Amanda Gorman Named 2023–2024 Indie Bookstore Ambassador

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is thrilled to announce Amanda Gorman as our ambassador for 2023–2024

WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, USA, September 6, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is thrilled to announce Amanda Gorman as our ambassador for 2023–2024. ABA launched the Indie Bookstore Ambassador program in 2022 to highlight independent bookstores year round. From Banned Books Week (October 1–7), to Indies First (Small Business Saturday, November 25) and Independent Bookstore Day (April 27, 2024), the Indie Bookstore Ambassador serves as a champion for independent bookstores.

Amanda Gorman is the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history. She is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hill We Climb, Call Us What We Carry, the children’s picture book Change Sings, illustrated by Loren Long, as well as the upcoming picture book Something, Someday, illustrated by Christian Robinson. Gorman is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality, and gender justice. In a groundbreaking collaboration with the Estée Lauder Companies as a Global Changemaker, she established the WRITING CHANGE initiative to support grassroots organizations dedicated to advancing literacy as a pathway to social change. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University and now lives in her hometown of Los Angeles. Please visit her at TheAmandaGorman.com or on Instagram @AmandaSCGorman.

This honor continues Gorman’s relationship with independent bookstores. She read of Change Sings in our Poetry Theater Interludes as part of ABA’s 2021 Virtual Winter Institute, and is committed to protecting the right to read across the country. Her words, “Together, this is a hill we won’t just climb, but a hill we will conquer,” are inspiring and speak to the importance of finding our voices and ourselves on bookstore shelves, and the importance of working as a community — a goal indie bookstores also share.

In accepting the invitation to be the ambassador, Gorman calls for communities to come together to support independent booksellers and the vital work they do. Gorman says: “I’m incredibly honored to be chosen as the American Booksellers Association’s Indie Bookstore Ambassador this year. Independent bookstores are vital parts of our communities and bastions of literature. We must work together to support local booksellers everywhere so that they can continue to thrive and champion books on a local level with the personal touch and human connection that we all need, now more than ever.”

The first major independent bookstore event coming up for Gorman as the Ambassador is Indies First. On Small Business Saturday (November 25) — a day dedicated to supporting the local businesses that help create jobs, boost the economy, and preserve neighborhoods — independent bookstores will host authors as honorary booksellers to celebrate Indies First, where they will help handsell their favorite titles, sign books, give readings, and more.

Indies First was created in 2013; other authors and celebrities who have spearheaded the campaign include Roxane Gay, Jason Reynolds, Dan Rather, Kate DiCamillo, Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, Cheryl Strayed, and Lena Dunham. Fans can follow Indies First through IndieBound on Facebook and American Booksellers Association on Instagram, as well as the hashtag #IndiesFirst, and search for their local bookstores on IndieBound.org.

Inquiries about Indies First can be directed to [email protected].

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About the American Booksellers Association (www.BookWeb.org)

For almost 125 years, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) has been the guiding voice for independently-owned bookstores. Founded in 1900, ABA is a national not-for-profit trade organization that supports the success of independent bookstores. This success is assisted through education, information dissemination, business services, programming, technology, and advocacy. ABA’s membership has evolved over the years, and our members are more diverse, involved in community, and act as guiding forces in locales around the country. The total number of independent bookstores we represent is 2,500+.

ABA is governed by a volunteer board that is elected by the membership. In addition to the Board of Directors service, members also serve on a number of advisory councils, including the ABA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee (DEIC) in support of ABA’s commitment to antiracism, representation, equity, and access.

Ray Daniels
American Booksellers Association
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