SIBA’s Linda-Marie Barrett and Nicki Leone attended the first PEN NC Hackathon on June 10th, “Hacking the Literary Ecosystem: Building a Vibrant Literary Community”. They were joined by other members of the NC literary community, including representatives from non-profits, booksellers, writers, and small publishers. The day’s mission was to look at problems, which included threats to freedom of expression, access to literature, diversity in access and opportunity, and the publishing ecosystem. The format included a number of conversation icebreakers and idea prompts before moving into small groups to tackle, or “hack,” specific issues.

Some of the concerns that arose in the first part of the day were how to translate the cultural value of art into economic terms, consistent online engagement with readers, leveraging technology to build community, diversity in publishing, and the challenges for BIPOC authors to participate.

SIBA participated in a small group discussion around bookbanning. We talked about the following approaches that communities, including our booksellers, could explore taking on:

• Invite important stakeholders in the community to a professionally moderated public discussion of book banning.
• Adopt the NY Public Library model of providing free electronic library cards and access to children.
• Set up an Open Discussion project as Quail Ridge Books (QRB) of Raleigh, NC did in their Bridging the Divide series. QRB hosted monthly meetings of alternated conservative and liberal titles, and two local people, a conservative and a liberal, took turns moderating.
• Use book clubs as a way to reach potential book banners, finding a common ground through a shared love of reading.
• Support non-traditional bookstores and bookselling-pop ups and bookmobiles, that bring books into communities impacted by book bans.

SIBA came away from the Hackathon curious about setting up similar hackathons in other communities around our territory, especially around the very pressing issues of bookbanning, attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, and personal safety during volatile times. We invite booksellers to reach out to us if interested, and we’ll provide resources and support! Let’s work on this together.

The Hackathon was sponsored by PEN America, SIBA, and Scuppernong Editions. Deonna Kelli Sayed of PEN America NC Piedmont and author David Wright Falede, author of Black Cloud Rising facilitated. We send a big thanks to both facilitators and our co-sponsors!