Thank you for a great first month!

We’ve been open for about a month and our hearts are just big gushy messes over here. We’re so grateful for the support and encouragement y’all have provided: Coming to events, saying hi at pop-ups, buying some books or other goods, telling your buds, and just cheering us on. We have a ways to go and I still freak out sometimes, but having your support helps keep those pesky brain weasels at bay.

Together, we raised $179 for Cascade AIDS Project in June! Thank you so much to everyone who purchased something from us last month (at pop-ups, our online shop, Libro.fm, and Bookshop.org). Your purchase helps support the vital work CAP is doing for our community here in the PNW. If you’re looking for ways to get involved, you can volunteer across a variety of programs, including September’s AIDS Walk NW. We’ll be tabling at the event and hosting a team for the walk. Consider donating or joining our team to help fight stigma against AIDS and HIV.

What’s new at the shop: 

• Book Subscription Boxes! We now offer monthly and quarterly subscription boxes. These make amazing gifts, or can keep your new-book habit fed without having to seek out your next title. We cater to all ages and you can tell us what kind of books you’re into (or what you hate) in the order comments. We LOVE sending book mail to our book buds! Like the idea of this but something about our set-up isn’t quite right for you? Shoot us a message and tell us how we can help you go from “meh” to “oooh yeah, I’m in!”.

• E-Gift Cards are now available! Need to purchase a bunch for different people? We’ve got you covered. Want to buy something now, but send the gift card to the recipient sometime in the future, like maybe on a special someone’s birthday or anniversary? Easy peasy. Minimum value is $20.

• We take book donations! We'd love to take your gently used diverse books and help pass them on to another community member. We are going to start selling used books for $1-4 at our pop-ups to help make diverse books as accessible as we can. Send us an email to coordinate or ask questions.

• You can preorder books through us! We are particularly excited about a few books that are coming out late this summer/early fall, but if there is a particular book you have your eye on, we’d love to preorder it for you. If you live in Portland, you get free bike delivery on pub day! If you don’t live in Portland, you’ll get your book as close to after pub day as we can without getting in trouble with publishers. You can check out the books we currently have preorder campaigns for here, or send us an email with the book(s) you want to preorder you don’t see on our online shop already. You can also always preorder books through our Bookshop.org page.

July is Disability Pride Month

Mags has ADHD and I’ve got a history of PTSD and anxiety with some chronic illnesses in the mix that at times can be quite debilitating, so disability justice is something we care about in this house and we think you should care about it, too, even if you don’t identify as being part of the disabled community! Even with our personal experiences, we’re still learning and growing a lot when it comes to being better disability justice advocates. We hope you’ll join us!

People with disabilities face so much discrimination and prejudice in the world today. While most of the LGBTQ+ community in the US achieved marriage equality in 2015, people who are disabled often cannot marry their loved ones without risk of losing vital aid due to extremely low income limits. Not to mention the history and current reality of eugenics in this country, lack of accessible spaces and infrastructure (both online and in person), living with a visible or invisible disability often means a lot of disenfranchisement and battling stereotypes.

Here are some ways you can celebrate or observe Disability Pride this month and all year:

• Learn more about disability justice

• Read books by and about people who have disabilities (Recs from our shop | Audiobook recs)

• Follow creators who are part of the disability community (@disability_visibility, @chronicallyjenni, @habengirma, and more!)

• Pay attention to the language you use and stop using ableist language

• Engage with and support disability justice orgs in your area

Local to Portland? Find us in-person in July:

• THIS SATURDAY, July 12th: Vendor Palooza, 1-5pm | 3308 SE 50th Ave Portland, OR 97206

  • Hosted by Vendor Village PDX, this market will have makers, food, and lots of goodies including flash tattoos! Inside a warehouse with big garage doors that I imagine will be open.

• July 19th: Meet Your Maker Market, 12pm-5pm | SE Foster between 63rd-68th Avenues Portland, OR 97206

  • We’re taking over Foster along with tons of other vendors! We’ll be outside.

• July 27th: Montavilla Street Fair, 10am-6pm | SE Stark Street between 76th and 82nd Avenues Portland, OR 97215

  • We are so excited to be a vendor at this iconic Portland street fair! There are hundreds of vendors and live music, so it is absolutely guaranteed to be a good time.

• July 31st: Park Reading Hours, 7-9pm ish | Clinton Park

  • Bring a book, snacks, and comfy seating. You can also order a book from our website to pick up at the event, just let us know that’s your plan in the order comments. We’ll read and mingle in community.

• Keep your eyes on our event page for more fun!

Shop Online - Anytime, Anywhere!

• Shop our curated selection of books (+ more!) directly through our website. We offer free bike delivery within a reasonable distance of us in Portland and we ship nationwide!

• Find your next audiobook through our shop on libro.fm, where you can choose your titles a la carte or sign up for a monthly membership. Either way, there’s never a holds line 😉 and libro.fm shares proceeds with us and other independent booksellers.

• Buy books & ebooks from our shop at bookshop.org. Bookshop.org lovingly shares 30% of each sale with us. They make it more viable for indie bookstores to stand up against the big bad wolves of the world (aka: Amazon and B&N). If you want something we don’t have in stock, head to our Bookshop page and order from there. They carry physical books and e-books! I’m personally excited about the lists we made for sports fans and Oregon Battle of the Books (3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12).