Cover image: Signage for Josephine's Bookshop
© Entrée to Black Paris

Early last month, an Entrée to Black Paris client introduced Jeannine Cook to me via email.

Cook is the owner of Harriett's Bookshop in Philadelphia and Ida's Bookshop in Collingsworth, NJ.  She is also the creator of pop-up bookshops dedicated to Marian Anderson and Toni Morrison.  I was excited to learn that she planned to open a pop-up bookstore called Josephine's Bookshop on rue de Médicis, a street in the 6th arrondissement that is on the route of the standard version of our Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden tour.

Josephine's bookshop - façade
©Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine's opened with fanfare on July 14 - Bastille Day - and Cook has planned a robust line-up of activities during the two weeks that the store will be open. She  graciously granted me an interview that will have you clamoring to visit!

ETBP: How did you decide on the location for Josephine’s Bookshop?

JC: I knew I wanted to build Josephine’s Bookshop even before I came to France last year for La Maison Baldwin's International Conference on James Baldwin in Nice. I reached out to a retired bookseller, the founder of Berkeley Books of Paris, and received a list of folks to connect with. Penelope Fletcher from The Red Wheelbarrow was on that list. I wrote to Penelope and planted the seed.

When I came back to Paris a few months ago, I kept visiting Penelope asking her if I could use her children’s bookstore for Josephine’s. But it would have been a logistical nightmare and we both knew it. She suggested that I use a space down the street, and she picked up the phone and called the owner. The owner said yes immediately and the rest was history.

We're in a dope location on a block that used to be lined with bookshops, and it’s cool being next to Penelope and her anglophone bookstores. There’s a rare bookstore to our right and a great soul food-inspired cafe, Treize, co-owned by an American, to our left. We are an ear shot from the Pantheon and across the street from the Luxembourg Garden. I don’t think we could have asked for a better location.

All in all, I allow myself to be guided, to follow the signs, to walk with the great mothers and trust they are working on my behalf as I work on theirs.

ETBP: What makes Josephine’s Bookshop a community space?

JC: It’s a community space because it is built and inhabited by the community. It is an offering and an altar.

I think people feel the love, the warmth. There are areas designed for conversation, including a super long bench out front. There are books to discuss.

Josephine's bookshop - sitting room
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Our bookshops are a space for ideas and dialogue and music and dancing and laughter and fun. They also provide space for reflection and ritual and cleansing—a place to take it off and let it go.

Harp and book display
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Piano
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Opening day tips and book on piano
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Now the cool thing about these spaces is I get to build them with others. I laugh and say I get to combine minds. I did this one with my sister, Minista Jazz, who inspired the textile and tactile elements in the shop through the clothing collection she's currently working on. She made a dress for me out of the same material that is on the walls at Josephine's.

Being in Paris with her is one of my sister fantasies. Who doesn’t want to spend the summer in Paris with their sisters?

I also had lots of help from local Parisians, like Isabel and Irina, and expats like Brian and Penelope.

It is a mix of worlds that make it happen—community is built in building the space. Folks get to see my face and hear my name, and my voice a lot, but it’s many, many people who make it happen.

ETBP: How did you select the titles you are offering at the shop?

JC: The collection is all interconnected to Josephine—her era, her peers, places she lived, people she encountered, people inspired by her, expats, Black-American-ness, etc.

In addition, for this installation, we invited community members from all over the world to submit books to the collection along with a note explaining why they sent it. We received books like Paris Noir by Tyler E. Stovall from historian Virginia Reinberg and Josephine’s Cinematic Prism by Terri Simone Francis, Vanguard by Martha S. Jones, and Wolf Hustle by Cin Fabré.

Book displays
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We even received a signed Josephine Baker poster from my collector friends, Dr. Monique Gary in Philadelphia and Brainerd Phillipson in Massachusetts.

ETBP: How did you come to engage Sabreen Lateef to work with you at the shop?

JC: Sabreen reached out via social media. We always get sent the best people. She is also from Philly and has been traveling to Paris for summers since she was a little girl. She is a former English teacher and fashion designer. She is kind and smart and attentive–the VERY best. She is working everyday from 12-6 pm at Josephine’s Bookshop.

Sabreen Lateef
©Entrée to Black Paris

We’ve had so many cool Philly folks come through. Denise King, who curated the music for the Bastille Day opening—5 local jazz musicians who played for 6 hours straight—is from West Philly. Lindsey Tramuta signed books—she’s the author of The New Parisienne.

ETBP: Josephine's Bookshop will be open during the month of July only.  What events are you planning to host over the course of the next two weeks?

JC: Here's the complete list:

Joli Petit Bébé

July 19 2023 at 5:00 pm  

Author, artist, and activist Lesley-Ann Brown and Camille Rich will host a lecture for university students who are traveling from the United States to Copenhagen to Paris. 

J’attendrai

July 20 2023 at 11:00 am 

Author Lesley-Ann Brown shares about her book, Blackgirl on Mars, and the Black expat experience. The conversation will be recorded on Instagram Live.

Touche Pas à Mes Tomates

July 21 2023 at 7:30 pm

Chef and cookbook author Ashley Schütz and illustrator Ashly Jernigan of the book A Table Set for Sisterhood have developed a dish specifically for Josephine’s Bookshop that they will serve over a conversation about sisterhood. My frenemy, Chris Harrop, the General Manager and Mixologist at The Morris in Philly developed a signature drink for the evening called the French Baker. There’s an alcohol and non-alcohol version. We will be joined by jazz bassist, Thomas Posner. 

J'ai Deux Amours

July 26 2023 at 7:30 pm 

We will screen a short film (11 minutes) by digital artist Nia James and facilitate a community conversation about Artificial Intelligence and the future of books. 

C'est Lui

July 27 2023 at 7:30 pm 

Poet and American University of Paris Creative Writing professor, Biswamit Dwibedy, has curated an evening of student poetry readings. 

Sous Le Ciel D'afrique

July 28 2023  at 7:30 pm 

Alongside Pour 2 Meilleure Afrique, we will host author, historian, and scholar Sylvia Serbin, and her book Reines d'Afrique et Héroïnes de la Diaspora Noire - Nouvelle Édition 2023. We will discuss her scholarship, Africans in Paris, Caribbeans in Paris, Blacks in Paris, and the importance of getting this text, the ONLY one dedicated to ancient queens of Africa, translated into English. We will also discuss our next installation in Nairobi, Kenya–Wangari’s Bookshop scheduled for 2024. We will be joined by jazz pianist, Gille.

Tu Me Rends Folle

July 29 2023 at 7:30 pm 

Preacher, teacher, advocate, and artist, Minista Jazz will close out our Josephine’s Bookshop installation with a sermon inspired by the life of Josephine Baker.

All events are FREE!

ETBP: Please confirm the opening days and times for the bookshop.

JC: We are open every day from 12-6 pm until July 30, 2023.

Click here for Part 2 of this post, where Cook shares her personal story and the backstory behind this and her other pop-up bookstores.

Jeannine Cook
©Entrée to Black Paris