Mil Mundos is a small, independent bookstore and community space, carrying literature both in Spanish and English, in East Bushwick. The space opened in March of this year. Maria Herron, founder and co-owner of Mil Mundos, is a Cuban-American New York City native, who wanted to create an accessible space for the local Latinx and Black community.
In a neighborhood where the dominant language is Spanish and many residents are Latinx, it is important to foster culture and community, “rather than the newer demographic being ushered in by gentrification and pricey development,” said their press release. Mil Mundos stands as the only bilingual bookstore in East Bushwick.
Mil Mundos aims to be inclusive of peoples’ language, educational, cultural, political, and physical backgrounds, “Our offerings will have a Black and Latinx focus, prioritizing the celebration of culture, heritage, and personal empowerment,” says their website.
This week, Mil Mundos bookstore launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to sustain the project and build its community efforts. Seeking $50,000, Mil Mundos will use the money raised to renovate the space and launch initiatives such as curriculum development and hosting field trips with local public schools in Bushwick, low-cost tutoring, and an expanded schedule of events.
“With gentrification spilling hard into eastern Bushwick, [and] large tech companies being handed our home city by our elected officials,” founder Maria Herron told Shelf Awareness that opening a bookstore by and for the local community “become more of a ‘we need to do this, to keep our city and culture,’ than just a dream.”
Herron and the space’s co-owners are facing the tension between maintaining a much-needed resource for the local communities and the challenges many new businesses have between opening and becoming financially sustainable in the long term.
Mil Mundos is located off the Myrtle-Wyckoff M/L stop, at 323 Linden St, Brooklyn.
Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Mondays by appointment.
Image courtesy of Mil Mundos.
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