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Book stores in Victoria notice uptick in sales for anti-racism titles

White Fragility, How to be an Antiracist are among the best selling titles
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Colin Holt, manager at Bolen Books, has noticed an increase in demand for books on anti-racism. (Kendra Crighton/News Staff)

Book stores in Victoria are noticing an uptick in books on racism or anti-racism since the Black Lives Matter protests took hold across the world.

Jessica Walker, managing partner at Munro’s Books, says the store has received “hundreds and hundreds” of orders for books around the topic. She says most orders are for about five of the main best selling titles such as How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, and Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad.

“It’s been huge,” she says. “I’ve been a bookseller for more than 30 years and I don’t remember seeing anything quite like this.”

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Colin Holt, manager at Bolen Books, has noticed a similar increase in demand for books on anti-racism. “White Fragility and How to be an Antiracist are really, really big on people’s minds right now,” he says. “There are a number of other books people are looking for but those are the two biggest at the moment.”

Holt says what’s interesting is the age range of the people buying the books.

READ ALSO: Black business owners in Victoria share first-hand experiences with racism

“We have parents that are looking for books to explain it to kids, we have people that would be college student level and older adults,” he says. “It’s a subject that seems to be for everyone right now.”

According to Walker, most publishers across North America were almost instantly sold out and were reprinting books on the topic so Munro’s, like others, was sold out for a while.

“The nice thing right now, certainly for readers who are interested is that we have a lot of books in the store now,” she says, adding people can see a list of books for Indigenous History Month online.


 

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca. Follow us on Instagram.  Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.