Thank You

A Thank-You Note to My Bookselling Colleagues

I'd like to thank my colleagues in the book industry. This whole ordeal has been overwhelming.

To wake up one morning and realize that everything you've worked so hard for, to create a particular comfort zone, no longer exists is devastating. For a while I was depressed and felt loss. And this was one time that I couldn't turn to my family because they too were in the same situation as I was.

But then I began to receive e-mails of support and encouragement from my bookselling colleagues. Most checking to see if I needed their help in any way, some offering their prayers, and some offering even more.

I'd like to thank booksellers like Susan Novotny of the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York, who donated a portion of her sales for two weeks to a fund to help me rebuild my stores -- and who also offered a vacation for a few days so that I could get away from the stress of dealing with insurance adjusters, FEMA, the Red Cross, etc. And booksellers like Mary Price Dunbar of Beaucoup Books in New Orleans, who offered me space within her bookstore to reopen my store.

And, of course, I'd like to say a big thank you to the American Booksellers Association, which decided to create a Bookseller Relief Fund to help those of us who no longer had a bed to sleep in, pots to cook in, or chairs to sit on.

And to all of the booksellers and publishers who contributed to the fund -- I truly appreciate you. Thank you all for helping me in the process of rebuilding my life.

Michele G. Lewis
Afro-American Book Stops
New Orleans