A mobile bookstore is on its way to the Bronx

Just a few weeks ago, the Bronx’s much-anticipated general-interest bookstore, the Lit. Bar, finally opened after a successful crowdfunding campaign. Now, as Welcome2theBronx first reported, the borough will be getting a second peddler of tomes.

Lifelong Bronx resident Latanya DeVaughn announced at a Sunday event at Bronx Music Heritage Center, that she will be bringing a mobile bookstore, Bronx Bound Books, to the borough.

DeVaughn, who works at a nonprofit, used to run an open mic at Books in the Hood, an independent bookstore that closed down in the borough in 2011. “I have a tremendous love for the Bronx and writing and reading,” she told Curbed. “A bookstore has always been part of my life plan and with the rents being the way they are in the Bronx, I realized that the dream was going to be further away.”

But, she realized that there was another option. “On a truck, I can be with the community, know who they are, without relying on them to come to me,” DeVaughn said.

She is now aiming to reach several Bronx neighborhoods like Baychester, Throggs Neck, and “any place where it takes more than a half an hour to get to the nearest bookstore—I wanna be able to meet [Bronx residents] half way.”

DeVaughn also plans to host workshops and events to encourage children, teenagers, and elders to read.

She will be launching a crowdfunding campaign in the next two to three weeks, aiming to raise between $65,000 and $80,000 to begin the project.

“Every neighborhood in the Bronx deserves a bookstore, even if it’s just for one day,” DeVaughn said.