Around Indies

Sarah McNally Featured in Poets & Writers

Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Jackson Books in New York City, is featured in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers. McNally, who is described in the article as “a wonderful presence,” grew up in Canada as part of a bookselling family and brought her experience to New York.

Since its opening six year ago, her NoLita (North of Little Italy) bookstore, which Poets & Writers called “beautiful” and “warm,” has become an integral part of the community.

McNally, who shared her thoughts with the magazine on a number of topics, said of being a neighborhood store: “We had the radical idea of giving people chairs. [Laughter.] The chains took out all their chairs because people were falling asleep in them, and literally dying in them. So we wanted to have a place, you know, where you could sit and relax and look at books. It was almost like taking the bookselling strategy that everyone else around the country had already figured out and bringing it to New York.”

The Dolphin Bookshop Wins Beautification Award

The Dolphin Bookshop, in Port Washington, New York, has been honored with the Golden Storefront Award for “adding beauty and charm to [a] vibrant retail intersection,” said Mindy Germain, executive director of Residents for a More Beautiful Port Washington. The community group, along with the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District, honors area businesses for maintaining an attractive storefront and well-groomed sidewalk.

Patti Vunk, owner of The Dolphin Bookshop, told Patchabout her theatrical window displays. “They need to capture people's eye when they drive by in cars but also have enough detail to be interesting for people walking around," she said.

Carol Besse Reads Essay on The Bob Edwards Show

On Saturday, Carol Besse, co-owner of Carmichael Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky, was featured on The Bob Edwards Show on Sirius Satellite Radio, where she read her “This I Believe” essay.

This I Believe is a non-profit organization that encourages people from different walks of life to share their values in essay-form.

In her essay, Besse reminisced about her childhood, and about growing up in the midst of a revolution. She believes the world could use a revolution now to protest an endless list of wrongs that are committed every day, and she touched on one of her passions: reading.

“We have already begun to see the disastrous effects of the decline in reading and literacy,” Besse said. “If people stop reading they are at the mercy of politicians and marketers and corporate hucksters of every sort. An uninformed populace is our greatest danger.”