Quick summary:
Today, we’ll help you get ready for the holiday season with ideas for new reads and shops, plus more gift guides, featuring URL Media staff picks and other recommendations from our partner network.
Skip the shopping stress with our guide
Hey, y’all,
The weekend after Thanksgiving is a rare chance in the busyness of autumn to take a step back. Your belly might be full of leftovers, you might be cracking open a new book … but you also just might be starting to think about your holiday shopping list.
It can be a stressful feeling. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have great deals, but always with the aftertaste of commercialism run wild, which is not a great setup for more shopping, to say the least.
Finding the right gifts for your people aside, there’s also the matter of putting your money in places you feel good about. Today is Small Business Saturday, which can help, but with so many deserving local shops out there in-person and online, how do you decide where to bring your business this time around?
Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered.
First of all, what are you reading? We’ll cover three authors whose work we recommend, whether as a gift to yourself or a loved one, plus some independent booksellers to help you get a copy.
Then, we’ve compiled a list of Black-owned LGBTQ+ stores, along with other guides to help you cut through some more of the noise this season. Let’s dive in!
New on the shelves
We Will Rest! by Tricia Hersey
Apt for the months of burnout and days off is We Will Rest!, a new release from Tricia Hersey. Two years ago, the performance artist, writer, and activist elevated the political power of naps in her bestseller Rest is Resistance. Published on November 12, We Will Rest! continues her dissection of grind culture and exploration of escape methods to offer “medicine for a sick and exhausted world,” Hersey writes.
Sage Warrior by Valerie Kaur
Coming off of See No Stranger, a 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist, Valerie Kaur is deepening her journey of revolutionary love in a time when every corner of the world seems to be on fire. Sage Warrior, released this past September, uncovers how we can find the wisdom we need to survive while embracing love and joy.
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In three related essays, Ta-Nehisi Coates takes readers through his recent experiences in Dakar, Senegal, in Columbia, S.C. — where his own book is banned — and lastly, in Palestine. Through the discussions that follow in The Message, the author of bestseller Between the World and Me seeks “to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our world—and our own souls—and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths.”
Where to get your words, and more
- Reparations Club, an independently Black-owned and operated bookstore based in Los Angeles. Visit their shop in-person or online for gift ideas and to check out the events page.
- The Salt Eaters, a bookshop & community space prioritizing stories by/about Black women, femmes, & gender expansive people. They’re going virtual in 2025, so stay tuned.
- Loyalty, a multiracial- and queer-led bookstore based in Washington, D.C. Don’t miss free hot cocoa and 10% off today for Small Business Saturday.
- BLK MKT Vintage, a Brooklyn, NY-based antique and vintage shop, specializing in objects that represent the richness of Black history and lived experience.
- Brownie Points, selling candles, jewelry, clothes, prints, and accessories all designed by Rinny Perkins, a Texas-born and LA-based artist and comedian.
- Chicago French Press, a locally roasted, women-led business serving the city’s South Loop and West Loop neighborhoods.
Supporting a URL Media partner organization with a donation or subscription is another way to uplift Black and Brown enterprises this season.
Need more ideas? Check out more Black-owned LGBTQ+ businesses recommended by Black Wall Street, as well as other Black, POC, and family-owned stores from Epicenter NYC and Baltimore Beat’s2024 gift guide.
