ABA Continues BIPOC Coffee Break Series on August 6

The American Booksellers Association has scheduled a second virtual forum for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) bookseller members.

The next BIPOC Coffee Break will take place on Thursday, August 6, at 6:00 p.m. ET on Zoom.

This forum, which is open to all booksellers who identify as BIPOC, is a place for booksellers and bookstore owners to gather for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. Booksellers who do not identify as BIPOC — Black, Indigineous, or People of Color — and BIPOC allies should not plan to attend.

This will be a non-hosted opportunity; there will not be a facilitator and ABA staff will not be in attendance other than to let people into the room. Hosting responsibilities will be turned over to an attendee. 

The meeting’s logistics are based on a survey of those who previously expressed interest in attending the July BIPOC session. The results indicated a majority preference for this date/time and the inclusion of ABA Board BIPOC bookstore owners/booksellers who would like to attend. Opinions on whether there should be a facilitator were split evenly, so the August session will not have a facilitator but the September session will. ABA will continue to solicit feedback to inform plans moving forward.

Booksellers interested in attending should email [email protected] for the Zoom login details. The login details are different from the regular Coffee Breaks. Booksellers can also email [email protected] if they are having trouble logging in to the meeting.