A Cappella to take part in Independent Bookstore Day

Local lit lovers finally have their day


In the wake of everyone’s Record Store Day finds, A Cappella Books is inviting Atlanta to join them in celebrating a different kind of indie spirit: Independent Bookstore Day. What started as California Bookstore Day only last year has expanded to a nationwide ordeal — and while 93 booksellers from desert to redwood forest is impressive, 400 bookstores from coast to coast is even better. In celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit of local bookshops, all of Sat., May 2, will be dedicated to special programs, author visits, and exclusive items like limited edition releases and A Cappella’s first T-shirt in almost a decade.
The limited edition releases will include a mini-collection of essays on the world of contemporary literature by Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist and founder of Tiny Hardcore Press (copies of her chapbook will also be signed). Fans of Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, and essayist Margaret Atwood will want to snatch one of the “Bad Citizen” stencils. The stencil, which is appropriate for use or as a stand-alone art piece, will feature a quote from “Spelling,” a poem by Atwood: “A word after a word after a word is power.”


Included in the Books About Books Boxed Set are special editions of Shadow of the Wing by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, and The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett. All packaged up in a specially designed cardboard box, this one sounds like enough to tempt any book-lover.


A Stephen King novel would be enticing for a lot of those rabid readers — but the lucky patrons who grab a Finders Keepers Broadside before they sell out will receive a fair bit more. The colored broadside from King’s upcoming novel will also come with a love letter to readers written in the author’s own hand.


As for that T-shirt, store patrons will be interested to know that its design features an excerpt from an essay by Amanda C. Gable, Atlanta novelist and author of the store’s 25th Anniversary book, A Cozy Infinity. It’s all happening 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sat., May 2. Be there or — well, just be there.