In Florida, a bestselling author is building a new community of literary resistance [View all]

[Nevilledog]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/02/us/lauren-groff-lynx-book-bans-florida-cec/index.html

CNN
—
The end of April is about to be the busiest week of Lauren Groff’s life.

In the span of a few days, the acclaimed author is set to share the stage at New York’s Lincoln Center with Margaret Atwood, where they’ll discuss their books about women in quiet fury and the places that misunderstand them. Then it’s off to a gala in the city to celebrate her selection for Time’s 100 most influential people of the year, where she’ll rub shoulders on the red carpet with personalities like Dua Lipa and Patrick Mahomes.

But when I meet her, on a swampy early spring day in Gainesville, Florida, Groff isn’t thinking about her glamorous New York appointments. She’s wearing Birkenstocks and lugging boxes around her nearly completed book store.

The shop is situated in an old building that in the 19th century housed a cotton gin. It’s the newest storefront in historic downtown Gainesville, just a mile from the University of Florida. When it is done, the Lynx will be a literary hub and independent bookstore devoted to selling challenged and banned books and titles by authors from marginalized groups.

The idea for the store has lived in her head for years, but she’s held the keys to this place since December — roughly the last time her life wasn’t going a mile a minute.

*snip*


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