It's Independent Bookstore Day.

It's day 2,221 of Boswell being in business. We're officially celebrating our 6th birthday today.

And why not? It's the first annual Independent Bookstore Day. This is an evolution of the very successful California Bookstore Day that started last year. In addition to Boswell, the following stores in Wisconsin are celebrating:
--Books and Company in Oconomowoc
--The Book World stores in West Bend and Mequon
--A Room of One's Own in Madison
--Mystery to Me, also in Madison
--Arcadia Books in Spring Green
--Northwind Book and Fiber in Spooner

We have an assortment of limited edition items for sale
--An archival Chris Ware print (4)
--A Literary Map of the Seas print (we only have 3 of these)
--A Margaret Atwood wood stencil (5)
--An Allie Brosh poster (5)
--A Stephen King poster (5)
--A Huckleberry Finn map (5)
--Christopher Mooore throx (10)
--Sweet and Salty tea towels--each is a set of two (15--these were staff favorites)
--A joke book illustrated by popular children's illustrators (15)
--A collection of essays on despair, featuring Anne Lamott, Meghan Daum, and other writers (5)
--A boxed set of our favorite book-themed novels, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Shadow of the Wind and The Borrower (5)
--A Roxane Gay mini-collection of essays (15)
--A Guess How Much I Love You Onesie (5)

Spend $50 at the store, whether IBD merchandise or anything else, and we'll give you a free Roz Chast Independent Bookstore Day tote bag. Like everything else, this offer is "while supplies last."

There are a few rules:
--No holds, phone orders, web orders for Saturday
--It's one print, wood stencil, or onesie per person before Noon and only 3 of each other item.

We'll have refreshments in the morning, baked by Phoebe.

At 11 am, we're featuring a book-themed storytime from Jannis. Don't forget, our animal themed storytime is tomorrow (May 3) at 11 am. There is no storytime on Mother's Day.

At 2 pm, we're featuring a critics vs. authors quiz game. Mike Fischer and Carole Barrowman are playing against Lauren Fox and Larry Watson.
--Don't forget that Lauren Fox's third novel, Day of Awe, comes out August 4, and we're hosting the launch event at Boswell.
--I should also note that Barrowman is also an author. The third book in the Hollow Earth series is out this fall. We could have also structured this writing instructors (Barrowman and Watson) against people whose last names begin with F, but we didn't think of that in time.
--Both teams are playing for charity. The winners will each have $100 donated by Boswell to their favorite charity.
--Thanks to Sharon for setting this up.

At 7 pm, we're having part two of our Best of the Undergraduate Readers series. This time we're featuring author from Alverno College, Cardinal Stritch University, Carroll University, and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

From MIAD: Krista Toms and Michelle Sharp
From Carroll: Cory Widmayer and Taylor Belmer
From Strich: Raveen Lemon and Emlyn Dornemann
From Alverno: Jennifer Fazal and Celeste Johnson.

We had 55 people last night at our UWM and Alverno event. This is really a cool program--many of these students have really not read their work before outside of a campus setting.