The Aapricity Podcast Episode 5: Hilary Lowe, Co-Owner of Literati Bookstore

by Maggie Cease

Today, I’m delighted to bring you my interview with Hilary Lowe, who is Co-Owner of Literati Bookstore with her husband Mike Gustafson. Literati Bookstore opened in 2013, at a time when there were no other bookstores selling new books in downtown Ann Arbor. Since then, they’ve created a store that not only sells books, but also functions as a center of literary culture in Ann Arbor.

We talk about how Hilary and Mike first decided to open Literati, what it means for a store to be a ‘third place’, what went into creating the physical space of Literati, tales from the manual typewriter in Literati’s basement, and what makes Hilary hopeful for the future of bookstores.

During the interview, Hilary mentions a couple books by name. One of them is Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal, which she calls "her favorite book". She also mentions Miss Jane by Brad Watson, which is Literati's July pick and will be available at the store then. The book she found at a used bookstore was A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman.

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