Wed 3/1 @ 6-8:30PM
Wed 3/8 @ 6-8:30PM
Sat. 3/11 @ 10AM-6PM
For the better part of the last quarter of a century, Loganberry Books has been socially responsible promoting issues of the day. That’s why it makes sense to report the popular Cleveland store has scheduled numerous events celebrating Women’s History Month.
This year’s affair includes an ingenious gender gap display (3/1), The Gift of Light showcasing Sawsan Alhaddad’s work (3/1), International Women’s Day (3/8) and Larchmere Boulevard Celebrates Women’s History Month event (3/11).
CoolCleveland talked to Loganberry Books owner Harriett Logan about the special events taking place this month.
Among the various events planned for Women’s History Month, what’s new?
Certainly, the project of shelving men’s books backwards is a new thing. That’s quite a visual. On March 1, we will have a performing arts project where we will physically take all of the fiction and poetry books written by men and shelve them backwards. We’ll leave only the women’s books spine out. Visually you’ll be able to see the dominance that men have in the field, and you will of course emphasize the women’s work because those are the only ones you’ll be able to read.
What a great idea. How did you conceive it?
You know, I’ve seen other projects where people shelve books backwards, and I just somehow merged that to the women’s idea. It’s in the arts room We’re just doing fiction. We’re not doing all 100,000 books. That’s crazy. And we’re not doing quite all of them. We’re doing all of the hardcover fiction and all of the poetry. It’ll still be about 10,000 volumes.
Tell us why you’re excited about The Gift of Light, which showcases the work of painter Sawsan Alhaddad.
Just the beauty. She does these lavish, beautiful landscapes with a great sense of light. This will be a first for us showing her work. I’m not sure how we landed on her. My only real criteria were to be sure we had a female artist, which isn’t hard. There are plenty of women out there, but I always make sure in February we have a black artist and in March we have a female artist.
This year International Women’s Day falls on March 8. Why is that day so special?
I have to admit that it’s a birthday party (laughs). It is International Women’s Day but other than filling out a questionnaire, we’re really just having a Harriett birthday party because it’s my 50th birthday. I thought why not? I don’t usually make a big deal about birthdays, but this is a special day. So, I decided to do something. I think it’s fabulous that my birthday really is International Women’s Day. That’s just how it goes.
The last event is the Larchmere Boulevard Celebrates Women’s History Month.
This is the one we’ve been doing for four years where participating merchants on the street choose a nonprofit to benefit with a portion of the sales on that day. It’s an awareness for their causes, as well as the feminist cause. There are some presentations that evening. Also, at Loganberry, we’ll be donating 10 percent of our sales to the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank because we believe literacy is a feminist issue.
Finally, what do you hope people take away from Loganberry Books’ participation in Women’s History Month?
I’d like people to know we play an active part in our community. We’re a socially responsible organization as well as a politically interested party. And we’ll do what we can to highlight and bring awareness to minority interest groups, to equality causes and to literature in our world, which needs to be diverse.
Shaker Heights, OH 44120