Now Open: Palabras Librerìa, Offering Books in English & Spanish

By Editor November 14, 2016 13:15

By: Jessica Lizza

Cronkite Special to AZLatinos.com

As soon as humans learned to communicate, they began writing down their history in some form – starting with something as simple as cave drawings, and evolving to what the world has now.

Phoenix is home to a large Hispanic population and culturally diverse communities, which are underrepresented in the way of literature. Rosie Magaña, a creative writing student at Arizona State University, wanted to change that. Downtown Phoenix is now home to Palabras Librerìa/Bookstore. Magaña’s mission is to have a bookstore with printed in Spanish and English, as well as books written by various authors of color.

“I wanted to have a more diverse book selection, specifically for the community that I am in so people, especially children, can see themselves in a book,” Magaña said. She also wants the bookstore to be a place that everyone, regardless of race, can feel safe and free to learn about other cultures. “I wanted to have a space where people who are marginalized have a place they can be heard. They don’t have to worry about misrepresentation.”

Magaña’s inspiration for this bookstore, which she started working on in August of 2015, came from an art installation at ASU’s Combine Studios called Libreria Donceles. Magaña described it as a Spanish bookstore that was making a statement by going into cities where there should be a Spanish bookstore, but there isn’t. This prompted her to take action, and she created the bookstore as a platform to bring a community of people together. She said, “we are utilizing the platform of literature and language to bring people together and develop a real sense of community.”

Palabras also works to bring two aspects of the community together, by providing services for lower income demographics in the area. The week after the grand opening, Palabras will have family reading time, as well as hosting Spanish classes by Interlingua. The goal is to bring people of different race and class backgrounds together to develop a sense of unity and realize the significance of keeping culture and community alive.

The grand opening of Palabras Librerìa/Bookstore was on November 12th, and everyone is encouraged to not only donate financially, but books as well.

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