Dozens of Indie Bookstores to Host Well-Read Black Girl Book Clubs

As part of the American Booksellers Association’s new partnership with Glory Edim to bring Well-Read Black Girl (WRBG) book club meetings to independent bookstores nationwide, booksellers are invited to e-mail [email protected] to sign up to host a book club or to share ideas; be sure to include your name, store name, city, and state.

Dozens of stores have already signed up to participate. Stores that sign on to host book clubs will:

• Be included in ABA promotion of the program in print and online
• Be featured on an interactive online map of locations hosting book clubs so interested readers can search by ZIP Code
• Receive marketing materials to use in-store and online to promote the book club
• Receive a window display kit from Random House
• Be invited to attend webinars about how to launch and host a WRBG book club

As events are scheduled, Edim, who launched Well-Read Black Girl in 2015, will promote indie bookstores on her social media platform and encourage followers to ask their local store to host a book club. In addition, Edim will lead a workshop at the seventh annual Children’s Institute in Pittsburgh in June to discuss best practices and tips for establishing a Well-Read Black Girl book club.

In September, each participating Well-Read Black Girl book club will read the same title (to be determined), and Edim will visit a number of indie bookstores and Skype into book clubs throughout the fall.

Well-Read Black Girl provides a vital space for black female readers and writers to connect and grow in conversation. Each month, Edim hosts book club meetings, readings, and Twitter chats (#WRBGChat) with emerging and established authors, and the thriving online community now has more than 192,000 Instagram followers, 46,700 Twitter followers, and 13,200 Facebook followers.

Edim is the winner of the 2017 Innovator’s Award from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and a board member of New York City’s Housing Works Bookstore. Her book Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves was published by Ballantine Books on October 30, 2018.

Keep an eye on upcoming issues of Bookselling This Week for more about this collaboration.