Chapters to Reorganize as Nonprofit

At yesterday's 20th anniversary celebration of Chapters, A Literary Bookstore in Washington, D.C., co-owners Terri Merz and Steve Moyer announced plans that would turn the store into a nonprofit entity. Their plans call for the store to be sold to the nonprofit foundation, Wordfest, which they originally created to fund the D.C. International Poetry Festival. According to the Washington Post, Merz stated that Wordfest would need to raise approximately $80,000 to cover the store's current debts and future operating expenses.

Merz said she is hoping to raise the funds through $50 contributions from 1,600 people and through a planned fundraiser. Chapters would then be bought out by Wordfest.

Moyer told BTW that donations were already coming in. "We just launched it last night, and we accepted donations last night," he said.

If Chapters is sold, the bookstore would not change, said Moyer. "We'll continue exactly the same way. We'll continue with the cultural events that we've always done, which are not necessarily commercially viable. We'll continue with the many, many poetry readings that we have, which bring small, but very appreciative audiences, and with events like [celebrating] Proust's birthday. We'll continue to work to enlarge the audience for poetry."