Loc’d and Lit is an online bookseller and book club based in the Bronx. Started by Triciah Claxton and Alanna Lewis-Ramirez during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the store is on a mission to make books accessible to everyone, representing a variety of languages and cultures in its book selections.
Loc’d and Lit is now looking to expand by bringing two physical bookstores to the Melrose and Morrisania neighborhoods of the Bronx, where the need for access to books is high.
With only one brick-and-mortar bookstore currently located in the Bronx — a borough of nearly 1.5 million people — the club-store hybrid aims to bring books to all Bronxites. Loc’d and Lit is actively seeking support through grants, angel investors and marketing campaigns to raise the necessary funds to start the project.
“We are aware of that problem of inaccessibility, and we are here to offer the solution,” Lewis-Ramirez said.
While they’re still an online-only presence at the moment, Loc’d and Lit hosts in-person community events like free book giveaways, pop-up shops and curates their own in-person and virtual book clubs.
On April 1, Loc’d and Lit held their third free book distribution event at Heyground in Harlem. Part of a series called Books in Bloom, the event brought together supporters and followers of all ages to hear a lineup of local spoken word poets and authors come together for an entertaining event. They hope to keep hosting these communal events as part of their mission to increase literacy in the Bronx.
Loc’d and Lit also aims to appeal to people through their curated book selections. They source independent authors and recommendations from “bookstagram” accounts on Instagram, ensuring that their online bookstore is diverse and inclusive. By planning to offer titles by minority and indigenous authors, Claxton and Lewis-Ramirez, childhood friends, want to make sure that everyone is represented in the books they read, fostering a sense of pride and investment in reading.
“Reading is a right. It is not a privilege,” Claxton said. “Literacy is directly correlated to job prospects, to poverty. Reading is power and knowledge is power. And it shouldn’t be gatekept.”
For more information about Loc’d and Lit’s bookstores, book clubs and upcoming events, visit their website at www.locdandlit.com.
For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
