Bookstores Add Paperback Dreams to Fall Lineup

Booksellers seeking to underscore the importance of their stores and other indie businesses to their communities are adding something new to their events lineup this fall: Paperback Dreams, a documentary film about the contributions, historical significance, and struggles of Cody's Books in Berkeley and Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California. Director/producer Alex Beckstead is making the film, which will air on PBS stations around the country this fall, available to independent booksellers who wish to create screening events inside or outside their stores.

To date, participating stores include A Capella Books in Atlanta, Georgia; Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois; BookPeople in Austin, Texas; Books & Books in Miami, Florida; The King's English in Salt Lake City; McNally Jackson Booksellers in New York City; Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore in Salt Lake City; Vertigo Books College Park, Maryland; Vroman's Books in Los Angeles, California; Village Books in Bellingham, Washington; Warwick's in La Jolla, California; and WordStock in Portland, Oregon.

Paperback Dreams chronicles Cody's and Kepler's via interviews with Andy Ross and Clark Kepler, Joan Baez, Morgan Entrekin, Malcolm Margolin, Michael Powell, and others, along with archival film footage and photographs. In conjunction with the film's screening, several bookstores plan to host a Q&A panel featuring booksellers and other independent business professionals. Several of the regional booksellers associations also plan to show the film, which previewed as part of the American Booksellers Association's information sessions at BookExpo America, at their fall shows.

Beckstead, a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker, co-produced the film with the Independent Television Service and KQED, San Francisco's PBS affiliate. "I made the film because I believe in independent bookstores," Beckstead recently told BTW. "I think their ideas are important, and that storytelling is important. So I have a vested interest in seeing them thrive."

In November, Anderson's Bookshop will be holding two screenings -- one for independent business owners and another for customers -- during its yearly anniversary sale. "We want people to understand the value and importance of independent bookstores," said store co-owner Becky Anderson. "And the film does that in such a cool passionate way."

In October or early November, Books & Books will be projecting Paperback Dreams on a wall in its outdoor courtyard and "making a big to-do," said Director of Events and Marketing Cristina Nosti (whose cousin's husband, Daniel Mendez, spearheaded the Save Kepler's campaign).

Books & Books will also be previewing a documentary that it's producing to commemorate the store's 25th anniversary this year. "We'll have well-known authors talking about the importance of independent bookstores," said Nosti. "We hope to educate people about the differences between chains and independents and about the independents' struggle." Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen, Madeline Albright, and many other authors appear in the Books & Books tribute.

The Salt Lake City bookstores Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore and The King's English are teaming up with their local library to host a screening and panel discussion in late October that promotes both indie bookstores and localism. King's English Events and Marketing Manager Jenn Northington noted that Beckstead, who grew up in Salt Lake and had often shopped at The King's English, was eager for the store to host a screening. She added, "We're also very involved in the Buy Local First movement, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to raise awareness about independents and their role in the community."

Following the screening of Paperback Dreams at the Salt Lake City public library, Beckstead will moderate a discussion on bookselling and the film among panelists Drew Goodman of the University of Utah Bookstore, Betsy Burton of The King's English, Tony Weller of Sam Weller's, and others.

Regional associations slated to screen the film are the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, the New England Independent Booksellers Association, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. Events will range from screening the film over boxed lunches to extended sessions with discussion following the film.

Booksellers interested in holding their own screening can e-mail Beckstead at info@paperbackdreams.com. For more information, visit www.paperbackdreams.com. --Karen Schechner