Increasingly backing up its “literary city” talk with tangible evidence, Dallas will soon be home to another independent bookstore, according to Shelf Awareness, a trade publication for booksellers.
Interabang Books, which takes its name from this spectacular piece of punctuation, a hybrid question mark and exclamation point, will open at Preston Road and Royal Lane in May. Shelf Awareness reports that the “5,000-square-foot store will carry more than 12,000 titles in a variety of categories, with a focus on fiction, children’s books and creative nonfiction,” and will include a space for events.
The bookstore will be operated by book buyer Lori Feathers, Jeremy Ellis, general manager of Houston’s wonderful Brazos Bookstore, and Nancy Perot, daughter of Ross. Ellis’ resume also includes a stint at BookPeople, the great Austin bookstore. Shelf Awareness quotes Perot:
“Dallas is a very literary city and every great city needs great independent bookstores to enrich the community and support literacy efforts,” she said. “If you are a book lover, nothing compares to the experience of being in a really wonderful bookstore. When Jeremy and I were introduced, everything just started falling into place as though it was meant to be.”
Interabang joins Oak Cliff’s Wild Detectives, the recently opened The Last Word in Fort Worth, and Deep Vellum, the cozy storefront spin-off of the Dallas-based publishing house, among North Texas’ burgeoning independent bookstores.
Interabang will be significantly bigger than those stores. Not counting the loveliest backyard in the Bishop Arts District, Wild Detectives and Deep Vellum combine for a little more than 2,000 square feet to Interabang’s 5,000. It’s not a competition: As long as Interabang shows the same enthusiasm for cultivating a literary scene in North Texas, it’s yet another boon for Dallas book lovers.
