It's Been 2 Months, 1 Week & 5 Days Since...

Dear Community Friends, Family, Partners & Members:

I am writing to you today to ask for your help.

It has been 3 Months, 1 Week & 2 Days since the Franklin Fire raged through the Cross Creek & Malibu Canyon area; and 2 Months, 1 Week & 5 Days since PCH closed and the Palisades Fire took hold, decimating our communities and stopping a region 41 miles long from breathing.

While the Palisades, Topanga & the Eastern edge of Malibu are fighting its battles to come to terms with their loss and rebuild. The rest of Malibu are trying to hang on, heal & fight our battles from the most recent fires that ragged its war less than a month apart.

“What battles”, you may say? “Why should I care”, you may say? “You’re still standing”, you may say?

And I say, “Yes, exactly”!

These are the same thoughts others are having: because we are standing, because we lay on a border, because of a cultural mindset that Malibu is filled with money; we have been: passed over for Economic Relief Grants, there is no rush to open PCH to all traffic, local governments are squabbling & Landlords are saying they “are not offering any long-term adjustments at the present time” and setting tenants up for long-term failure.

The camera’s have left, there is more news in the world to contend with and many are getting left behind to try to pick up the pieces themselves. But they are failing and they are failing not out of lack of trying, but because the economics & luck are not in their favor.

So we turn to YOU! our community, our friends, our family & our champions who believe in the power of literacy. You, who love to walk into a bookstore because of the smell of the books. You, who gets that feeling of knowing the potential of the written word to make you feel and see beyond the physical and into the realm of hope and possibilities.

We have started a GoFundMe campaign to help save Malibu Village Books. We will account for all money given & are excited to bring you weekly updates of how it is going. There are even some great benefits or prizes for you as well! And if you can’t donate today, we totally get it - here are other ways you can help support:

• By sharing the GoFundMe with individuals who are able to monetarily support.

• Taking a day trip down Malibu Canyon Road and coming into the bookstore to buy your next book club book or your next desired read.

• The next time you want to buy a book or an E-Book at 10pm or 5am, go to Bookshop.org and choose Malibu Village Books as your bookstore to support.

• Partnering with Malibu Village Books on your next book club read or Author event. When you buy in bulk through Malibu Village Books you will receive a discount or we can help run your off-site Author event for your Foundation, Business or Home Author Party.

• Like what we do here on Substack? Become a paid member for even more perks & book news from your trusted booksellers.

My friends, this letter is not easy for me to write to you. Everything feels hard right now, I know - I get it. The data is not good for literacy in children, there is a decline of reading for enjoyment, we are less empathetic & more lonely than ever. But I believe in this business - I believe in Malibu Village Books. We are “Village Bookstores” because every village deserves a bookstore; because a bookstore is a magical place! Bookstores bring us knowledge, show us glimpses of lives we have the potential to live (or not live), to purge emotions hardly felt as we “adult”, create feels we long for, provide community & camaraderie when we feel lonely, a space for discourse or idea generation. Bookstores are important for culture, for society because books are important for healing, for self-care, for empathy, for YOU! Help me not let Malibu become a book desert - help me fight the fights to keep us going for all I know the bookstore is capable of. We were finally settling into our new store in Malibu, digging our heels in and beginning the run to soar when these fires stopped us in our tracks. We will take off again with your help, with your support and with you backing us up. We can not exist without YOU!

With all my love & gratitude,

~ Michelle ~