On October 4, two days before Heartland Fall Forum kicked off in Milwaukee, the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association announced its booksellers of the year: the co-owners of La Revo Books, a Cream City pop-up bookstore specializing in “new and used books for and by Black, Indigenous and People of Color, with a specialization in Latinx literature.” Sisters Barbara and Valeria Cerda founded La Revo in 2001, when there was nowhere in Milwaukee to obtain Spanish-language books.
MIBA, in its release announcing the winners, noted that La Revo’s pop-up business model has allowed the two sisters to fulfill their mission of meeting people “where they’re at, even if they think they aren’t readers or haven’t bought books before.” La Revo has popped up all over the city's South Side in the past three years—“at a power-lifting competition, a low-rider car show, on a boat, and in art galleries, book clubs, fashion shows, theatres, and Milwaukee-area schools and universities,” per MIBA. (In addition to its pop-up, La Revo maintains a collection of books for sale at an artist cooperative, the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network, in the city’s Third Ward.)
At Heartland in 2022, the sisters told PW that their business model, inspired by their Mexican heritage, emphasizes family, community, and collaboration. Their ultimate goal, they explained, is to convince publishers to publish and promote more Spanish-language literature, not just English literature that has been translated into Spanish.
“We’re advocating for our customers and for our community,” Barbara told PW. Valeria added, “We’re directly asking the publishers here for Latine books. They’re going to remember us, and they know we’re going to ask for it again next year.”
MIBA executive director Carrie Obry, who hails from Milwaukee, described the Cerda sisters as “ideal candidates for this award, having done work that goes beyond the parameters of their own business to inspire an entire community and our bookselling region. These are two working-class women from an immigrant family who have created a city-wide inspirational bookselling model out of scratch and made the book industry stand up and pay attention.”
The Cerdas will receive their award tonight at a ceremony honoring the recipients of all awards bestowed this year by MIBA and its partner in the Heartland Fall Forum, the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. This year’s show runs Oct. 6–9. Yesterday's programming was devoted to bookstore tours around Milwaukee and beyond, and various bookseller retreats.
