Roxane Gay tells ABA 'books more important than ever'

Books and bookstores will be more important than ever in the current climate, US feminist writer Roxane Gay told the American Booksellers Association's 12th Winter Institute in Minneapolis, in an opening keynote on Saturday (28th January).

When scheduling the winter gathering, the ABA wasn’t to know just how topical the invitation to Roxane Gay to give the keynote would be. Only a few days earlier the outspoken author made headlines when pulling her upcoming book How to be Heard from Simon & Schuster in protest against the planned publication of a book by controversial Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, which the US S&S imprint Threshold plans to release on 14th March.

While not referring once to her decision to part with Simon & Schuster, Gay didn’t mince words in her address when comparing the numbness she felt after the election of Donald Trump with that of 9/11. "Everything is now political“, she said and she urged booksellers to "rise to the occasion“ because books and bookstores will be more important than ever.

Gay's speech was greeted with standing ovations but in general US indie booksellers are still divided how to deal with the Yiannopoulos book. While some are calling for a boycott, most booksellers will either fulfill customer orders for the book or stock a minimum of copies. "I believe I will stock one or two copies, at least at the main store, but they will certainly not be featured or displayed,“ says Robert Sindelar who runs three bookstores in Seattle. "I expect some customers to come in and ask for the book just to test us out," he added. "The problem is the climate in this country that makes this book possible in the first place.“