Amidst escalating fascism and horror, the books we have been reading for the Strength in Community Book Club have been a particular life line. These books point to nature and the wisdom of our ancestors as a guide, and hope, creativity and imagination as key tools in the dreaming of a new world.

These books are full of the tools we need to build a better future. We have to imagine another, better future to start building it. Our ancestors did this for us, and now we do it for the next 7 generations.

Bookmail from @blackwalnutbooks.bsky.social The Art Thieves by @andrealrogers.bsky.social Mapping the Interior by @sgj.bsky.social Can’t wait! 🖤

Independent Bookstore Day is 4/26✨ Celebrate with us from 10-6pm! Buy a tote at Black Walnut Books and everything you can fit inside it is 20% off📚 Make a day of it and do a little bookstore tour! There are 4 incredible bookstores to explore in The Shirt Factory and many more in the Capital Region💕

Somehow wanted to do three book clubs this month thanks to @blackwalnutbooks.bsky.social having some excellent picks, and finished two out of three, fruiting bodies is the third and I’m starting it today!

I *love* this series sooo much @melissablair.bsky.social 🖤

Today is We Need Diverse Books Day! I started Black Walnut Books because I deeply believe in the importance of diverse books & diverse voices. Everyone deserves to see themselves in literature, and it is a delight to be able to read about people like you and people completely different than you.

Doechii the Don, Doechii the dean, Doechii supreme was awarded the Outstanding Music Artist award at the GLAAD Media Awards! I am so happy to see bi rep so loud and proud, so I did what I do best and made a reading list about it. All of these are available on my bookshop page ✨🐊✨

The Trans Rights Readathon starts tomorrow and goes until 3/31. Join me in reading and celebrating trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming voices. The readathon is about spreading joy and awareness, raising funds and for standing in solidarity. bookshop.org/lists/trans-...

If you want to read more books by Indigenous authors, join the Indigenous and Lit Book Club! We meet online once a month to discuss books by contemporary Indigenous authors. Each discussion is led by Hillary, a member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians and owner of Black Walnut Books.

Today is International Women’s Day & I wanted to share a stack of a handful of my favorite books by women. Just a reminder: if your feminism is only for white, straight, cis women, it’s not feminism it’s fascism. I encourage you to read as intersectionally as possible, you’ll thank me I promise!

Celebrating 2 years of the bookstore being open with a delicious glass of wine from my trip back to California and my first ever bookshop ebook! Indie bookstores being able to sell ebooks has been in the works for such an incredibly long time, this feels like such a triumph!

bookstore? more like bookSCORE. goodies from @blackwalnutbooks.bsky.social scooped last night.

Whew! The book expo was quite… inspiring! I had preordered about half of these and the rest were irresistible. Had a great time chatting with authors and readers. ❤️ Really loving The Shirt Factory and @blackwalnutbooks.bsky.social

We have three Black Walnut Books subscription boxes that coincide with three of our book clubs. They are $20 per month and include the current book club read and a little gift. These boxes quite literally keep the store going & help you decolonize your reading. They are available on our website.

Native people will NEVER stop fighting for our future - and yours. As long as the tree stands, as long as the fish swim, as long as the bear climbs. We are *here* protecting & fighting for each and every one of you, even with the harm your ancestors did or even you do - consciously or unconsciously.

It’s exciting (and high time) that major publishers are publishing romance by Native authors. If you’d like to read Native romance, while supporting a Native owned store, & send a message to publishers that we want more of this, pre-order Love is a War Song from me here: bookshop.org/lists/exciti...

The Strength in Community Book Club meets monthly on Sunday evenings online to discuss books that look to Indigenous & Black authors for topics of community building, reciprocity, mutual aid, abolition, resistance & intentionality. www.blackwalnutbookshop.com/book-clubs

Here are some books by Black authors that I love and think everyone should read. They are listed in the comments and on my bookshop page, where you can order any of them from me. Have you read any of these?

I was interviewed on @ncprnews.bsky.social for their North Country at Work series. You can listen here: www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/5...

The Indigenous and Lit Book Club reads a book by a contemporary Indigenous author each month. Our next pick is An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States. You can sign up to join the discussion or for more info on our website.

I absolutely loved this book! It is an epic tale of a demon’s love of her city in a tiny little package. There are so many little details in this book that make it like a little jewel box of magic and fantasy. I don’t often revisit books, but this one might be an annual reread.

I’m starting a new book club! The Strength in Community Book Club will meet on Sunday evenings online to discuss books that look to Indigenous and Black authors for topics of community building, reciprocity, mutual aid, abolition, resistance and intentionality. You can sign up on my website.

We’re hosting a bunch of awesome events in February! We try to have a good mix of virtual and in person events to cultivate community wherever you may be 🌈📖💕

Sneak peak of our new *giant* tote bags. Charlie inspected and approved! #bookstoredog #decolonize #bookstore #nativeowned

Taiwan Travelogue is our current queer book club pick & I am absolutely loving it. Charlie, Theo & Nellie are loving a good snuggle session. If you’d like to join the discussion, we meet once a month on discord & you can sign up on my website 🌈📖 #booksky #queer #bookclub @graywolfpress.bsky.social

You can now get ebooks and support indie bookstores!! Check it out here: bookshop.org/shop/blackwa... if you want to support Black Walnut Books. Thank you @bookshop-org.bsky.social for all the work you do for the indie bookstore community!

The bookstore pups Charlie and Theo helped with a book donation pick up tonight. They have many skills and book hauling is just one of them! #booksky #bookstoredog

An excellent follow for queer book lovers (and writers)!

I adore this bookstore and suggest joining!

ahhh one of my favorite book stores (and the first brick-and-mortar bookstore to ever carry our books!) has joined Bluesky! Ya'll, give Black Walnut Books a warm welcome please and thank you! They're in Glens Falls, New York.

This year I am doing the #DecolonizeYourShelf2025 challenge set by @blackwalnutbooks.bsky.social and already got no.1 ticked off thanks to the Never Whistle At Night anthology

Got some super exciting arcs from Indigenous authors yesterday! You can preorder either here: bookshop.org/lists/exciti... #booksky #NativeSky

2025 Decolonize Your Shelf Reading Challenge Read 20 Books by Indigenous, Queer & BIPOC Authors Use the #decolonizeyourshelf2025 hashtag & tag Black Walnut Books in your posts and stories. The challenge is also on Storygraph here: app.thestorygraph.com/reading_chal...

Today I got a visit from the wonderful folks from @possible-futures.bsky.social 💕 one of my favorite parts of being a bookseller is connecting with other awesome book people!

I have made a Black Walnut Books Discord server! It will be the new home for my virtual book club discussions. I also made a virtual bulletin board and a few channels to share resources and recommendations. Please join the Discord community! Here is a link: discord.gg/MvmjhyVbTA

Hi I’m Hillary and I own Black Walnut Books. I’m Southern Pomo and Coastal Miwok and am a member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians. I created Black Walnut Books to lift up the voices of Indigenous, BIPOC & queer authors.