By Claire Kirch | Jan 08, 2021
In my heart, it seemed like such a good fit,” recalled Danny Caine, a former high school teacher and published poet, about his decision to buy the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kans., in 2017, a few months after completing his MFA in poetry at the University of Kansas. “Of course, I didn’t want to make a bad business decision. It wasn’t just that I wanted to avoid financial ruin for myself. It was also important to me to be a good steward for the store, which has been here for so long and has a hugely passionate and loyal following. I knew if I did something bad to the Raven, I’d be run out of town.”
Natasha Gilmore, Idlewild Books and Open Borders Books, NYC
: This book contains two novellas and some short stories set around Colombia (and occasionally Miami). The narration is often low-affect, sharply cynical, and wryly observed. There’s a cutting honesty in the voice throughout the book that feels totally absent from so much literature now. It reminded me of the feeling of encountering something truly when I was a teenager. But then there’s just the crushing reality of coming into sexuality as a teen, colorism and racism in Colombia, the restlessness wrought by capitalism and the desire to flee yourself and the accidents of your birth that ultimately coalesce into something so universally resonant, that will make any reader feel seen and connected. Truly an author worthy of attention.
photo by: Contributed Photo
Alexander Hurt, Becca Carr, Kianti Vann and Scott Eteeyan help make meals on Dec. 25 for the Ladybird Diner s free lunch program.
Since its release in October, Meg Heriford’s book “Ladybird, Collected” has been purchased more than 3,000 times, and it was this year’s top-selling book at a local bookstore.
Heriford, the owner of Ladybird Diner, said the sales from the book would help the diner continue its free meal program which the diner started at the beginning of the pandemic through February and possibly into March. Ladybird Diner offers free meals to those in need at 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Fridays.
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After the death of George Floyd, Danny Caine, the owner of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas, said he didn t want to stay silent, so he announced on Instagram that his shop would donate a portion of a day s sales to antiracist research and two bail funds.
The 33-year-old shop broke its sales record that day.
The bookstore s campaigns supporting Black Lives Matter and attacking Amazon have made the Raven a nationally recognized brand that now sells in all 50 states.