Pittsburgh bookstores to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day
In this age of glowing screens and digital discourse, there’s something comforting about the printed word.
No batteries. No wires. No pop-up ads. Just you, the page, and the words.
And just as every book can be unique, bookstores — indie bookstores, to be sure — are special, too. And that’s the idea behind Independent Bookstore Day.
Held annually on the last Saturday in April, the day is about unplugging and heading out to a brick-and-mortar location to get hands-on with a book.
The idea began in 2014 as California Bookstore Day, put together by the Northern and Southern California Independent Booksellers Associations. The concept caught on and the following year it was renamed Independent Bookstore Day with 353 bookstores across the country participating, Samantha Schoech, program director for Independent Bookstore Day, tells Vox.
Schoech says this year there should be at least 580 stores invovled.
Several of Pittsburgh’s indie bookstores will join in with special events.
• City of Asylum Bookstore on the North Side will feature limited edition merchandise, raffles, giveaways, along with appearances by Brittany Thurman, Rick Sebak, and Alternate Histories’s Matthew Buchholz — each of whom will on hand to help you pick out a good book.
• In addition to appearances by local authors, White Whale Books in Bloomfield will offer special items, such as pins, totes, and onesies, along with a raffle and snacks.
• The Tiny Bookstore in Ross is celebrating the day with an April Book Swap, where readers can bring in books (in good condition and published after Jan. 1, 2010) for trade.
• In McCandless, Riverstone Books will also mark the day with a collection of free collectibles — pins, stickers, posters, poems, and pamphlets — for the literary minded.
• Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont will kick things off with coffee, doughnuts and mimosas from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The store also will feature exclusive merchandise, a raffle, and children’s activities.
Curious about Pittsburgh’s other indie bookstores, Very Local Pittsburgh’s site has a great comprehensive list.
Chris Pastrick is a TribLive digital producer. An Allegheny County native, he began working for the Valley News Dispatch in 1993 and joined the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at cpastrick@triblive.com.
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