I lived in the Phoenix area for about 10 years, in a giant bottle of Coppertone I called my home. There were (and still are) some great bookstores on the scene: Changing Hands, Old Town Books, and Poisoned Pen come to mind.

But until recently, with the arrival of Palabras Bilingual Bookstore, the city hasn’t had a bilingual option. And now Palabras needs help to continue thriving as both a store and a vital community space.

Our friends over at Book Riot have put out their own call for support for Palabras, saying:

Since opening, Palabras has hosted POC poetry nights, craft events, activism/education nights, book clubs, and more. They stock a full selection of books in the Spanish language, something woefully missing in most bookstores in a city with over a 30% Latino population.

Palabras is looking for support funding a point of sale system and new website to reach their community of supporters. It’s vital start-up stuff that will be so important to this bookstore as it grows and reaches a larger audience in Phoenix.

And I hereby second the motion, adding how important (and rare) it is in a sweltering city with bad public transportation to have welcoming, and intellectually enriching spaces nearby, where someone can just sit down and cool it for a little while.

In that spirit, you can go support them here, from now until July 1st!

But there’s no reason to take my word for it. The store is owned by Chawa Magaña, and here she is in her own words: