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New Independent Bookshop, Books Are Magic, to Open May 1 in Cobble Hill

By Amy Zimmer | April 27, 2017 1:18pm | Updated on April 30, 2017 4:57pm
 BookCourt closed at 163 Court St. in December.
BookCourt closed at 163 Court St. in December.
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DNAinfo/Nikhita Venugopal

BROOKLYN — Cobble Hill is getting a new independent bookstore May 1, along with a slew of literary events.

Bestselling novelist Emma Straub and her husband Michael Fusco-Straub decided to open the shop, “Books are Magic,” after the December closure of the beloved BookCourt — the Court Street independent book store where Straub once worked.

 

I have a small face. Oh, and opening May 1!

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“A neighborhood without an independent bookstore is a body without a heart. And so we’re building a new heart,” wrote Straub on the website for her store at 225 Smith St., on the corner of Butler, on a quintessential Brownstone Brooklyn block with an organic pasta shop and power yoga studio.

“Books are magic,” she added, “and we want to make sure that this neighborhood is positively coated in bookish fairydust for decades to come.”

The store, which is set to officially open just days after April 29th’s Independent Bookstore Day, already jam-packed lineup of events stretching from the first week — with J. Courtney Sullivan launching her newest novel, "Saints for All Occasions" — through the end of September, with Michael Chabon.

 

Pulitzer Prize + cool shades = signed books. Thanks, Colson!

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Besides evenings with high-profile authors, the shop is also planning to plug into the neighborhood’s local writers.

"We want to celebrate the fact that we have a lot of homegrown talent," Straub recently told CNN.  "We are going to have a little sign up by the register that says, 'Are you a local Brooklyn author? Please identify yourself so that we can make sure to carry your book.'"

Though Straub may recognize Brit-turned-Cobble Hill brownstoner Martin Amis and make sure the shop stocks his books, she admitted there are many other authors she may not know.

"We don't want a writer who lives around the corner to come in and feel sad because they're not on the shelf,” she said.