Proudly Local: Indie Bookstores

In 2020, The Silver Unicorn Bookstore approached us with an amazing offer: they were creating a list of books for Pride Month, and OUT MetroWest was going to receive a portion of proceeds when titles from the list sold during the month of June. We love books, shopping local, and all things LGBTQ+, so we embraced the partnership with excitement! They wound up donating more than 15% of the proceeds to OUT MetroWest, and that money helped to fund our programs for LGBTQ+ youth.

Cut to 2021, and Paul Swydan from The Silver Unicorn approached us again—this time with an even cooler offer! The store wanted to host a Pride Month kickoff event with LGBTQ+ authors, and they had some great ones in mind. We eagerly agreed, and The Silver Unicorn again committed to raising funds for us throughout the month.

What happened next was even more heartwarming and an example of what it means to truly support your community. We asked Paul what he thought about including other local bookstores in the festivities. Was he open to our asking shops like Newtonville Books, Aesop’s Fable, Wellesley Books, and Belmont Books if they too wanted to participate in the event? Was he okay if they published their own Pride book lists to benefit OUT MetroWest? Without missing a beat, he agreed. He explained that while, yes, it might mean selling slightly fewer books at his shop, that other indie bookstores were never the competition—they’re the community.

With Paul’s blessing, we reached out to the other stores, and they all quickly agreed to be part of the team effort! We scheduled the kickoff author event for Friday, June 4 at 7 p.m. It will feature Sara Farizan as emcee, with special guests Charlie Jane Anders, A.S. King, and Rebecca Kim Wells. To learn more about the event and to receive the Zoom link, you can click here.

We are so grateful to community partners like these small businesses. They’ve been absolute lifelines through the pandemic, and they are safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth to find books that help them imagine their futures. To shop PROUDLY LOCAL this June, check out each store’s Pride book list below. (They each curated their own lists, so you may find a title you love on one list but not on another—incentive to check them all out!)

Pride Reading Lists: 15% of all proceeds from the sales of books on these lists will benefit OUT MetroWest

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