‘I read. I’m Black. And it’s my neighborhood,’ said one eager patron, among the many who lined up to shop at the new store, named after famed Pasadena author Octavia Butler

By Georgia Valdez
FROM: Los Angeles Daily News

Visitors from all over Southern California lined down the block to patronize Pasadena’s newest bookstore dedicated to Black, Indigenous and people of color — Octavia’s Bookshelf.

Overjoyed owner Nikki High teared up as a collective crowd of more than 300 people on Saturday, Feb. 18, stopped to celebrate her dream.

“I am feeling deep gratitude,” she said. “I saw the line outside and, you know, in my wildest dreams, I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, I hope that I can get like 20 or 30 people to be really excited,’ and so to see it like this is a little bit overwhelming.”

“I’m missing my grandmother so hard right now,” High added.

An avid reader, High contemplated opening her own bookstore for years, but the final push came with the sudden passing of High’s grandmother and biggest supporter. In acknowledgement of this, speaker Joshua Evans, kicked off the event by paying homage to family and resiliency.

For Evans, Octavia’s Bookshelf is a symbol of progression and possibility — a space that he would have frequented as a kid. Read Rest of Article Here