The California Independent Booksellers Alliance (CALIBA) has established the Mosaic Community, a new group for BIPOC store owners and booksellers. The group is a companion group to the Alliance's Mosaic Committee, which served the same community within the organization. This new group is open to any BIPOC bookstore in the country, so long as they are a member of one of the eight regional bookseller associations.
The purpose of the Mosaic Community is to help organize BIPOC booksellers to "come together to host author events, BIPOC author meet and greets, share best practices, develop education specific to their channel and to raise awareness of their stores, and to celebrate BIPOC authors," according to an announcement.
Several stores are already participating, including The MoAD Bookstore (San Francisco), Underground Books (Sacramento, Calif.), Café Con Libros (Pomona, Calif.), The Collective Oakland (Oakland, Calif.), The Salt Eaters (Inglewood, Calif.), Reparations.club (Los Angeles), Marcus Books (Oakland, Calif.), Eso Wan (Los Angeles), Frugal Books (Roxbury, Mass.), 44th and 3rd Bookseller (Atlanta), and Fulton Street Books (Tulsa, Okla.).
Nia McAllister, Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD) and Calvin Crosby, CALIBA, executive director, are the co-chairs and founders of Mosaic Community. "At its core, the work of The Mosaic Community is bridge building," McAllister said in a statement. "It is inspiring to be a part of this dynamic group that is building networks of solidarity, amplifying authors of color, and creating long-term impact in the literary world."
