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Bookmarks Opens New Bookstore In Winston-Salem

A book tent at Bookmark's 2016 festival. Photo courtesy of Susan Smith.

For 13 years, the literary nonprofit Bookmarks has been sharing a love of literature in the Triad.

Their annual book festival is the largest in the Carolinas. The Bookmarks "Authors in School" program reaches 7,000 students. Upcoming public events include meetups with best-selling authors John Grisham and Daniel Wallace.

And this Saturday marks a new milestone for Bookmarks, when they'll have a grand opening for a brick and mortar bookstore in downtown Winston-Salem.

WFDD's Neal Charnoff sat down with Bookmarks executive director Ginger Hendricks to learn more.

Interview Highlights:

On opening a brick and mortar store:

Since 2011, our strategic plan has really called for us to create a home for the literary arts. It's a place where we can gather, where we can have author events, where we can have storytimes, and really make it our third place, meaning work, home, and then this new space, Bookmarks.

On what will distinguish Bookmarks from other regional bookstores:

We work very hard to know Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, and the Triad area. And because of that, we've worked very hard to curate a collection of books and authors that represent a variety of subjects that our community enjoys.

On whether Hendricks prefers paper or e-books:

Always on paper. I love feeling that book in my hands. I love having the author autograph that book to me, or to someone special, and I treasure that, whether it's for myself or for my children.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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