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Park Slope Coffee Shop to Sell Books by Brooklyn Authors

 Cafe Regular in Park Slope will start selling books by local authors this fall.
Cafe Regular in Park Slope will start selling books by local authors this fall.
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Flickr/CityRover

PARK SLOPE — A coffee shop that's a hub for neighborhood authors wants to give something back to its customers by selling their work.

Café Regular will start stocking titles by Brooklyn scribes this fall, peddling them along with croissants and lattes at the café's two locations, on Berkeley Place and Seventh Avenue, and on 11th Street and Fifth Avenue.

The café is a workspace, meeting room and makeshift office for a number of writers, including Peter Foges of Lapham's Quarterly, Oxford American editor Rodger Hodge, The Guardian correspondent Ed Pilkington, and author Peter von Ziegesar.

"We are really appreciative of the community we have," said Café Regular's community manager Aileen Haugh. "We know these people are doing really interesting things, so I think it's great to lean on each other and support them the way they're supporting us."

The book-selling plan is part of the café's new push to become more involved with the community, said Haugh, who was hired in July to pump up the cafe's profile in the neighborhood.

She re-ignited the café's dormant Facebook and Twitter accounts, and has added Instagram and Pinterest pages. In addition to working social media outlets, Haugh is planning to host reading events and live musical performances. She's also launching a newsletter that will feature interviews with the café's literati clientele.

Writers interested in having their books sold at the café should email caferegularsocial@gmail.com. Café Regular owner Anne O'Zavelo will review suggestions and plans to put the first set on display in October.

The teacup-sized cafe will need to make space for the books by installing some artfully arranged shelves.

"The café is pretty small so we’re going to have to find the most aesthetically pleasing way to present the books," Haugh said. "We want to do it in a way that will look good physically and not seem over-crowded."