BIPOC Coffee Breaks, Forum Coming Up

Last week, the American Booksellers Association hosted its quarterly forum for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color booksellers, who joined together virtually to discuss any matters of bookselling they chose.

For this event, ABA CEO Allison Hill, COO Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, IndieCommerce Senior Manager Geetha Nathan, and Senior Membership Manager Daniel O’Brien were in attendance to hear questions, ideas, and concerns from members so that ABA can improve its support of BIPOC booksellers and BIPOC bookstore owners.

Unlike Coffee Breaks, where there is no ABA staffer in attendance, an ABA staff member is present at the BIPOC Forums to address items of concern and note actionable tasks. Topics at this forum included improving representation in the publishing industry, advice for newly opened or soon-to-be-open bookstores in attendance, and the experiences of those in attendance. This was ABA’s second quarterly BIPOC Forum; next quarter’s BIPOC Forum will occur in April.

BIPOC Coffee Breaks are continuing, with the next one coming up on February 11 at 6:00 p.m. ET. BIPOC Coffee Breaks are currently held the second Thursday of every month.

A Winter Institute BIPOC meetup is scheduled for February 18 at 8:05 p.m. ET, but the event is open to non-Winter Institute attendees as well.

Booksellers can email [email protected] for Zoom login details for the Coffee Breaks.