As
a special holiday treat, we’d like to share with you a video
clip prepared by local documentary-filmmakers Alex
Beckstead and Joelle Jaffe at our recent rib-tickling, tummy-filling
event for The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, A Christmas
Story. Warning: Daniel Handler, representative for Lemony
Snicket, and illustrator Lisa Brown appear in conversation; you
may find their remarks, whether verbatim or implied, to be not funny
and certainly offensive (please forward all complaints to nobother@booksmith.com).
And
now on to this past year’s chronicles…
As is customary at this time of year, we at The Booksmith are reflecting
on the many exciting, nail-biting, and momentous occurrences of
the past year. Of course the big news was that Christin and Praveen
purchased The Booksmith from founder Gary
Frank in June. They continue, as we all do, to be passionate about
keeping this great neighborhood institution humming. In the days
ahead they have plans to build on its foundation to create the Independent
Bookstore for the 21st century.
In
summary, here are the highlights of the past year and a glimpse
to the year ahead:
We continue to have a great line-up of author appearances. In
just the past few months we hosted Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William
Gibson, Ann Packer, and Frank Warren at the Booksmith. Poet
Laureate Robert Hass will join us for a rescheduled appearance
on January 22.
We are strengthening our community programs. Recent forays took
us to the Heart of Cole festival with a line-up of nine local
women authors, and a successful literary fair with Grattan Elementary
(The Booksmith was able to donate 20% of sales to the school).
We've also been refining our Children's Story Hour and will
resume it in the new year.
You’ll still see familiar faces when you come in as many
of the long-term staff of The Booksmith have stayed on. In addition,
we are expanding our team to create the best literary experiences
for you. Recent hires include the new Booksmith manager, Paula
Foley (also a Cole Valley resident) lately from Book Passage’s
Ferry Building store, and Kiara
Brinkman (local author and rising literary star).
Since we know so many of you are night owls, we expanded our
store hours : Mon-Sat 10am-10pm, and Sun 10am-8pm.
We started an online literary community to bring together people
who love books and independent bookstores: you can join us at
www.LitMinds.org
to meet readers and authors from around the world, read interviews
with literary innovators, and discover other great independent
bookstores.
We’ve
only just begun… and we invite you to join us in the adventures
ahead!
