With just over three weeks to go until Independent Bookstore Day 2022, bookstores around the country are finalizing their plans for the annual celebration of bookselling. Earlier this week, author Angie Thomas was named IBD Ambassador.
After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl is returning. From Saturday, April 23, through Saturday, April 30, customers can pick up a Bookstore Crawl passport at any of the 21 participating independent bookstores and collect signatures and stamps throughout the week.
Customers who collect at least five stores will receive a coupon good for 25% off a single purchase at any participating store, and at 7 p.m. on IBD, the Center for Fiction will host the Bookstore Crawl Afterparty, with additional prizes for book lovers who have collected the most stamps and signatures.
On IBD, the Center for Fiction will also host an open house in the afternoon and family day on the plaza at 300 Ashland, featuring a mobile book fair for young people, along with musical performances.
More information and the full list of participating stores can be found here.
Five independent bookstores--Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Mo., Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kan., Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa, A Room of One's Own in Madison, Wis., and Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, Minn.--are partnering with Europa Editions for a virtual event on IBD to celebrate the release of Mieko Kawakami's new novel, All the Lovers in the Night. The event, scheduled for 7 p.m. Central on April 30, will feature Kawakami in conversation with Nadja Spiegelman, editor-in-chief of Astra Magazine.
At Titcomb's Bookshop in East Sandwich, Mass., IBD festivities will begin at 9 a.m. with a children's book scavenger hunt. Children will be given scavenger hunt sheets with prompts to find books throughout the store, such as "find a book with your favorite animal on the cover," and there will be separate sheets for children under six and children over six. Once they complete the scavenger hunt, children will receive a free book and doughnut and will be entered into a raffle.
The party will continue at 6:30 p.m., with book lovers invited to return for a raffle, bookstore bingo, literary mocktails, snacks and live music performed by singer-songwriter Gabriella Simpkins. While the children's event is free, the evening event will cost $8 per ticket.
And in Edwardsville, Ill., the IBD celebrations at Afterwords Books will include an annual sidewalk sale as well as visits from a dozen local authors. Customers who visit between noon and 5 p.m., take a photo in front of the store's sign and post it on social media will be entered to win a tote bag filled with 2022 IBD merch and other treats. There will also be $15 "Blind Date with a Book & Tea" bundles. Store owner LuAnn Locke told the Edwardsville Intelligencer that there will be 20 winners for the tote bag raffle.