and executive director of Chicago's Seminary Co-op Bookstores, the first not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling, said he and other members of the board are deeply interested in the subject, and would love to hear from anyone with thoughts as to alternative models. --Alex Mutter
*Editors' Note: Given the potential for harassment both online and off, Shelf Awareness has chosen to omit the names of many of the booksellers who spoke during the Community Forum. Should booksellers who recognize their words wish to have their name and bookstore mentioned, please reach out to alex@shelf-awareness.com.