Nomadic Bookshop, a new, community-empowered bookstore in Oakland\u2019s vibrant Uptown area, is making a significant splash. At the three-hour Jan. 17 official opening, store owners\/founders J. K. Fowler and Uriel Landa welcomed nearly 400 guests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a general feeling of love, like a family reunion,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cWe had 10 writers and 10 poets. Poets like Tongo Eisen-Martin came out from Detroit to give a reading, DJ Nickie Sol played and we sold a ton of books. It was amazing. Now, we have the good problem of filling the shelves back up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bookshop launched by the husband-and-husband team bears all the vestiges of the couple\u2019s deep immersion in literature and enthusiasm for wide-ranging, community-centered cultural events. The store offers people the rare opportunity to propose events that include but also stretch beyond standard book launches and author talks. Most of the events are free or pay-what-you-can, and already the calendar has included open-mic community conversations, a workshop on expressing grief through creative endeavors, poetry-writing classes and more.<\/p>\n
Fowler founded Nomadic Press, an independent book publisher that published more than 100 titles during its 10-plus years of operation. The imprint closed in 2023, but Fowler with this new venture is recharging the engine and plans to publish roughly four new books by local writers and poets each year. Fowler is also in his third term as the executive director of the\u00a0Bay Area Book Festival.<\/p>\n
Which means that while Fowler curates and organizes the book selection\u2014more on that below\u2014Landa heads up the extensive events calendar. Fowler says planning and overseeing events under the traditional store-does-it-all rubric is exhausting work he\u2019s happy to let Landa shepherd. The community-led model is also \u201ca blessing,\u201d according to Fowler.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople send proposals to our website, then we have back-and-forth conversations, and events like \u2018Real Talk\u2019 come out of it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd really, the whole district where we\u2019re located is doing good work. There\u2019s Malibu Burgers close to us; around the corner Creative Growth, the YMCA, the Hive; and there\u2019s a nearby park on Broadway and 23rd. It\u2019s a healthy neighborhood with lots of foot traffic and excitement. People like knowing each other and having businesses that are third, safe, accessible spaces where they can gather.\u201d<\/p>\n
He insists that establishing a bookstore dedicated to radical expression and providing sidelined voices a platform in the current political climate is not a reactive project. \u201cIt\u2019s [our] reimagining what\u2019s possible,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fears are real and yes, up until now, Oakland has been spared the brunt of the authoritarian regime and ICE goons. A lot of our books respond to state oppression, over-policing and authoritarianism, but many others dive into imagining a world beyond the current world we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Landa is a Mexican national with a green card. Although he and Fowler are aware his legal status is no guarantee of safety\u2014fears remain omnipresent\u2014it doesn\u2019t dominate their lives or the shop. \u201cTo state the obvious,\u201d Fowler said, \u201cICE is not welcome. This is a space to organize, share tactics and plans, and dream into the \u2018what\u2019s next?\u2019 The joy in doing that implies hope. Hope is difficult in these times, but absolutely necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another necessary element in their work is collaborating with artists and arts organizations in significant partnerships. Nonprofit Creative Growth Arts Center, located just one block away, supports artists with developmental disabilities. Many of their 140-plus artists consider the gallery and art studio a home base; several have created works held in prominent collections and museums worldwide. Nomadic Bookshop displays what will be a rotating presentation of their artwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the world of them,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cThe art that comes out is phenomenal, and we\u2019ll switch out the art every three months. We have wall space and room to hang things from the ceiling. We also sell books they\u2019ve made, and their merch.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for future plans, Fowler mentioned film screenings, meetings held by local nonprofits and more. A three-year lease means Nomadic is not a pop-up. \u201cHopefully, if things go well, we can get an option to renew,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One thing people can count on for the next three years is his unique organizational system that dispenses with \u201cfiction,\u201d \u201cnon-fiction,\u201d \u201cmemoir\u201d and other standard labels. Instead, there\u2019s \u201cTransformative and Imaginative Worlds,\u201d \u201cRadical Life Stories and Testimonies,\u201d \u201cVoices of Power and Reflection\u201d and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe codes used in publishing always rubbed me the wrong way,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cA book and the person who wrote it are always so much more than category.\u201d Customers encountering the labels are intrigued and respond by trying to figure them out. \u201cThey\u2019re interested and have appreciation for the words. And words matter. We\u2019re trying to push at all things the current administration is tamping down, like limitations on what the world can be. So why not have fun with that?\u201d<\/p>\n