Jan Bolgla and Bob Roarty have owned and operated Atlanta Classic Books for greater than 16 years.
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Jan Bolgla and Bob Roarty have owned and operated Atlanta Classic Books for greater than 16 years.
Fernando Alfonso III/NPR
BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — The graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Younger Lady was the final ebook Jan Bolgla anticipated to see yanked off public library cabinets within the 16 years since she and her husband purchased a used bookstore crammed with cats, paintings and, as of this previous week, a banned ebook part.
Bolgla shared this somber remark on the eve of Banned Books Week whereas petting Massive Boo, a Maine Coon rescue purring atop a glass case filled with uncommon books. Close to the shop’s entrance was a bookshelf Bolgla’s sister-in-law Michele Bolgla had stocked with Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, George Orwell’s 1984 and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher within the Rye, every of which have been or are at the moment banned in components of the U.S.
That is the second 12 months Bolgla and her retailer have participated in Banned Books Week, which ran from Sept. 18 by Saturday, out of pure necessity and solidarity, she stated.
One of many everlasting fixtures of Atlanta Classic Books has been its household of stray cats, together with Massive Boo.
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One of many everlasting fixtures of Atlanta Classic Books has been its household of stray cats, together with Massive Boo.
Fernando Alfonso III/NPR
“We’re very into books being a spot of information, and sharing information, and banning books and censorship is admittedly one thing we really feel strongly about,” Bolgla, 66, stated.
“There shouldn’t be censorship,” she stated. “… Booksellers are fortunate, as a result of we get to promote no matter we wish to promote. So we will promote the banned books, however what they’re doing to varsities and libraries, for that technology developing, not having the ability to expertise variety as a lot and seeing it as a foul factor, we really feel very strongly that it isn’t the suitable solution to go.”
A part of a small rise up
Bolgla’s retailer, Atlanta Classic Books, is one among lots of of impartial bookstores throughout the nation which have celebrated the liberty to learn this week at a time when colleges, universities and public libraries face what consultants say are unprecedented makes an attempt to ban or limit studying supplies.
The U.S. is on observe to see the variety of ebook challenges exceed these in 2021, the American Library Affiliation stated in a information launch.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 this 12 months, the ALA stated it recorded 681 makes an attempt to ban or limit library assets, and 1,651 distinctive titles have been focused. In all of 2021, there have been 729 makes an attempt to censor library assets, concentrating on 1,597 books — “the very best variety of tried ebook bans since ALA started compiling these lists greater than 20 years in the past,” the group stated.
The irony of books like Fahrenheit 451 being banned in components of the U.S. isn’t misplaced on the homeowners of Atlanta Classic Books. Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel tells the story of a future the place books have been outlawed in society.
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The irony of books like Fahrenheit 451 being banned in components of the U.S. isn’t misplaced on the homeowners of Atlanta Classic Books. Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel tells the story of a future the place books have been outlawed in society.
Fernando Alfonso III/NPR
Impartial shops like Bolgla’s have an important position to play in offering bodily entry to books in states like Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Georgia the place public libraries are underneath risk of censorship, stated Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Workplace for Mental Freedom.
“Booksellers are dedicated to free entry to info and so they have their very own advocacy group to guard their freedom to supply info to their communities, make books accessible of their communities,” Caldwell-Stone instructed NPR. “I feel booksellers are a significant a part of the ecology of studying and entry to info.”
Banned Books Week is without doubt one of the most necessary methods to counter banning makes an attempt and to offer voice to those that have been marginalized for a lot too lengthy, stated Ray Daniels, chief communications officer for the American Booksellers Affiliation. And but regardless of the independence afforded to the ABA’s greater than 2,000 members unfold throughout 2,500 places, some haven’t been proof against censorship, Daniels instructed NPR.
“We hear from our impartial bookstore members that these sorts of makes an attempt at censorship are spilling over into bookstores, with prospects complaining if a retailer carries a ebook that they do not like. We firmly imagine a bookstore has a proper to curate its retailer because it sees match,” he stated.
This concern was additionally echoed by Jonathan Friedman, director of free expression and education schemes at PEN America.
“I feel it is solely a matter of time earlier than there’s extra strain positioned on impartial booksellers, as properly,” Friedman instructed NPR.
“I feel democracy is much more fragile,” he stated. “I feel the safety of freedoms that we now have to promote books, purchase books, learn books, write books, I feel these rights are much more fragile than folks could have imagined lately and brought with no consideration. And now we’re seeing what occurs after we begin to chip away at these rights.”
A lifetime value of ink of their veins
Every day since buying Atlanta Classic Books has been an journey, Bob Roarty, 69, stated.
Some days, these adventures contain holding a signed first version of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, revealed in 1939, whereas others have concerned gazing upon a signed copy of Charles Dickens’ Onerous Occasions, revealed in 1854.
The love Roarty and Bolgla have for books has been nurtured for greater than a half-century between them; the previous as a printer and the latter as a designer. At one time, the couple owned a publishing firm known as Drury Lane Publishers.
“We love books, we love the texture of books. We love how they’re made,” Bolgla stated. “We’re avid readers. I feel Bob is a quick reader. I am a sluggish reader.”
The couple bought the shop in 2006 after recognizing a for-sale advert in a neighborhood Atlanta paper, Bolgla stated. They noticed the shop as a solution to escape the countless deadlines each confronted of their skilled lives, Bolgla stated.
A take a look at the signal exterior Atlanta Classic Books in Brookhaven, Ga.
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A take a look at the signal exterior Atlanta Classic Books in Brookhaven, Ga.
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“We thought, if we do not strive it, we’ll remorse it. And if we now have to sleep within the basement, we’ll sleep within the basement of the shop,” Bolgla stated. “We each have the identical philosophy about loving books, eager to strive it. And transferring on to one thing new. And we had type of no thought what we have been about to do.”
No matter doubt the pair as soon as had is not obvious. Final 12 months marked the perfect for Atlanta Classic Books and the shop is at the moment on tempo this 12 months to match or exceed that, Bolgla stated. Banned Books Week has factored into this success, for higher or worse, Michele Bolgla stated.
“There’s a lot concern and ignorance on this planet now, the idea of protecting information away from folks is extra horrifying than ever,” she added. “I’m reminded of my favourite quote, from one of many most-banned authors, Ray Bradbury: ‘You do not have to burn books to destroy a tradition. Simply get folks to cease studying them.’ “
