Around Indies

Source Booksellers Partners With Indie Publisher for Detroit Literary Tour

Indie publisher Ten 21 Press and Source Booksellers on Cass Avenue, a nonfiction specialty store, have partnered to create a new literary tour in Detroit, Michigan. The “Book Marked on Cass Avenue: Talk + Walk,” first held in May 2014, is a tribute to Charles Novacek, author of Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance, who died in 2007.

The inaugural tour was part of Lit in the Mitt Month, a celebration of the literary arts in Detroit. Following a reading and talk at Source Booksellers, Sandra Novacek, Charles’ widow, was joined by a tour guide who led attendees on a walk down historic Cass Avenue and to other local landmarks associated with the memoir.

“Independent publishers and independent bookstore are both looking for ways to market to their local audiences,” said Novacek. “This is one way to reach out and provide them with an opportunity to learn more about their store and books. It was fun and it really did work out.”

A second Cass Avenue tour is set for July 24, the city of Detroit’s birthday, and Novacek and store owner Janet Webster Jones are developing panel discussions for university students and the general public. Last year, they collaborated to create the bookstore’s first “Local Author Round About,” a special event held on Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Broadway Books’ Dyer Announces Plans to Retire

Roberta Dyer, the co-owner of Portland, Oregon’s Broadway Books, has announced her plans to retire at the end of the year. A bookseller for the past 44 years, Dyer said that she was ready to put aside her professional life and spend more time with her family, “do some traveling, garden a bit more, volunteer at a few places I love, and read more books.”

Sally McPherson plans to continue on as co-owner of the store, and she and Dyer have anoounced plans to sell 50 percent of the business.

Dyer said that she plans to help Broadway Books through the transition and would work occasionally if she were needed.

Interested parties can contact Dyer or McPherson at [email protected] or (503) 284-1726.

Magic Tree Owners Ready to Retire, Look for New Owners

This week, Rose Joseph and Iris Yipp, co-owners of The Magic Tree Bookstore in Oak Park, Illinois, also announced they were ready to retire and are putting the 30-year-old children’s specialty store, with a growing adult segment, up for sale. The store, which was recently renovated with the input of Paz & Associates, is about 1,600 square feet and is located in the Hemingway Historic District just west of Chicago.

The Magic Tree Bookstore hosts a full schedule of author and non-author events, both in the store and at schools and libraries. The store was recently a recipient of a grant in author James Patterson’s $1 million giveaway, which was used to buy new computers and updated software.

Joseph and Yipp invite interested parties to e-mail [email protected] or call (708) 848-0770.