Next stop on our virtual road trip: Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg, SC. Unique among the stores we visited, this store is also home to a thriving independent press and literary arts organization. Founded in 1995 by a trio of writers who wanted to preserve a sense of place in their rapidly changing Southern city, the Hub City Writers Project hosts workshops and a summer writers conference, contributing to the vibrant literary scene in Spartanburg.The award-winning Hub City Press publishes high-quality works with an emphasis on the Southern experience. Celebrating their twentieth anniversary this year, they’ve included more than five hundred writers in sixty-six books, aided in renovating several historic buildings, and provided residencies and scholarships to emerging writers. The bookstore itself is the result of a renovation of the eighty-three-year-old Masonic Temple in Spartanburg’s blooming downtown.Lookout’s publisher, Emily Louise Smith, was the organization’s inaugural writer-in-residence in 2006, and its deputy director, Meg Reid, was one of Lookout’s first, faithful staff members. All to say, we’re big fans of this organization and the terrific work they do.We spoke with the charming Anne Waters, bookshop manager, to learn what all the hubbub’s about.
The Hub City crew, including founders John Lane and Betsy Teter (front and center) and Meg Reid, Anne Waters, Michel Stone, and Rachel Richardson
