Indies First Day/Small Business Saturday!!
Indies First Day was created by the author Sherman Alexie as a way of celebrating local independent bookstores on Small Business Saturday, calling on authors to be "superheroes for independent bookstores" by joining them in handselling books for a day. The authors not only sign their own books but also tell customers about some of their own favorite reads of late and help customers find good books for themselves and as gifts.
This year's national spokesperson for Indies First Day is Lena Dunham, creator and star of the HBO series Girls, and author of the bestselling book Not That Kind of Girl. In a letter to readers and her fellow authors, Dunham says, "I wouldn't be who I am without independent bookstores.... I strongly encourage everyone to join me in support of independent bookstores, putting Indies First on November 26!"
November 26th is 
also Small Business Saturday, a day begun by American Express to encourage customers to "shop small" for the holidays to keep their neighborhood independent businesses alive and kicking. Here, here to that, we say!
We're thrilled to announce that leading off our Indies First Day will be Cheryl Strayed, last year's national spokesperson for Indies First Day and author of Torch, Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, and Brave Enough, signing and personalizing books at the store from 10 am to 11 am.
Here are some of the other great authors who will be joining us. It's possible more might pop in -- you just never know, and we certainly are blessed with a richness of wonderful writing talent in our city. The times listed for the authors are rough guides. Authors take to herding much like cats do; they are an independent lot, and we love 'em for it! They will be signing their own books, as well as sharing with you some of their current favorite reads and gifts. This is truly a great group of authors, and we appreciate them taking the time to hang out with us. We look forward to seeing you too!
Carmiel Banasky (12 to 2 pm) Author of the novel The Suicide of Claire Bishop
Estela Bernal (3 pm - 5 pm) Contributor to the anthology of read-aloud stories for children Oregon Reads Aloud, a tribute to twenty-five years of SMART, and author of Can You See Me Now?
Randy Blazak (1 - 3) Author of, most recently, the novel The Dream Police
Peter Ames Carlin (3 - 5) Author of Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon, as well as biographies of Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney.
Curtis Chen (3 - 5) Contributor to Oregon Reads Aloud, and author of Waypoint Kangaroo.
Rene Denfeld (1 - 3) Author of The Enchanted
Monica Drake (1 - 3) Author of The Folly of Loving Life, The Stud Book, and Clown Girl.
Jamie Duclos-Yourdon (11 - 1) Author of Froelich's Ladder.
Laura Foster (12 - 2) Author of Columbia Gorge Getaways, Walking with Ramona, and other walking guidebooks to Portland.
Casey Jarman (1 - 3) Author of Death: An Oral History.
Karen Karbo (12 - 2) Author of the novels Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me and The Diamond Lane, as well as the Kick-Ass Women series, including Julia Child Rules.
Joe Kurmaskie (1 - 3) Author of the Metal Cowboy series, including the most recent, A Guide to Falling Down in Public: Finding Balance On and Off the Bicycle.
Pamela Lindholm-Levy (3 - 5) Author of the the debut novel Count the Mountains.
Whitney Otto (11 - 1) Author of the novels Eight Girls Taking Pictures and How to Make an American Quilt.
Arn Strasser (2 - 4) Author of the poetry collections To the Poet Listening and Before Dreaming.
Cheryl Strayed (10 - 11) Author of Brave Enough, Tiny Beautiful Things, Wild, and Torch.
Pauls Toutonghi (11 - 1) Author of Dog Gone: A Lost Pet's Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home.
Suzy Vitello (11 - 1) Author of the YA novels The Moment Before, The Empress Chronicles, and The Keepsake (#2 of the Empress Chronicles), and a contributor to the recently published anthology City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales.
Ruth Wariner (1 - 3) Author of the memoir The Sound of Gravel.
Alan Wieder (1 - 3) Author of Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation and Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid.
Carolyn Wood (11 - 1) Author of the memoir Tough Girl: An Olympian's Journey.
Lidia Yuknavitch (12 - 2) Author of the memoir The Chronology of Water, the novel Dora: A Headcase, and the recently published novel The Small Backs of Children.
