‘So Impactful’: Michigan Woman Opens Bookstore Celebrating Black Authors

By Angelina Velasquez, Atlanta Black Star

A Michigan bookstore is giving Black authors the spotlight they have long deserved but often struggled to find.

Socialight Society bookstore is a microshop, a store located inside another store, in this case Soul Nutrition, where book curator Nyshell Lawrence has made it a priority to give Black authors, especially those who are female, a greater chance at being discovered. The shop is located in the bustling downtown district of Lansing where retail, food, entertainment and now book lovers all convene. 

Nyshell Lawrence. (Photo: Nick King/Lansing State Journal)

Despite the diverse crowd flocking to the downtown area, Lawrence said she noticed there was something missing about four years ago: a place where Black authors were celebrated and not just given a shelf or two among a sea of books by non-Black authors.

“We walk in so many spaces that we are the minority and I just think it’s really important for us to be able to have a place where we can go and say, this is somewhere where I belong,” she told WLNS.com. “I see women that look like me.”

Read the full article here.

Learn more about Black Lives Matter in children’s books here.

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