May
2025
May 1st through 31st
Membership Drive
Everyday in May, new members will get a voucher for a free used book, to use at any time in the next year. Renewing members will receive a $5 coupon to use at any time in the next year!
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Memberships are $25 a year, ($20 for store owners), and you receive a $10 credit for every $200 you spend - that's 5% back to use on MORE BOOKS!
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Any bookseller in store can help you with your membership; let us know if you have questions!
May All month long
Featured Artist:
Theresa Atencio
Theresa Atencio, an artist currently residing in Alamosa, Colorado, has been creating art with passion and purpose since her 20s. Though she now calls Alamosa home, she spent much of her adult life in nearby Buena Vista.
A self-taught artist, Theresa honed her craft through a blend of in-person classes, mentorships, and online instruction over the years. Her preferred mediums—oils, pastels, and watercolors—allow her to explore the rich interplay of light, shadow, and emotion, especially in her impressionistic landscapes, still lifes, and portraits.
Theresa's art reflects her deep love for color, both in her work and in the world around her. Her spirituality gently weaves into her creative expression, with nature often serving as a source of quiet inspiration. She finds profound motivation in the changing seasons of Colorado, where the vibrant shifts in color mirror the cycles of life and renewal. From the golden hues of autumn to the soft pastels of spring, each season brings new perspectives, allowing her to capture the essence of nature’s beauty.
Her art has earned recognition, including a 1st place award in professional graphics at the Chaffee County Council on the Arts. For Theresa, painting is not just a creative outlet but a way to uplift her spirit, strengthen her appreciation for the natural world, and explore the joy that comes from working with color and style.
May 7th 6pm
Indie Press Book Club
Our featured press for March and April is Interlink Publishing, and our featured book is the poetry collection, Almond Blossoms and Beyond, by Mahmoud Darwish. We’ll discuss this book on May 7th at 6pm! You can get this book in store for 10% off up until our book club meeting!
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About the Book:
The first English translation of recent poetry by the late Mahmoud Darwish, the most important Palestinian contemporary poet. Almond Blossoms and Beyond is one of the last collections of poetry that Mahmoud Darwish left to the world. Composed of brief lyric poems and the magnificent sustained Exile cycle, Almond Blossoms holds an important place in Darwish’s unparalleled oeuvre. It distills his late style, in which, though the specter of death looms and weddings turn to funerals, he threads the pulses and fragilities and beauties of life into the lines of his poems. Their liveliness is his own response to the collection’s final call to bid Farewell / Farewell, to the poetry of pain.
About the Press:
Established in 1987, Interlink Publishing is a Palestinian-owned, Massachusetts-based independent publishing house that offers a global perspective to readers. Interlink publishes works of literature-in-translation, history, activism, politics, art, cultural guides, award-winning cookbooks, and illustrated children’s books from around the world.
Interlink publishes approximately 90 titles each year and has an active backlist of over 1000 titles under the following three imprints.
Interlink Books publishes a general trade list of adult fiction and non-fiction with an emphasis on books that have a wide appeal while also meeting high intellectual and literary standards.
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Olive Branch Press publishes socially and politically relevant non-fiction, concentrating on topics and areas of the world often ignored by the Western media. Titles also include works on a wide range of contemporary issues such as Middle East studies, African studies, women’s studies, religion and translated works by academics of international stature.
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Crocodile Books publishes high-quality illustrated children’s books from around the world. Titles published under this imprint include quality picture books for preschoolers, as well as fiction and non-fiction books for children ages 3-8.
May 17th 6pm
The Spadefoot Storyslam Community
Each month, we host the Spadefoot Story Slam community, sharing stories based on a theme, selected at the previous month’s Slam. While inspired by the Moth Story Hour, our monthly meetings are not a contest, but instead are a way to come together and practice sharing, and deep listening.
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Join us 5/17 at the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative for your stories themed around Fear of the Unknown.
Have you made a big life change on a leap of faith? What adventures brought you out of your comfort zone? Tell us about the time you jumped into the deep end, of your first day at school or on the job jitters, you survived your type 2 fun trip. For me, Al Stone, this feeling is full-bodied and visceral. Keyed-up--a bundle of nerves and excitement all in one. As Yvon Chouinard says, "Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all." We'll catch y'all on May 17th at 6 PM at the Narrow Gauge Book Coop for your stories on Fear of the Unknown. Stories must be true, as remembered by you and stories must be spoken from the heart, not off the page
May 31st 6pm
Honoring Kathy Park
Kathy Park was a valued member of the community here, as an artist and a person.
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We are gathering on May 31st at 6pm to honor her. Loved ones will read from her work as we gather in her memory.