Chicago’s only black woman-owned bookstore is open for business.
Chicago’s only black woman-owned bookstore is open for business.
By Dan Sheehan
July 12, 2019, 11:33am
Semicolon—a vibrant new bookstore, community space, and gallery for Chicago’s street art scene—opened its doors on Tuesday with a party and mural unveiling. The store is “just one of a handful of woman-owned bookstores in Chicago and currently its only bookstore owned by a black woman.”
An author and editor with a PhD in literary theory, owner DL Mullen originally planned to open a Soho House-esque literary arena called Athenaeum Librarium, which would be a mixture of library, co-working space, and membership-only club. However, after the ambitious project was repeatedly plagued by construction woes, Mullen decided to spin the concept into a bookstore, rechristening it Semicolon.
“It represents the point in a sentence where it could stop, but the author decides to proceed,” Mullen explained to Chicago Magazine. “It means everything to me. To be able to create something that I love, as a black woman, that other black women and people can love just as much is a huge deal,” she says. “You don’t get into bookselling looking for money; it’s really hard to build up your career to actually open a bookstore. I feel grateful that I’ve been able to do that.”
Congratulations to Mullen, and to all of Chicago’s literary and artistic denizens!
Chicago’s only black woman-owned bookstore is open for business.
By Dan Sheehan
July 12, 2019, 11:33am
Semicolon—a vibrant new bookstore, community space, and gallery for Chicago’s street art scene—opened its doors on Tuesday with a party and mural unveiling. The store is “just one of a handful of woman-owned bookstores in Chicago and currently its only bookstore owned by a black woman.”
An author and editor with a PhD in literary theory, owner DL Mullen originally planned to open a Soho House-esque literary arena called Athenaeum Librarium, which would be a mixture of library, co-working space, and membership-only club. However, after the ambitious project was repeatedly plagued by construction woes, Mullen decided to spin the concept into a bookstore, rechristening it Semicolon.
“It represents the point in a sentence where it could stop, but the author decides to proceed,” Mullen explained to Chicago Magazine. “It means everything to me. To be able to create something that I love, as a black woman, that other black women and people can love just as much is a huge deal,” she says. “You don’t get into bookselling looking for money; it’s really hard to build up your career to actually open a bookstore. I feel grateful that I’ve been able to do that.”
Congratulations to Mullen, and to all of Chicago’s literary and artistic denizens!
nikkas don't read books!