University Press Week is an annual celebration of our global community of university presses. Each year, the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) takes a tour of the blogs in our publishing community with a series that addresses different aspects of the week’s theme. This year’s theme, #TeamUP, reflects the spirit of collaboration that is at the heart of university press work.
We’re joining in the UP Week celebrations with today’s blog post highlighting our partnerships with independent bookstores in Florida, as well as the ways these bookstores strengthen and support their communities.
At the University Press of Florida and UF Press, we love our independent Florida bookstores. Bookstores are often at the heart of Florida’s communities, spaces where authors and readers can connect. Whether it’s a new bookstore, such as Naples’s Books on Third, or a bookstore that’s been around so long it’s become a cultural institution, such as Miami’s Books & Books, bookstores can expose readers to new ideas and perspectives. They can showcase stories from many different voices. And as Vanessa Garcia wrote this September in the Oxford American (“Florida is Lit”), more and more new bookstores are opening across the state: “From the southernmost tip to the Panhandle, the state is bedazzled by books.”
First, we’ll take a moment to celebrate some of our author events at Florida independent bookstores.
Recently, we assisted The Lynx Books in Gainesville with establishing a new library at Grace Marketplace. Grace Marketplace provides a wide range of services such as emergency shelter, free meals, and more to people without housing in the Gainesville area. This new library is a wonderful initiative to promote literacy and extend the services the shelter provides to the community. Our staff helped to paint and shelve the library, and we donated many of our titles to the 1,300 books in the collection. Read more about this initiative here.
We’re grateful for all the work our bookstores do to make the world a more inclusive, welcoming place. But sometimes bookstores need help too. Recent hurricanes, including Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, have brought challenges to bookstores located in Florida’s coastal cities and communities. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a category 4 hurricane that made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast in September 2024, many bookstores experienced extensive damage. Some were even forced to shut down, such as Blinking Owl Books in Fort Myers. Thanks to the support of the community, which raised over $6,000, Blinking Owl Books was able to reopen. Read more about its story here.
University Press of Florida is a proud member of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). During Hurricane Helene, SIBA compiled a database of local relief agencies and fundraising efforts sponsored by bookstores throughout the US South and a list of tools for emergency preparedness. SIBA’s quick actions to offer support and guidance when bookstores and their communities needed it the most is a brilliant example of the transformative power of teamwork. Read more about SIBA’s work during Hurricane Helene here.
On our website, we maintain a list of independent booksellers in Florida, including a map to make it easier for our readers to find a bookstore close to them. We encourage you to peruse this list to find an independent book retailer to support with your business. Some of the bookstores featured on our list are brick-and-mortar stores, some are online only, some provide meeting places for marginalized populations and community groups, and many host fun events and book clubs for those interested in coming together to celebrate reading. Please note that while we strive to keep this list comprehensive and up to date, let us know if we are missing a store and we will gladly add it. Check out the list here.