Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day 2020 With These Official Online Events

Independent Bookstore Day is coming up this weekend on Saturday, August 29. Unfortunately, celebrations will have to happen virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of events to attend to celebrate independent bookstores across the country.

Independent Bookstore Day’s official website is hosting a number of events over the weekend. It all starts on Friday, August 28 at 4:30 p.m. PDT. Below are some of the events the website is hosting, including links to register for each online event on Zoom, for free.

• Friday August 28 at 7:30 p.m. EDT: Join friends and former New Yorker copy department colleagues Mary Norris and Ann Goldstein for a conversation about Elena Ferrante’s latest novel, The Lying Life of Adults.
• Saturday August 29 at 1:30 p.m. EDT: Graphic novel discussion and drawing class with Gene Luen Yang (Dragon Hoops).
• Saturday August 29 at 3:00 p.m. EDT: World Building in YA Feminist Fantasy Fiction panel, featuring authors Kat Cho (Wicked Fox), Rena Barron (Kingdom of Souls), and Rebecca Kim Wells (Shatter the Sky).
• Saturday August 29 at 6:00 p.m. EDT: Alone Together: Stories of Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19. Readings and conversations with Alone Together contributing authors Faith Adiele, Gayle Brandeis, W. Ralph Eubanks, Jamie Ford, Major Jackson, Sonora Jha, Scott James, Jessica Keener, Jean Kwok, Roberto Lovato, Ada Limón, Claudia Castro Luna, Kevin Sampsell, and Luis Alberto Urrea.
• Saturday August 29 at 8:00 p.m. EDT: Panel featuring three of the event’s past ambassadors: Tayari Jones (An American Marriage, Silver Sparrow), Lauren Groff (Fates and Furies, Florida), and Emma Straub (Modern Lovers, The Vacationeers, and owner of the independent bookstore Books Are Magic).

For a full list of events, see the official Independent Bookstore Day website. For more ideas on how to celebrate virtually, here are four meaningful things you can do from home.