Where do you work and how long have you been there?
I've been in my current position as Store Manager at 57th Street Books for three years and have worked in Chicago Bookselling for 18 years.

Where might we be surprised that you have also worked?
Most of my jobs have been in or around paper products of some sort (library page, magazine printer, paperboy), but once I worked in a clothing warehouse where the company's sole purpose was sewing logo patches onto work uniforms for other organizations. My job consisted of one hour of receiving and sorting our shipments on the docks in the morning, followed by 7 straight hours of organizing rows of pants by size. It was a lot like organizing books...if all of the books on your shelves were the same title in different editions...and if the title was a book you weren't interested in. I regularly brought a book with me in my pocket and just read while hiding in the clothing racks. It's the most reading I've done on a job ever.

What do you like to read? What's your current favorite book to handsell?
I primarily read literature in translation. I don't speak or read any other languages, but have always been hungry for new perspectives and experiences of the world. While the utterly brilliant works of Valeria Luiselli (Coffee House Press) are my go-to for handselling, I've also been recommending Ann Quin's The Unmapped Country to anyone who will listen lately. She was a British novelist in the 60's & 70's who I often describe as Virginia Woolf if Virginia Woolf grew up working class and hung out at your favorite dive bar singing along to the jukebox and occasionally starting a fight.

Who are you when you're not in the store?
A workaholic...Ha! But also, I love to cook. I nearly quit bookselling to go to culinary school about 10 years ago, but decided against it. Each week, I cook something new from my ever-growing collection of cookbooks. My rule is if I've owned a cookbook for over a year and haven't made anything from it, I get rid of it. I also have a side-business where I sell vintage advertising and collectibles, focusing on print ads from the 40's, 50's and 60's. The evolution of advertising and consumer coercion is fascinating to me.

What's your favorite bookstore other than the one you work in?
Just one? Sorry, but I'm cheating. Here in Chicago, Unabridged Bookstore, Pilsen Community Books, and their newest location, The Dial Bookshop. Outside of Chicago, Green Apple Books and Music is a store I spend entire days in when I am in San Francisco. My San Francisco trip itinerary is basically Green Apple Books, delicious food at State Bird Provisions, and day-long games of pétanque in Golden Gate Park. Pétanque is the kind of sport you can play with one hand... and hold a beer in the other hand the entire time...or a book.

​When did your store open and where are you located?
Ed Devereux opened Unabridged on November 1st, 1980. The shop is nestled in the heart of East Lakeview in Chicago, Illinois.

Tell us something interesting about your store. 
Unabridged is one of the country’s oldest gay bookstores. Over the years we’ve transformed into a full-service new bookstore, but we maintain a strong focus on queer literature. Unabridged is UNUSUAL in that Ed only employs full-time booksellers, all of whom receive benefits and vacation time and are paid a living wage. For this reason our staff has very little turnover—between the 7 of us we have something like 150 years of bookselling experience.

Do you have a holiday tradition at the store?
We host an annual holiday party the second Saturday of December celebrating our favorite books of the year. If you live in or around the city, you should come! There’s nothing quite like watching a group of literary-minded Midwesterners really let their hair down.

What's the most memorable event or moment at your store?
We held a pretty stellar small press party at the shop the last time BEA was in town wherein we convinced our out-of-town guests that chasing a shot of Malört with a sport pepper was a cherished Chicago tradition. We were hugely entertained. Our guests were somewhat less so. 

What bookstore do you consider to be a hidden gem?
Folks who haven’t explored much outside of Chicago may never have visited The Book Table in Oak Park. The store’s owners, Rachel and Jason, are dyed-in-the-wool booksellers who employ a passionate and knowledgeable staff. If you haven’t had a chance to visit, beat a path to OP posthaste!

Where do you work and how long have you been there?
I’ve worked at Chicago’s Unabridged Bookstore for nearly eight years. I wear many hats at the shop, including frontlist buyer, events coordinator, remainder buyer, and book club moderator. I also manage our social media accounts.

Where might we be surprised that you have also worked?
For a brief jaunt between undergrad and Unabridged I worked as a canvasser for Amnesty International, the ASPCA, Planned Parenthood, and a few other charitable organizations. Be kind to those folks when you see them on the street! It is punishing work.

What do you like to read? What's your current favorite book to handsell?
When left to my own devices I mostly read literary fiction with a focus on translated literature and experimental lit. I gravitate toward elegiac novels about time, memory, and death, or hybrid texts that incorporate visual and/or autofictional elements. My favorite books are ones that challenge my expectations and force me to look at the world in a new way. My current favorite book to handsell is How We Get Free (Haymarket Books), a remarkable book that tracks the development of the Combahee River Collective, a Black feminist lesbian organization active in Boston during the 1970s.

Who are you when you're not in the store?
When I’m not at work you can often find me geeking out over architecture and historic preservation, maintaining an amateur photography practice, wandering through cemeteries, tweaking pie recipes, biking long distances in search of used books and/or beer, and running. I’m also the unofficial ringleader of the CBBC (@chibooksellers on IG), a frontlist book club by and for Chicago-area booksellers.

What's your favorite bookstore other than the one you work in?
What a question! Over the last couple of years I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Los Angeles visiting friends, and I always make a point of swinging by Skylight Books. Their backlist recommendations are second to none, I never leave empty handed.

When did your store open and where are you located?
1978 Louisville, Kentucky

Tell us something interesting about your store. 
The name is a combination of the owner's first names, Carol Besse and Michael Boggs. When someone calls for Mr. Carmichael it's a dead giveaway that we can "take a message". 

Do you have a holiday tradition at the store
On Christmas Eve, a bunch of employees make treats and we put them all out on the front counter for customers. Harried shoppers love to be able to get a piece of homemade fudge as they wait for their gifts to be wrapped.

What's the most memorable event or moment at your store?
That's tough--we are filled with 40 years of memories! A great one is when Simon & Schuster called to ask if we could host Stephen King (of course!) and then told us the date. It was, literally, the only date in the history of the store we couldn't do it... the same date as Miranda's wedding (the co-owners' daughter and store manager!) After a bit of begging, we managed to switch dates with another store and so we hosted him the day AFTER her wedding. We were all tired and a bit frazzled but pulled it off.

What bookstore do you consider to be a hidden gem?
Birchbark Books and Gifts in Minneapolis. It’s such a lovely, locally flavored, beautifully curated store with quirky details that you could never replicate. We all strive for that kind of feeling and they do it perfectly. 

What is one book you would be embarrassed not to have?
To Kill a Mockingbird

Where do you work and how long have you been there?
Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky. My aunt and uncle started the store in 1978 so you could say my entire life, but I started dusting shelves when I was 13 or 14.

Where might we be surprised that you have also worked?
No real surprises! I've had a few other jobs than the bookstore, but nothing that lasted too long. But my first "job" was a gymnastic instructor. I was at the gym so much, they gave me my own class of 5 year olds!

What do you like to read? What's your current favorite book to handsell?
I read literary fiction almost exclusively. I'm really drawn to dark stories so sometimes I've have to warn people that I'm not a great person to recommend the light and airy read. Right now, though, I love selling News of the World by Paulette Jiles (William Morrow). I can so easily talk anyone into it (and it's not that dark!)

Who are you when you're not in the store?
A soccer mom, girl scout leader, and housekeeper. Kids 11 and 13 keep me pretty tied up!

What's your favorite bookstore other than the one you work in?
I've thought about this one so much and there are too many beautiful, amazing stores out there doing great work! But, I do just adore Wild Rumpus Books for Young Readers in Minneapolis. Chickens roaming around, a boat hanging from the ceiling, and a child-sized door at the entrance... it's a magical place.