Modern Lovers and The Vacationers author Emma Straub is opening a bookstore in Brooklyn. After learning that her former employer, BookCourt, would close on Dec. 31 after 35 years in operation, Straub launched into a plan to fill the void that the Cobble Hill store would leave behind, because "[a] neighborhood without an independent bookstore is a body without a heart. And so we’re building a new heart."
By opening her own bookstore, Straub joins a small group of prominent authors who sell books on the side. They are:
- The Plague of Doves author Louise Erdrich, who owns Birchbark Books & Native Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney, who owns An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Café in Plainville, Massachusetts
- A Gambler's Anatomy author Jonathan Lethem, who owns Red Gap Books in Blue Hill, Maine
- Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry, who owns Booked Up in Archer City, Texas
- Bel Canto author Ann Patchett, who owns Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee
Straub's bookstore will be called Books Are Magic. The novelist doesn't list an opening date in her blog post, but promises that the Brooklyn neighborhoods served by BookCourt "won't be lonely for long." You can sign up for the Books Are Magic mailing list here.
