Name: Davis Shoulders

Position at the store: Events Coordinator

Store and location: Union Ave Books, Knoxville, TN

Store social Media Stats:
Facebook (3,900 likes),
Instagram (3,200 followers - @unionavebooks),
Twitter (1,900 followers - @unionavebooks). 

Events and buyer contact info: 
Events, Davis Shoulders, events@unionavebooks.com
Buyer, Chelsea Bauer, chelsea@unionavebooks.com

Number of years as a bookseller: 5 years

Best part about being a bookseller?: Unlimited access to ARCS! And seeing someone’s eyes light up when you handsell them a book they are going to fall in love with.  

What book(s) are you reading?:  A HISTORY OF MY BRIEF BODY by Billy Ray Belcourt (Two Dollar Radio), BRING ME THE HEAD OF QUENTIN TARANTINO by Julian Herbert (Graywolf), LOST IN SUMMERLAND by Barrett Swanson (Counterpoint - May 2021), & THE ORGANS OF SENSE by Adam Ehrlich Sachs (Picador) & waiting for a galley of  KLARA AND THE SUN by Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf - March 2021)

Favorite handsell of 2020: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CARSON MCCULLERS by Jenn Shapland (Tin House)

Best thing you did this year at your store: Other than survive the pandemic, getting to co-host National Book Award Finalist Deesha Philyaw as the first author event for a newly opened Black-owned bookstore in Knoxville called the Bookshop at the Bottom (www.thebottomknox.com, follow them on insta! @thebottomknox). 

What are some ways you work with your community? The downtown community of Knoxville is really close. Especially during the pandemic. We’re gearing up to host a safe window display Elf on the Shelf for December with the help of our Downtown Knoxville association. Customers have used us a haven, knowing that we are still here during this time. I think our daily encouraging conversations and providing of books services as way to give people hope in trying times. Rather than list some charitable things we’ve done in the past, I really think this is the bread and butter of our impact. Just being here and open to talk about books or whatever is happening in your life. We even have a bike courier doing deliveries! He’s a member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra who lives across the street who just wants to volunteer.

Do you have any community partners you work with regularly? - Humanities TN / Chapter 16, Friends of the Knox County Public Library, East TN Historical Society, University of Tennessee Libraries Society, University of Tennessee Humanities Center, University of Tennessee Creative Writing Department, Knoxville Writer’s Guild, Ijams Nature Center, Stanley’s Greenhouse, The Plaid Apron, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Choice Health Network Harm Reduction, Blount Lit Project

Do you have passions that carry over into your bookselling life? All things Appalachian. There’s a movement building happening here with the literary scene that will be worth noting. It’s a creative force I think to be reckoned with when you have a sense of community like the writers of Appalachia do. I’m excited to help build out an Appalachian literary network so the writers get the real attention they deserve, and not exploitative stereotypical takes from outsiders. Just wait and see folks. 

What e-commerce platform are you using, and why did you choose it? Indie lite (upgrading to indie commerce as we speak). The access to ingram and direct web ordering feature. 

Top priority for 2021: Reimagining what bookselling looks like in a post pandemic world AND helping to direct and open a NEW cooperatively owned, Southern Appalachia bookstore in Johnson City, TN (Summer 2021). Follow me on Twitter and Insta (@booksellermonk) where I’ll start announcing things early 2021. 

Favorite SIBA programming benefit: The Trade Show, getting to nerd out with all my fellow kindred spirited booksellers and publishing industry folks!