Happy 35th Anniversary, Charis Books!

On Friday, November 6,  drove to Atlanta for one of the many events organized to celebrate Charis Books' 35th anniversary.  Charis is an independent feminist bookstore that has an amazing reputation for building community, creating stimulating conversation, and stocking wonderful books.  For this landmark anniversary, many well-known people came together as special guests to help celebrate.

It would have been pretty great to have been able to attend every event, but Friday was the only evening I had available.  And what an evening it was!  Entitled "Artists & Revolutionaries," Friday night's gathering at the Hillside International Truth Center in southwest Atlanta was quite phenomenal.  The camaraderie, good will, and spirit was nearly tangible--it's quite empowering to be in a room of book-loving feminists, that I must say.

Though I would have been interested in the event without any musical guests, it sure did help that my longtime favorite duo Indigo Girls played a short set of songs in the middle of the program.  I also learned more about the inimitable Pearl Cleage (who had some of the best stage presence of any writer I've ever heard read) and got to hear Alice Walker (Alice Walker!!) read just 20 feet from me.

Here are some photos from the event.  I'm sorry they're not formatted with captions--Blogger and I aren't working together so well at the moment, so I'm not able to move the photos around or edit captions.  From top to bottom, here's what you're seeing:

1. The Rev. Dr. Barbara King of Hillside International Truth Center welcomes everyone to her place and makes everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside (truly).
2.  Owners of Charis Books, Sara & Angela, welcoming the enthusiastic crowd.
3. Founder Linda introduces Alice Walker.
4. Pearl Cleage entertains us and wakes us up a bit, throwing out a call to action.
5 & 6. Indigo Girls play a short set in this intimate environment (a true fan's dream come true!).
7. Alice Walker reads us many poems (and simply glows in person). 


Were you there?  What did you think of the evening?