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Arts & Entertainment

Authors Volunteering At Local Bookstores During First Annual 'Indies First Day'

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(Photo by Kristina Krauze via the LAist Flickr pool.)

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As this year's Black Friday melee becomes more distant in our rear-view mirror, local independent bookstores are in the middle of the first annual "Indies First Day," in which authors across the country volunteer as temporary employees at bookstores across the country.

The day was first created by author Sherman Alexie, who, after failing to show up to a book signing in Seattle, thought of a day where writers could give back to the community by volunteering at their local book shops.

IndieBound has a great map of all the participating bookstores in Los Angeles. Here's a short list of authors working at local book shops today:

Book Soup:

  • Meredith Maran (Theory of Small Earthquakes) will be working from 12 to 2 p.m.
  • Ed Ayres (Longest Race) will be working from 12 to 2 p.m.
  • Kim Dower (Slice of the Moon) will be working from 2 to 4 p.m.
  • Hal Ackerman (Write Screenplays That Sell) will be working from 2 to 4 p.m.

Children's Book World:


  • Janet Tashjian (My Life As a Book) will be working from 1 to 3 p.m.

Skylight Books:


  • Attica Locke (The Cutting Season) will be working from 12 to 3 p.m.
  • Sherri Smith (Orleans) will be working from 12 to 2 p.m.
  • Paul Vitagliano (Born This Way) will be working from 12 to 2 p.m.
  • Maxine Nunes (Dazzled) will be working from 2 to 4 p.m.
  • Mark Haskell Smith (Raw: A Love Story) will be working from 3 to 5 p.m.
  • Diana Wagman (The Care and Feeding of Exotic Pets) will be working from 4 to 6 p.m.

You can find more participants here.

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