ENGLEWOOD — A pop-up bookstore is coming to Englewood on Friday and the best part is that more than 2,000 books will be free.
Literacy nonprofit Open Books has partnered with Kusanya Cafe this year to provide fiction and nonfiction books to the community. There are books for all ages.
The event will use a “pay-what-you-want” model, which means free for those who can’t afford them. Proceeds will go to both nonprofits.
The temporary bookstore will be set up in a space adjacent to the cafe, 825 W. 69th St. It will be there Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. At 10 a.m. Friday, Chicago Sky’s Betnijah Laney and Cheyenne Parker will read books to children. At 6 p.m., there will be local young authors sharing their work.
Noah Cruickshank, marketing and development manager for Open Books, said that he visited Kusanya one day and immediately wanted to work with them. The cafe already had a sort of library trade system in place: in order to take a book, one had to be left in its place.
Cruickshank said he wanted to expand that system.
Open Books has two locations, one in Pilsen, 905 W. 19th St., and one in the West Loop, 651 W. Lake St. Through their book programs, they provide readers of all ages with engaging, appropriate and high-quality books. Last school year, the nonprofit donated more than 125,000 books to schools and nonprofits in need.
“What we’ve learned after 10 years working in literacy in Chicago is that it’s not that kids don’t want to read, it’s that they need access to the right engaging materials.”
Open Books works all over the city with its programs and donates books throughout the Chicago area.
Cruickshank said there were communities in Chicago that he considered “book deserts” because there weren't many, if any, bookstores.
Creating spaces like what they’re doing in Englewood is important, he said.
“Folks have told us that they’re always looking for high quality books and we wanted to give them that opportunity,” Cruickshank said. “If they’re able to throw in a couple of bucks [as a donation] that’s great, but if they want awesome books and they’re not able to afford it, we’re not going to stop them.”
Phillip Sipka, executive director of the nonprofit Kusanya Cafe organization, said that he was excited to open the space to the community.
“We wanted to use this space for things just like this,” he said. “We want to be the liaison between people who need something and the people who have stuff to give. We’re the intermediary. This will be the space to allow people to give and receive all at the same time.”
Both sides are open to the possibility of having this pop-up bookstore be an annual event.
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