In 2020, I took a gap year in between my sophomore and junior year at UNC. I spent some time working remotely here, in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, and then moved to the Big Island of Hawai’i. After six weeks of work on a homestead, I moved to a town called Hilo, where I decided to walk up to the owner of a bookstore and ask her if she was willing to take a volunteer as I had nothing else planned.

She was very welcoming and I began working at her newly opened used bookstore pretty quickly after that. Unfortunately, five days after I started volunteering there, she had to urgently leave the island due to a family emergency and she handed me the keys to the store, asking me to look after it for the next three weeks.

I’d say that moment was really pivotal. This lady had known me for less than a week and had already entrusted me to look after her establishment, open and close it every day, manage donations, sales, and volunteers, and even let me live there for free.

I volunteered and did some branding work for her, but that time really captured something I had known all along about folks who operate bookspaces—they generally are some of the kindest and most compassionate people out there, genuinely looking to serve their community and build a relationship with that community.

I had a lot of time in that maze of books at night to reflect on why I was having such a good time in that bookstore, and I had noticed that I missed being in those spaces and the people they attract ever since the rigors of college had taken away the time I would spend on reading for pleasure and just chilling out.

That’s when the idea started to form.

Turning the idea into a reality was a unique puzzle to solve, but came together after some intense preparation. I was fortunate enough to receive funding for this project through the Burch Fellowship at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Starting in May 2022, I embarked on a 11-week journey, over 15,000 miles of American soil, to 85+ bookstores shooting a documentary. I’ve also done a great job of capturing the behind-the-scenes of it all in a blog and vlog format. The documentary itself is set to premiere in April 2023, with public distribution coming soon after.

As with any ambitious project, the people are truly the heart of its purpose.

I’ve been lucky to have faculty and mentors offering invaluable guidance.

I’m excited to meet a fascinating gallery of bookstore owners and employees willing to be interviewed. I want to highlight these folks in the documentary itself, so you’ll have to wait a little while longer to meet them!

But most importantly, I have the best friends in the world who have helped me put this project together and are joining me every step of the way. You can check them out by going to the “team” tab.

The goal is to offer readers and non-readers alike exposure to the fascinating worlds behind the doors of independent bookstores. Hopefully, you’ll find inspiration to get your butt out of the house— whether it’s for a short stroll to the neighborhood book corner or for a long drive to a really cool outdoor bookstore you saw on TikTok that they can’t miss.

I’m envisioning, however long down the road it is, to further the profitability of indies, allowing them to reinvest in their communities. There are bookstores out there that are committed to elevating the voices of authors who write stories focused on the lives of generally underrepresented populations. There are bookstores out there that employ and protect vulnerable populations. There are many communities that have meaningful ties to their local bookstores.

Ultimately, the purpose of The Greatest Bookscapes is to effectively illustrate the value indie bookstores bring to their communities and why we should support them over corporate or online retailers.

Selecting the bookstores I’m visiting was simultaneously difficult and enjoyable. As much as I would’ve loved to be on the road for a year visiting every bookstore in every state, that just isn’t a realistic possibility. But hey, I can always do a part two one day.

After combing through blogs and getting many recommendations from friends and family, I created a not-so-short list of bookstores and created a route that wouldn’t drive me completely insane.

Below is a running list of the places this project will take me.