It's the most wonderful time of the year!
If you're looking for the perfect book to gift a loved one this holiday season, might I suggest making a purchase from Vanishing Ink Books and Ideas at a local holiday popup? Perhaps on December 14 at The Good Witch? Vanishing Ink is run by Allyson McCabe, a local resident with a fantastic vision for a brick and mortar bookstore here in Hastings. I had the pleasure of sitting down with her last week to talk a bit about her ideas. While the zine features some quotes from our interview, she had so many great things to say that I've decided to include it in full at the end of this blog post after the zine. Enjoy! And reach out if you know an available storefront!
If you're looking for the perfect book to gift a loved one this holiday season, might I suggest making a purchase from Vanishing Ink Books and Ideas at a local holiday popup? Perhaps on December 14 at The Good Witch? Vanishing Ink is run by Allyson McCabe, a local resident with a fantastic vision for a brick and mortar bookstore here in Hastings. I had the pleasure of sitting down with her last week to talk a bit about her ideas. While the zine features some quotes from our interview, she had so many great things to say that I've decided to include it in full at the end of this blog post after the zine. Enjoy! And reach out if you know an available storefront!
Me: So, to start, can you tell me about Vanishing Ink Books and Ideas, what it is now, and what you hope it will become?
Allyson: I think that it would be really fantastic if Hastings had an independent bookstore, and I've thought that ever since Galapagos closed. And the decision to try to get one up and running came out of being an author of my own book. And my book is "Why Sinead O'Connor Matters" and just won the 2024 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award, which is like a big music award. But before that I had gone on a national book tour and I met with readers in libraries and bookstores and festivals across the country. And what I discovered was they weren't just there to see me, certainly.
They weren't just there even to talk about Sinead O'Connor, but they were there to talk about all of the issues that she tried to raise in her music and her public statements about social justice. And that's when I realized that a bookstore could be a place to buy books, but it could also be a community space. It could be a community center. Sometimes people call this a third space, a place where we could have a free exchange of ideas. And we don't all have to agree, but it's a space where we can all come together and at least have those difficult but necessary conversations.
So, my idea of a bookstore would be that there are books, but there are also opportunities for these conversations. And then the third element of it is offering workshops in our community where we can teach and learn from each other. Maybe it's about how to start a podcast or how to jumpstart your memoir, or maybe it's a kid's newspaper. There's all different possibilities, but the idea is that we're not just passive consumers of things we read, but we also become empowered storytellers.
Allee: Where are your plans to make this physical storefront now?
Allyson: I am looking for a space. There are not many spaces I discovered in Hastings that are available. If anybody knows of a space, please let me know because those that are available tend not to be advertised. It's a lot of word of mouth.
So I am still looking for a space, but in the meantime we've been popping up all around and we will continue to do that until we get a spot.
Allee: How can people help you realize your goal of bringing Vanishing Ink into physical space?
Allyson: I think just keeping the idea of a bookstore present. We can get books on Amazon, but it's not the same experience as what I'm hoping to offer with a bookstore that's community-based and community-centered. When I first started this, I thought that the hard part would be learning how to be a business. So I took an intensive entrepreneurial training course and then began raising the money. It's always good to have support, but I'm prepared to open the bookstore from the financial point of view.
But really the hardest part has been getting the space. And so that's really what I am focused on now. It's hard to do a pop-up because we can only carry a small number of books. I want to have the full availability of how I see a bookstore and also the opportunity to offer people who want books that aren't there special orders. We can get them almost as quickly as Amazon.
Allee: Excellent. Alright, what books are on your own personal to-be-read list?
Allyson: Okay, well this is front of mind right now because I'm putting in orders for pop-ups. Our next pop-up is going to be December 14th at the Holiday Market at the Good Witch. There are a number of books that have just come out that I'm super excited about. I started "All Fours" by Miranda July and "Creation Lake" by Rachel Kushner. And also, of course, "Intermezzo" by Sally Rooney. Those are big. But I'm also really excited about some kids books. So even though I'm not a kid, I'm very, very excited by a couple of kids books that have come out.
And one of them that I'm super excited about is the new book about Edward Gorey, "As Edward Imagined." There's also a book called "The Book That Can Read Your Mind." That's super fun. So those are on the kids section a couple that I can recommend for sure.
Also, "Crafting a Better World" by Diana Weymar. We had her at the last pop-up and her book is phenomenal. It's really good for people who are looking for a way to be engaged politically through craftivism.
Allyson: I think that it would be really fantastic if Hastings had an independent bookstore, and I've thought that ever since Galapagos closed. And the decision to try to get one up and running came out of being an author of my own book. And my book is "Why Sinead O'Connor Matters" and just won the 2024 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award, which is like a big music award. But before that I had gone on a national book tour and I met with readers in libraries and bookstores and festivals across the country. And what I discovered was they weren't just there to see me, certainly.
They weren't just there even to talk about Sinead O'Connor, but they were there to talk about all of the issues that she tried to raise in her music and her public statements about social justice. And that's when I realized that a bookstore could be a place to buy books, but it could also be a community space. It could be a community center. Sometimes people call this a third space, a place where we could have a free exchange of ideas. And we don't all have to agree, but it's a space where we can all come together and at least have those difficult but necessary conversations.
So, my idea of a bookstore would be that there are books, but there are also opportunities for these conversations. And then the third element of it is offering workshops in our community where we can teach and learn from each other. Maybe it's about how to start a podcast or how to jumpstart your memoir, or maybe it's a kid's newspaper. There's all different possibilities, but the idea is that we're not just passive consumers of things we read, but we also become empowered storytellers.
Allee: Where are your plans to make this physical storefront now?
Allyson: I am looking for a space. There are not many spaces I discovered in Hastings that are available. If anybody knows of a space, please let me know because those that are available tend not to be advertised. It's a lot of word of mouth.
So I am still looking for a space, but in the meantime we've been popping up all around and we will continue to do that until we get a spot.
Allee: How can people help you realize your goal of bringing Vanishing Ink into physical space?
Allyson: I think just keeping the idea of a bookstore present. We can get books on Amazon, but it's not the same experience as what I'm hoping to offer with a bookstore that's community-based and community-centered. When I first started this, I thought that the hard part would be learning how to be a business. So I took an intensive entrepreneurial training course and then began raising the money. It's always good to have support, but I'm prepared to open the bookstore from the financial point of view.
But really the hardest part has been getting the space. And so that's really what I am focused on now. It's hard to do a pop-up because we can only carry a small number of books. I want to have the full availability of how I see a bookstore and also the opportunity to offer people who want books that aren't there special orders. We can get them almost as quickly as Amazon.
Allee: Excellent. Alright, what books are on your own personal to-be-read list?
Allyson: Okay, well this is front of mind right now because I'm putting in orders for pop-ups. Our next pop-up is going to be December 14th at the Holiday Market at the Good Witch. There are a number of books that have just come out that I'm super excited about. I started "All Fours" by Miranda July and "Creation Lake" by Rachel Kushner. And also, of course, "Intermezzo" by Sally Rooney. Those are big. But I'm also really excited about some kids books. So even though I'm not a kid, I'm very, very excited by a couple of kids books that have come out.
And one of them that I'm super excited about is the new book about Edward Gorey, "As Edward Imagined." There's also a book called "The Book That Can Read Your Mind." That's super fun. So those are on the kids section a couple that I can recommend for sure.
Also, "Crafting a Better World" by Diana Weymar. We had her at the last pop-up and her book is phenomenal. It's really good for people who are looking for a way to be engaged politically through craftivism.
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