The Left Bank Books Foundation is the 501c3 arm of the Left Bank Books bookstore. This innovative hybrid arrangement, one of the first in the country, allows us to do literary and literacy work in our community that a traditional independent bookstore model could not otherwise sustain.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to increase public access to books and their authors, hold space for community conversations guided by books and their authors, increase critical literacy and the love of reading for St. Louisans of all ages, and do so in a way that centers marginalized communities.
We approach our work in an intersectional way, to include hosting events and sponsoring projects that address racism, sexism, and gender identity, while also giving a platform to the best literary voices of the day.
DONATE to the literacy & justice for all campaign
Support Left Bank Books Foundation's work this holiday season by donating to our Literacy & Justice For All Campaign! Donations will go to our River City Readers program, Literacy & Justice Project, LBB's Author Event Series, and more! Our goal is to raise $28,000 by Dec 31, 2024! All donations to support the work of the Left Bank Books Foundation are tax deductible. Donations over $20 automatically enroll you in the Left Bank Books Friends Loyalty Program. Donors who give $100 or more before Dec 31 will receive a free audiobook credit from Libro.fm, the audiobook listening platform that shares profits with independent bookshops like ours, to use on any of their 500,000+ audiobooks! Click "Donate Now" to learn more:RECENT AND CURRENT PROJECTS
The Literacy & Justice Project was created in response to the increase in book banning by regional public schools and elsewhere. For this initiative, we are offering free copies of selected banned books for people, especially young people, who want to read them. To support the project or sign up to receive a free book, click the "learn more" button below.
learn moreRiver City Readers is a collaboration with St. Louis Public Schools that encourages literacy and the love of reading by providing new, relevant books to students for their personal libraries, building classroom libraries, and arranging for authors to visit participating schools.
Donate NowThe Left Bank Books Author Event Series is our well known project, bringing literally hundreds of authors a year to the local stage or virtual screen to talk about their newest books with their St. Louis audience. Nearly all of these events are free and open to the public and rarely do book sales alone pay for the cost to produce them. A high percentage of these free events give voice to underrepresented authors.
The Joyce Trebilcot Memorial Fund was created with a donation from Trebilcot's estate to support events with lesbian feminist authors. Joyce Trebilcot was a tenured professor of Philosophy and co-founder of the Women's Studies Program at Washington University. The inaugural JTMF event held in 2012, Sticks and Stones: Sluts Talk Back, was a gathering of writers, musicians, activists, elected officials, and social service administrators responding to the recent rush of misogyny in America. To support this fund, please make a donation to our general funds by clicking the "donate now" below.
past projects
Not So Late Night celebrates the work of BIPOC musicians early in their careers with a talk-show format program of hosted conversations and performances. Our past guests have included Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Ron Austin, Eve Ewing, Hanif Abdurraqib & Sofolkz, and Cheeraz Gormon. This program is on pause while we wait out COVID and reboot our funding.