Shout Out For An Indianapolis Bookstore!

 One thing I have learned these past 12 years: Indiana turns up in the strangest places. Not quite like the Spanish Inquisition, but close.

So, I was both surprised and not, when I see Esquire magazine's The Author Fighting Back Against Book Bans was about Indianapolis Loudmouth Books.

When Indiana conservatives came after the books she loved, Leah Johnson opened a hometown bookstore. Here, she tells Esquire how Loudmouth Books is uplifting banned books and highlighting marginalized writers.

Following a book tour that spanned eight cities in ten days for her middle-grade book Ellie Engle Saves Herself, Johnson announced a new dimension of her life’s work: Loudmouth Books, an Indianapolis-based, queer, Black, woman-owned independent bookstore and community space that uplifts banned books and highlights the work of marginalized writers.

Loudmouth Books opened in September 2023 to an overwhelmingly positive community response, Johnson said. The magic of Johnson's writing—finding one's self in community, boundless heart, a vibrant voice—echoes through Loudmouth, too. “We're trying to build something here that's sustainable, whether it's sustainable here at Loudmouth or sustainable industry wide,” she added. “My interests are in making it possible for queer, BIPOC authors to continue to do this work and do it in a way that offers them some measure of freedom, of stability—the same way we have offered that to cis, straight white folks for decades.”

***

Loudmouth Books opened in September 2023 to an overwhelmingly positive community response, Johnson said. The magic of Johnson's writing—finding one's self in community, boundless heart, a vibrant voice—echoes through Loudmouth, too. “We're trying to build something here that's sustainable, whether it's sustainable here at Loudmouth or sustainable industry wide,” she added. “My interests are in making it possible for queer, BIPOC authors to continue to do this work and do it in a way that offers them some measure of freedom, of stability—the same way we have offered that to cis, straight white folks for decades.”

There is hope for Indiana, and Indianapolis.

sch 11/9