Call & Response is a Black woman-owned bookstore focused on fostering a love of reading, community, human connections, and the sharing of ideas across cultures and backgrounds. With the knowledge that the publishing industry has historically overlooked and sidelined writers of color, we place the voices of Black and other authors of color at the center of our work. We hope to provide a space for the many people who, for so long, have not seen ourselves represented in literature, empowering all to share their stories with the world.

Our Name

Our store is named in honor of African diasporic traditions of music and storytelling, in which the storyteller and/or musician and listener are engaged in an ongoing dialogue, the listeners continually assuring the artist of both their attention and their digestion of the words being uttered. Just as call and response is a tradition that engages and encourages active listening, we hope to encourage a love of immersive and transformative community engagement through storytelling.