ALAMOSA — Independent Bookstore Day marks its fifth year of celebrating independent bookstores nationwide on Saturday, April 27th, with literary parties around the country.

Narrow Guage Book Cooperative will be celebrating with local author readings, musical performances, and an indie film screening.

“The community has revived our indie bookstore and from it inclusive space for literary and creative exploration has blossomed. We are so very excited to celebrate all our hard work and the spirit of this bookstore,” said general manager Marlena Antonucci.

Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative will also offer exclusive day-of merchandise created especially for Independent Bookstore Day by major publishers and authors. Since its inception in 2014, more than 200 authors have demonstrated their support for independent bookstores by donating work for Bookstore Day.

The fifth annual National Independent Bookstore Day is sponsored in part by Penguin Random House, Ingram and The American Booksellers Association. Last year participating bookstores saw an average increase in sales of 200 percent on Independent Bookstore Day, with some stores up as much as 1000 percent over their average Saturday sales in April. In just five years, Independent Bookstore Day has become a book-buying holiday, increasing book sales on a national level.

The 2019 IBD author ambassador Tayari Jones said, “Indie stores stock books by hand and sell them the same way. They know what we want and need to read because they know us, as people. A writer is not a machine. A reader is not an app. We are human beings and so are the independent bookstore workers who show up each day and place books in our hands.”

The 2019 Bookstore Day Exclusives

Independent Bookstore Day is proud to announce a selection of exclusive books and art pieces for Bookstore Day 2018. These limited edition, unique items will be available only at participating IBD bookstores, on April 27. Not before, not online and not in chain stores.

Some of 2018’s 20-plus exclusive Bookstore Day books and items available only at participating IBD stores on Saturday, April 27 include:

Adjustment Day (signed edition with an exclusive IBD-only cover)

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Signed with an exclusive cover, this edition will pub on Bookstore Day, 3 days before the official paperback release. Adjustment Day, the author’s first novel in four years, is an ingeniously comic work in which Chuck Palahniuk does what he does best: skewer the absurdities in our society.

The 2019 Bad Citizen Graffiti Stencil: Courage is as Contagious as Fear

Author: Susan Sontag

Every year we create our signature “Bad Citizen” Graffiti Stencil to highlight the authors and the words that push us to think, read, and be disruptive when necessary.

Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants (exclusive, signed edition with free iron-on Ada patch)

Author: Andrea Beaty

A special Independent Bookstore Day exclusive autographed copy of Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants signed by bestselling author Andrea Beaty. Includes a collectible embroidered iron-on patch of stellar scientist Ada Twist.

To see all of the exclusive items created for IBD and for all current information, visit:

http://www.indiebookstoreday.com

About Independent Bookstore Day

Independent Bookstore Day began in California in 2014 and became a national event the next year. A host of publishers and authors such as Neil Gaiman, George Saunders, Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, James Patterson, Stephen King and many others have donated work in support of the event.

Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) is produced by writer and former bookseller Samantha Schoech in partnership with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.