Independent Bookstore Day Coming May 2nd

Support your local bookstores because books, as you know, are sexy.  And National Bookstore Day is not just a great time to meet your latest favorite author, it’s also a great day to score exclusive literary merch and go to fun events at your local bookstore.

Following the runaway success of last year’s California Bookstore Day, bookstores across the nation are now preparing for Independent Bookstore Day, a country-wide celebration of books and independent bookstores on Saturday May 2nd. From SF to NYC and many of literate towns and cities in between, book lovers should mark their calendars for a day of readings, raffles, scavenger hunts, story times, music, parties, food trucks, and literary trivia.

In San Francisco, Booksmith will host a Mad Tea Party, Green Apple Books on the Park will transform itself into a pop-up pirate store (Daniel Handler, author of “We Are Pirates,” will be there), and at Books Inc. in the Castro, Dave Eggers will be on hand “to help you realize your truest social media self: by editing your dating profile.

Other participating stores will offer exclusive day-of merchandise created especially for Independent Bookstore Day. Items include a signed, original Chris Ware print; a signed chapbook of original essays by the bestselling author of Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay; a Margaret Atwood stencil, a literary map of the seas; a color broadside from Stephen King’s forthcoming novel Finders Keepers; an original signed, Captain Underpants print and much more. More than 65 authors have demonstrated their support for independent bookstores by donating work for IBD.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will be doing an awesome “Bike to Bookstores’ tour!
Starting location: Omnivore Books, 3885 Cesar Chavez St. @ 12 p.m.  RSVP HERE
Stop 1: Alley Cat Books, 3036 24th St.
Stop 2: Modern Times Bookstore Collective, 2919 24th St.
Stop 3: Borderlands Books, 866 Valencia St.
Stop 4: The Green Arcade, 1680 Market St.
Ending location: Green Apple Books on the Park, 1231 9th Avenue

Participating locations in The Bay Area:
For info on events all over the nation go to cabookstoreday.com

Alexander Book Co.
Christopher’s Books
The Booksmith
Folio Books
Books Inc
Books Inc. in Laurel Village
Book Passage San Francisco
Books Inc. in the Marina
Green Apple Books
Green Apple Books on the Park
BookShop West Portal
Laurel Book Store
Books Inc. in Berkeley
Books Inc. in Alameda
Walden Pond Books
Diesel, A Bookstore Oakland
Pegasus Books in Oakland
Pegasus Books Downtown
Mrs. Dalloway’s
Moe’s Books
University Press Books
Pegasus Books on Solano
The Depot Bookstore and Cafe
A Great Good Place for Books
Book Passage
Diesel, A Bookstore Larkspur
Books Inc. in Burlingame
Orinda Books

About Independent Bookstore Day 
Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) is produced by the Northern California Independent Bookstore Association in partnership with the American Booksellers Association. Pete Mulvihill, co-owner of Green Apple Books in SanFrancisco, spearheaded the launch of the event after noting the success of Record Store Day. IndependentBookstore Day is produced by writer and former bookseller Samantha Schoech.

You can follow IBD on Facebook at (facebook.com/BookstoreDay), Twitter (twitter.com/bookstoreday), and Instagram (instagram.com/indiebookstoreday).