PASADENA, Calif. — For the first time, the city of Pasadena will have a bookstore that highlights BIPOC authors and is owned by a Black woman.
Octavia’s Bookshelf, the independent bookstore that’s set to open north of the 210 Freeway at 1361 North Hill Avenue on Feb. 18, has always been Pasadena local Nikki High’s dream.
High named the store after legendary science fiction writer and Pasadena native, Octavia Butler, saying her goal with the shop is to continue the conversations that Butler started when she became one of the first writers in America to feature people of color in sci-fi novels.
High closed the book on her 15-year-long career in communications — a job she admits she loved — when she came back home, from an inspiring trip to South Africa’s Swaziland.
“I came back home, and I gave notice to my job. I didn’t have a lease signed at that point,” she said.
No lease, but one thing High says she had was the spiritual support of her late grandmother, whose sudden death last year played a huge hand in High's leap of faith.
“Whatever I wanted in terms of education and books, she along with my mother would see to it that I had access to all of those things," she said.
High also had the support of her community. She even got the attention of Michelle Banks, an African-American Literature professor at Pasadena City College, who says it’s high time for a Black-owned bookstore in Pasadena.
“Pasadena has a large African American community, and they don’t really have that many Black bookstores as far as I know in Pasadena,” Banks said.
And Banks was even more excited when she heard that High's store will be called Octavia’s Bookshelf — in honor of the legendary science fiction writer and Pasadena native Octavia Butler.
Banks says most Americans are only familiar with the Black authors they learn about in school, like Toni Morrison and James Baldwin, and that it’s important to go beyond those classic titles.
"Our culture is amazing. I think the more people that know about the contributions that Blacks have made throughout literature, the better," Banks said.
And that’s been a huge motivation for High — to create a space that’s not only inclusive but is also feeding a need in her neighborhood.
"This idea was also birthed from also me not having an indie bookstore that’s focused on Black indigenous writers of color, so that’s why I’m here," she said.