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Chris Hall stepped up to the microphone Monday night to transport the room back to a dark chapter in his life as a co-owner of McNally Robinson Booksellers.
It was the early days of the pandemic. His bookstore was shuttered in a lockdown. He was lying in bed, unsure of what to do, wondering what the next days, weeks, and even months would look like.
But then he got a call from Erin Lebar at the Free Press. In her role as audience engagement manager for news, Erin had an idea to keep our readers engaged during the darkest days of COVID that also might just help McNally Robinson weather the storm.
In short order, the Free Press Book Club was born, debuting in May 2020 with Katherena Vermette joining a virtual discussion of her award-winning novel, The Break, alongside more than 120 already-pandemic-weary readers.
The concept was simple: We’d pick a work from a local author. McNally would make the book available for click-and-collect at their Grant Park store. And for the low, low price of zero dollars, anyone could join the monthly conversation via YouTube.
More than four years later, the Free Press Book Club is still engaging, still connecting, still helping drive book sales at McNally with more than 1,700 registered members.
More than four years later, Chris has found other reasons to get out of bed each morning — but he was kind enough to share the story of the book club at Monday’s event for Free Press Patrons while on stage with Ben Sigurdson, our literary editor.
Editor Paul Samyn speaks to subscribers at the Free Press’s Meet, Mingle and Be Merry event at The Forks on Monday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Among those reasons is the fact the Free Press is one of the few newspapers left in the country with its own book review section.
Even better, our reviews are largely handled by a local roster of reviewers, rather than relying on outsourced offerings on the wire.
And, Chris relies on the local books section every week as an indicator of what titles to stock up on; a review in the Free Press has a direct impact on receipts at the cash register.
I was grateful to Chris for sharing his story, just as I was grateful to be standing in front of the patrons who are helping power our newsroom. (You can watch a video from the event here.)
The tale of a book club helping our readers — and a beloved local business — find new purpose during the pandemic might not seem like front-page news.
But it’s still a headline I’m damn proud of.
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