Local Bookstore Celebrates 2nd Anniversary

Not every local business is moving to Pinnacle or going belly up. In the era of Big Box Barnes and Noble out by the mall and the online phenomenon of Amazon.com, there are those of us who still cherish the local independent bookseller. We cheered for Kathleen Kelley and The Shop Around the Corner against the certain annihilation by Fox Books. We spend hours among the used books at Dickson Street Bookshop, and we buy our new books and engage authors at Nightbird Books in the Mill District.

This weekend, Nightbird Books at 557 S. School is celebrating its Second Anniversary. It has been a welcome addition to south Fayetteville and an important part of our community. It is the heir and successor to the House of Books and Hays & Sanders as keeper of the literary flame. It has survived commercial competition as well as the Fayetteville Public Library's ill-advised scheme to sell books online. We are damn glad.

Tonight, poet Beth Ann Fennelly will be there at 7:00 pm to read from her new collection, Unmentionables. On Saturday at 1:00 p.m., Haley Duke will lead a Nightbird craft project, then at 7:00 p.m., novelist John Brandon will read from his novel, Arkansas, recently published by McSweeney's. Sunday, they are throwing a big birthday party from 3 to 6:00 p.m. Come on down and join in for good music, good food, and great people. And if you want to preserve the uniqueness of our community, buy a book and keep this local institution in business.