{"id":1785,"date":"2025-06-21T08:01:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T08:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/06\/21\/ann-arbors-literary-meeting-ground\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T08:01:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T08:01:48","slug":"ann-arbors-literary-meeting-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/06\/21\/ann-arbors-literary-meeting-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Arbor&#8217;s literary meeting ground"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>In an exploration of Ann Arbor\u2019s robust and diverse literary scene, The Michigan Daily\u2019s Business beat spoke with seven downtown bookstores. Each article in \u2018The literary culture of downtown Ann Arbor\u2019 project aims to capture each store\u2019s unique offerings and contribution to the community. Read the other articles here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Located on East Washington Street and South Fourth Avenue, Literati Bookstore is home to a wide variety of written works, with genres ranging from poetry and architecture to fiction and history. Named Publishers Weekly\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/business\/literati-named-2019-bookstore-year\/\"> Bookstore of the Year<\/a> in 2019, Literati continues to be an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/special\/best-bookstore-literati-4\/\">Ann Arbor staple<\/a>, hosting book clubs, poetry and prose readings and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/ann-arbor\/literati-bookstore-hosts-author-bernadette-atuahene-to-discuss-her-book-plundered\/\">book releases<\/a>. The bookstore is also home to a public typewriter, open to customers to write notes and share their thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Literati was founded in March 2013 by Michiganders Hilary and Michael Gustafson. Before moving to Ann Arbor, the couple worked in Brooklyn; both held literary jobs, with Hilary working as a sales representative at Simon &amp; Schuster and Michael working as a freelance writer. After the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.annarbor.com\/business-review\/borders-liquidation-chapter-11-ann-arbor-bookstore-chain-borders-group-e-books\/\"> liquidation<\/a> of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.annarbor.com\/business-review\/borders-rise-and-fall-a-timeline-of-the-bookstore-chains-40-year-history\/\"> Ann Arbor<\/a>-based bookstore chain Borders in 2011, Hilary and Michael returned to Michigan and founded Literati.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Hilary Gustafson, an Ann Arbor native, spoke about the initial business challenges she and her husband faced when opening the bookstore. She said the duo faced doubts but believed homegrown bookshops like Literati were capable of embedding themselves in the local community.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cAt that time, it was really hard to get someone to rent to us, because they didn\u2019t believe that a bookstore could survive,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cIf Borders couldn\u2019t do it, then how could we? But from my experience learning at Simon &amp; Schuster, independent bookstores can be more nimble than bigger chains and can change direction with what\u2019s going on in the world or in their community and be tied into the people that live in those communities in ways that can make them sustainable long term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gustafson also spoke about the significance of Literati\u2019s location in downtown Ann Arbor and said the bookstore has become very connected to the different academic fields across the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving such a university like the University of Michigan, that\u2019s well renowned and has people in many different academic fields who are passionate about different subjects, obviously informs who\u2019s coming into the store and who\u2019s buying what,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made some really strong connections within different University departments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With strong ties to the University, Literati collaborates with U-M programs such as the<a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/humanities\"> Institute for the Humanities<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/michiganross.umich.edu\/\"> Ross School of Business<\/a> and the<a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/writers\/program-overview\/project-partners\/literati-bookstore.html\"> Helen Zell Writers\u2019 Program<\/a>, managing all book sales for the<a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/writers\/news-and-events\/readings-and-events\/zell-visiting-writers-series.html#view=week\"> Zell Visiting Writers Series<\/a>. Rackham student Matthew Buxton, Literati bookseller and a member of the Helen Zell Writers\u2019 Program, said his experiences as a student influence his college experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI get to meet with authors one-on-one and go to their craft talks, and in my classes, read tons of great contemporary or older authors, and then I sell those books at Literati,\u201d Buxton said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a super exciting thing where we can have authors come to visit on the Helen Zell side of things, and then every day, when people are coming in for recommendations, I can be that force on the ground selling these books that have been impactful to me in my time in the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>In an email to The Daily, Peter Ho Davies, director of the Helen Zell Writers\u2019 Program, wrote about Literati\u2019s significance to current and former students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiterati is a great asset to the local literary community,\u201d Davies wrote. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful to them for selling books at our visiting writer events, and in their own excellent reading series,\u00a0 they\u2019ve hosted many of our alumni for book events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buxton elaborated on the behind-the-scenes elements of the bookstore and said in addition to considering the profitability of their inventory, Literati also prioritizes the individuality of their book selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have this huge poetry section that isn\u2019t necessarily the most profitable because not that many people buy niche poetry,\u201d Buxton said. \u201cThat\u2019s been rewarding to see that yes, we are a retail store, we do have to prioritize sales, but we also do that so we can house some of these other titles and authors that potentially wouldn\u2019t be in a store like Barnes &amp; Noble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gustafson explained the different business strategies Literati has developed and said the bookstore\u2019s subscription programs engage customers in the literary community.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe have a signed first-edition subscription program, where you get a signed first-edition book each month as a way to collect and build a library,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really fun to see books that we pick early on then win the Pulitzer Prize or the National Book Award, and people have been able to have those signed first editions of these very important works. We\u2019ve expanded that out \u2014 now we have a romance subscription program, a small press subscription program and we\u2019re launching a science fiction subscription program this month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gustafson and her husband are committed to their goal to remain open for thirty years. Although she mentioned that Literati\u2019s success could be attributed to luck, Gustafson said the support of the Ann Arbor community has been key to the longevity and success of the bookstore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re kind of a lucky case,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cMy husband always says it\u2019s kind of like we caught lightning in a bottle. We feel very lucky, but we also have a really supportive community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Staff Reporter Noor Khanafer can be reached at noorkk@umich.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an exploration of Ann Arbor\u2019s robust and diverse literary scene, The Michigan Daily\u2019s Business beat spoke with seven downtown bookstores. Each article in \u2018The literary culture of downtown Ann Arbor\u2019 project aims to capture each store\u2019s unique offerings and contribution to the community. Read the other articles here. Located on East Washington Street and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[242,1990,1994,1992,1993],"class_list":{"0":"post-1785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-ann","9":"tag-arbors","10":"tag-ground","11":"tag-literary","12":"tag-meeting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785\/revisions\/1787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}