Left on Read, a bookstore highlighting Black authors and diverse voices, will open on Saturday in Wichita, Kan., KAKE.com reported.
Store owner Latasha Kelly, a professor at George Mason University and the University of Maryland Global Campus, and founder of media company TMBP Media, has found a space at 612 E. Douglas Ave., Suite 200, in downtown Wichita. The bookstore will carry a wide assortment of titles from Black authors, and Kelly plans to host community events centered on representation and empowerment.
Kelly told KAKE that she chose to open her own bookstore due to the lack of Black authors she's observed in other bookstores. And the name, she added, comes from the fact that historically, authors of color have been "left on read."
She also emphasized that while everyone will be welcome at Left on Read, it will be "a space that is unapologetically promoting and supporting and amplifying Black voices."
Kelly plans to be open for business on November 30.