John Marshall and Christine Deavel founded Open Books in Wallingford in the mid-1990s as one of just a handful of poetry-only bookstores in the country. Poet Billie Swift took over from them in 2016, and after a successful fundraising campaign, reopened the shop in Pioneer Square’s Good Arts Building in spring 2022 in time for National Poetry Month. The 500-square-foot store holds more than 10,000 new, used, and out-of-print poetry titles plus books about poetry, and hosts free readings featuring regional and national poets throughout the year.
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