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Black Spring Books owner Simona Blat. Photo courtesy Daniel Penny via Brooklyn Paper\n<\/p>\n
by Shane Gomez, Brooklyn Paper<\/p>\n
Simona Blat was working on her laptop inside Black Spring Books, the beloved Williamsburg bookstore she owns and runs by herself, when she heard a terrible sound. Blat, who lives in the apartment above the store, wasn\u2019t the only one who heard it. The building\u2019s superintendent, who had been outside after tending to the front landscaping, heard the sound too. It was water gushing.<\/p>\n
Blat and the super ran to the basement. This is her book storeroom. For a moment, she stood, frozen, in shock. A toilet, open, was spraying sewage water like a fountain. Sewage water was filling the basement. Boxes upon boxes of books, many rare, first editions, or from donated collections, were already ruined.<\/p>\n
Over the course of an hour, the basement was filled with three feet of sewage water, Blat said. In the following days, after emptying a wet vac more than a hundred times, donning hazmat suits and N95 masks, taking out hundreds of trash bags, and receiving an outpouring of support from the community, the basement now sits empty.<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe<\/a> has been started. Yet Blat, who grew up in New York City, said the future of Black Spring Books<\/a>, cherished among Brooklyn\u2019s literary scene, is still \u201ca little bit uncertain\u201d as she reckons with the catastrophe. It came amid broader challenges, like running a small business \u2014 moreover, one that sells books \u2014 and rising living costs.<\/p>\n More than a bookstore<\/p>\n The flooding occurred on Saturday, July 18. That day, strong winds and torrential rain<\/a> hammered the city, causing mass flooding<\/a>. Experts say climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of this rain. The flooding in Black Spring Books came from the sewage system being overloaded from the relentless water, according to Blat.<\/p>\n Black Spring Books<\/a>, also a community hub that hosts everything from writing workshops to book launches to singles mixers to music shows, opened in April 2021. This was \u201calways a dream\u201d for Blat, an avid reader, writer, and book collector. She was born in Riga, Latvia and her family immigrated to Brooklyn when she was one year old.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t looking to necessarily start a business at the worst time ever,\u201d Blat said, but she had a collection of books, was out of a job, and \u201cserendipitously\u201d found the perfect building, located at 672 Driggs Avenue. It\u2019s in Williamsburg\u2019s sole historic district<\/a>, just down the street from the childhood home of Henry Miller at No. 662.<\/p>\n The store takes its name from \u201cBlack Spring,\u201d the writer\u2019s short story collection.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed like a really beautiful, wonderful way to honor the rich literary history of Brooklyn,\u201d Blat said.<\/p>\n Black Spring Books has carved its own space in that history. The GoFundMe describes the store as the \u201cwarmest bookstore, event space, living room, backyard, and second home for so many.\u201d Blat, similarly, referred to it as a \u201cthird space:\u201d a social environment separate from the usual back-and-forth of home and work.<\/p>\n \u2018A living nightmare\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cF-ck f-ck f-ck f-ck,\u201d Blat recalled saying, as the reality of what was happening hit her. The sewage water continued to pour into the basement. Blat and the super began grabbing ruined books from the cloudy, brown water. Blat said the super was diving into the water, looking for a drain pipe to empty the basement. Blat began crying.<\/p>\n The two found a pump and used it to move the sewage water into the street, into a grate. Books, already drenched in sewage water and ruined, were used to hold the grate open. Blat described it as a \u201cdo whatever is possible\u201d situation. Boxes of books, stacked on top of each other, began to crumble and fall once the cardboard got wet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like trying to save a sinking ship,\u201d Blat said.<\/p>\n In the following days, once most of the water was pumped out, Blat and her boyfriend, Drew, used a wet vac to suck out the remaining water, emptying it more than a hundred times. They donned hazmat suits and N95 masks and rubber gloves and began putting soaked, contaminated items into trash bags. Over 100 were filled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was overwhelming, and it took a lot,\u201d Blat said, as they slowly discovered what books had been ruined. In one case, she lost some of the donated personal library of the late editor-in-chief of Collier\u2019s Encyclopedia.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really breaks my heart,\u201d she said. \u201cI was entrusted with someone\u2019s lifelong collection, and I had lost portions of it.\u201d<\/p>\n One day at a time<\/p>\n After the flood, many in the literary community and beyond offered resources and help.<\/p>\n Blat\u2019s friend, writer Nicole Treska, who launched a book at the store, started a GoFundMe<\/a> campaign that has so far raised about $22,000, including donations from authors Jonathan Lethem<\/a> and James Frey. Blat was also contacted by the office of her local Assembly member, Emily Gallagher, which offered to connect her with legal advice and city and federal emergency assistance programs.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I\u2019m gonna cry,\u201d Blat said, grateful.<\/p>\n For now, the bookstore owner said she takes it one day at a time. Her immediate goal is to reopen her doors after the store has remained closed since the flooding. She hopes to continue doing what she loves \u2014 and what she believes enriches the community.<\/p>\n But reopening the doors is only part of the challenges facing the bookstore owner.<\/p>\n Blat\u2019s rent was already a challenge before the flood. With her lease up for renewal, she said she is barely making rent and struggled on a daily basis even before the disaster. Sometimes, she feels like she has nothing left to give. Since that Saturday, Blat has found herself asking, \u201cWhy do I do this?\u201d She said the flood shook her and made her question the reality of the dream she has worked to build.<\/p>\n Yet amid the uncertainty, Blat said the outpouring of support from the community has reminded her why Black Spring Books matters.<\/p>\n \u201cI still don\u2019t really know quite how to move forward, and I still feel extremely overwhelmed,\u201d Blat said. \u201cBut I feel like so many people want this place to continue to exist, and that it\u2019s meaningful to them, and that it\u2019s meaningful to the state of the world right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper. Click here<\/a> to see the original story.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n Email tips@brownstoner.com<\/a> with further comments, questions or tips. 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Books damaged by the sewage flood. Photo courtesy Simona Blat via Brooklyn Paper<\/p>\n![\"bookshelves](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/williamsburg-black-spring-books-july-26-simona-blat-BP-3.jpg\")
Black Spring Books remains closed. Photos courtesy Simona Blat via Brooklyn Paper<\/p>\n