Book News Roundup: Save LEMS Bookshop, apply for these sweet publishing gigs

We are raising money for the historic L.E.M.S. (Life Enrichment) Bookstore, the last Black-owned bookstore focused on the African diaspora in the Pacific Northwest! LEMS Bookstore has been around for over 20 years, with all of its time being in Seattle. It has been in its current location for over a decade, serving the Black community and the larger Seattle community with cultural space, books, knowledge, Kwanzaa, and so many more cultural events. All of which we want to continue -- but we need your help.

After my father died, I waited for his ghost. I waited for him in the church that held his body and in my uncle’s house in Indiana where we stayed until the funeral was over. One night a powerful thunderstorm woke me, loud and bright. It reminded me of what summer is in the Midwest, and that I don’t live there anymore. When I returned to Seattle, I continued to wait. He did not show up in my dreams. He did not appear in any of my doorways. His face did not reflect up out of the coffee mugs I took from his house.