Photo by Lori Fasone
Article by Millicent Helmka
Recently, the Creative Writing program here at Willow worked in collaboration with Uptown secondhand book store Blue Cypress to read original work, both showcasing our school’s talented young writers and the program itself, while also promoting further artistic engagement with the local community.
Blue Cypress Books is a core piece of the community, spanning 14 years of operation and engagement with local residents. The shop consists of two floors stacked up to the ceiling in books, a calico cat lazing about, and a comfortable quietness not common in the bustle of Uptown. It is an essential part of the New Orleans local bookshop scene.
Blue Cypress has a very diverse selection of books, both new and used, that spans across genres. This includes but is not limited to poetry collections, young adult novels, and children’s books. Most importantly, however, Blue Cypress offers a place for local New Orleanian authors to sell and display their work beyond the computer screen, spreading awareness and supporting local writers within the community.
More specifically, according to the shop’s website, their selection “focus[es] on modern literature, New Orleans writers and subjects, children’s books, science fiction, foreign language and more.” So, if you are not one for classic fiction works, for example, there is still something for you on Blue Cypress’ shelves.
Blue Cypress also prides itself on being “an inclusive space where [anyone can] speak [their] minds and invite open conversations,” making the shop also align readily with the goals of Willow and a desire for diversity and inclusion of people and ideas from all walks of life, making the store readily accessible to various audiences across the city.
Obviously, Blue Cypress, despite its many positives, is not as massive as Barnes and Noble, for example. However, Barnes and Noble cannot provide consumers with secondhand books. Purchasing used books is not only a practice that promotes reuse and reduction of waste, but also brings a unique reading experience that newly printed books for sale cannot provide. There is nothing like having a further intellectual conversation not just with one’s self and the text, but also with the current reader and a previous reader’s markings.
Barnes and Noble and other large book conglomerates also do not readily display books from contemporary local authors. So, with this brief overview of Blue Cypress and its community engagement, you might just consider picking up a book or two there this holiday shopping season instead of Barnes and Noble.
