Word Up welcomes legendary bookseller Paul Yamazaki to celebrate his new book Reading the Room: A Bookseller’s Tale and to discuss his 50+ years at City Lights Bookstore and the past, present, and future of bookselling with Word Up founder & general coordinator Veronica Santiago Liu.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 50 max attendees. Please register in advance. 

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees for this event must wear a mask inside.

Word Up Community Bookshop is located at 2113 Amsterdam Ave. (& 165th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 168th St and the A/C train to 163rd or 168th  St.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Reading the Room is Paul Yamazaki’s love letter to the work of bookselling and an engaged life of the mind.

Over twenty-four hours, Paul Yamazaki leads us through the stacks of storied City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco; the care and prowess of his approach to book buying; his upbringing in a Japanese American family in Southern California and moving to San Francisco at the height of revolutionary foment; working with legendary figures in the book publishing industry like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sonny Mehta, and others; and his vision for the future of bookselling. Navigating building trust with readers and nurturing relationships across the literary industry, Yamazaki testifies to the value of generosity, sharing knowledge, and dialogue in a life devoted to books.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Paul Yamazaki has been the principal buyer at City Lights Booksellers, the legendary San Francisco bookstore and publisher founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin, for more than fifty years. A champion for national and global literature, writers, publishers, and independent bookstores, Yamazaki was the recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 2023 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. He has mentored generations of booksellers across America.

ABOUT THE INTERLOCUTOR

Veronica Santiago Liu is the founder and general coordinator of the collective that operates Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria. Prior/concurrent to that, she was managing editor then senior editor for more than a decade at Seven Stories Press, where she currently contributes as an editor at large. Veronica cut her teeth in bookselling 21 years ago as book buyer’s assistant and website producer at Kim’s Video and Music, and in publishing 20 years ago as the co-founder of Fractious Press.