ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Tamara Olmedo works a full-time job as a resource manager for a local nonprofit. She’s a mom. She’s a big reader. She also runs, buys, markets, organizes and advocates for her pop-up bookstore, Cuentos y Café.
“I have a 9 to 5, and then from 5 to 9, this is all the other stuff that I do,” Olmedo quipped.
Cuentos y Café is a BIPOC, or Black, Indigenous and People of Color, pop-up bookstore. For now, the shop lacks a brick-and-mortar space, instead relying on setting up miniature versions of the bookstore at events around the region.
What sets Cuentos y Café apart from similar set-ups is that its shelves are stocked only with books written by BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors. These range a wide span of genres and age levels, from kids board books to adult poetry to YA romance. The picks are specific, hand-selected by Olmedo herself. Occasionally, a big name author or bestseller will appear in the mix, but usually, what readers find at Cuentos y Café shop are books they won’t see at the front of a Barnes & Noble.
“When people ask for recommendations, I use that as an opportunity,” Olmedo explained. “I’ll be like, ooh, have you heard of this author?
“‘No, I haven’t.’
“‘Oh, well, this is a great sci-fi book, or this a great… whatever!’ That allows me to introduce an author that they might not normally pick up.”
It’s not that Olmedo has an aversion to what’s popular. After all, she reads everything – everything but horror, anyway.
“I’ve had to learn about the gory ones. I hate horror,” Olmedo shivered.
She thinks bestsellers are great. They just get enough attention without her help, the bookseller explained.
“The idea is, okay, let’s introduce you to another author that’s just as amazing, but because they weren’t signed by one of the Big Three, you’re probably not going to see their name anywhere else,” Olmedo said.
The Cuentos y Café owner was raised by Puerto Rican parents and grew up learning the power of cultural storytelling. That’s where the name of the bookstore came from.
“In Latino culture, and also in a lot of different BIPOC cultures, storytelling is a big part of keeping the history. Keeping the stories going from one generation to the next,” Olmedo said. “For us right now, as a modern generation, there’s less of that storytelling culture. Like, you’re not sitting around with your family as much, and so we’re keeping our stories through books. And so, Cuentos is that. ‘Cuentos’ are stories.”
The Café part of the equation, meanwhile, has a couple explanations. People go to coffee shops to read, for instance. The pop-up often partners with local cafés like BattleCat, Pennycup and Cooperative Coffee. But even more than that, coffee is a big part of Olmedo’s cultural heritage, too.
“I know for us Latinas, we grew up drinking coffee as kids. Like, it’s just part of that conversation. You sit around, and drink a cup of coffee and catch up,” Olmedo smiled. “We do a lot of pop-ups in coffee shops, but it was more just the art of, the ritual of sitting around and drinking a cup of coffee and telling stories.”
Olmedo has big plans for Cuentos y Café in the future. She’s part of a bookseller cohort sponsored by the Binc Foundation, a nonprofit organization for independent booksellers and comic book shops.
“Cuentos y Café was one of 10 booksellers that got selected for the cohort, and basically, I’m going through, like, professional bookseller school,” Olmedo laughed. “Which is a thing.”
Binc helps its booksellers learn the ins-and-outs of the industry, from buying books to selling bookmarks. The foundation connects its cohorts with experienced mentors and teaches weekly classes over the course of the free, months-long program.
Another goal for Olmedo is to get her website, www.cuentosycafe.com, fully outfitted with an online bookstore and merchandise shop. She wants to plan more community events and more book clubs, like the “Silent Book Club” held this weekend at Haywood Famous.
Then, of course, she’s thinking about a physical store of her own.
“My goal is a brick-and-mortar. That’s always been the ultimate goal,” Olmedo said. “Because I don’t want it to just be about bookselling, right? I want it to be in a community space where we can do workshops, book clubs, community events that bring people together. The pop-up just allowed us to be in those spaces and meet new people, but the idea is to have a space.”
In the meantime, a calendar of Cuentos y Café events and pop-ups can be found on their website or their Instagram page.
“Even if you don’t buy anything, chat with me,” said Olmedo. “I love to know what people are reading.”