I like a quiet birthday, and this year is shaping up to be that way. I’ll probably spend most of it reading. While there will be no party and there is no need for gifts, I’m inviting you to help do a ting!
For no particular reason, I have landed on the number 40. I would like for 40 (or more!) people to donate $20 toward the purchase of 40 books for the Willie Mae Pratt Centre for Girls.
I have always loved reading, and it has exposed me to worlds, peoples, challenges, and ideas that I would not have otherwise encountered. Books introduced me to new possibilities, exercising my imagination. They invited me to meet myself.
Reading is often presented as a skill we need to get through school and to secure paid work. It is, however, a delight. It is a way for us to enjoy ourselves, in solitary and collective ways. It is political. It is activating. It is a community builder. Young people need books, and they need to have the time and space to enjoy them and seize reading as a leisure activity.
In December 2024, I opened a feminist bookstore, Rabble! Bookshop in Poinciana Paper Press. Running the store is everything I dreamed it would be from childhood. It has also given me certain tools to access books, so all books for this initiative will be ordered through Rabble! Bookshop which will absorb all costs beyond list price.
I welcome you to join me in making a donation of 40 or more books to the Willie Mae Pratt Centre for Girls possible. Your part is just $20.
Here’s how we rock this:
Cash: Drop it off to Rabble! Bookshop in Poinciana Paper Press at 12 Parkgate Road, Thursdays through Saturdays between 11am and 3pm
PayPal: Visit paypal.me/aliciawallace to transfer funds
Online Bahamian bank transfer: Email hello@rabblebookshop.com to receive account details
