When you first walk into the American Writers Museum, you walk right into a timeline of American writers that spans more than 400 years. You take that long hallway to reach an open space often used for talks with authors debuting new books. Throughout each and every space, there’s something to learn—with great quotes from great writers like Octavia Butler lining the walls.
“There was so much rich content there, in video and and other materials, to sit down and scope out a way to put it online, to take the curriculum pieces we had for schools and make them available for download, and to just make it as interactive and engaging as possible in the spirit of the exhibit that we’d put together,” Cranston says.
“So many of these issues have come to the forefront in a way that they haven’t before,” Sugiura says. “Now is a great time to take advantage of mainstream America’s rising awareness of who we include and who we honor, who we believe to be worthwhile in our society, and who deserves a voice.”
For in-person author discussions, the museum partners with local bookstore Seminary Co-op to sell books. Now, it’s difficult to track resulting sales, but Cranston encourages book lovers to still support those authors and stores.
“We’re building those platforms right now because we recognize that even if schools are open, no school is going to put kids on a bus and bring them down to a museum until there’s a vaccine,” Cranston says. “So this could be a long haul through into next year.” v
