With our new expansion, we are going to have a new and improved children's section, and we are so excited to have Poet laureate David L Harrison helping us celebrate the opening by reading his children’s book Rum Pum Pum. There will be a themed craft to go with the story!

Bring your kids for a fun and creative morning of stories and crafts!

We are excited to welcome Devin Thomas O'Shea to Bookmarx on Saturday July 29 at 7:00 PM to discuss his new book "The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis".

We will have copies available for purchase and signing.

Book description:

"Devin Thomas O’Shea’s The Veiled Prophet is the definitive history of the Veiled Prophet Society in all its violence and pageantry, offering a colorful alternate history of the United States through the lens of the Midwestern elite. O’Shea follows the Veiled Prophet Society from its origins in the wake of the 1877 general strike, through the 1904 World’s Fair, to the height of the Prophet’s―and St. Louis’s―influence during the Cold War. The Veiled Prophet examines the unexpected ways this secret society has shaped the course of history, from the CIA to the Vietnam War to the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Yet the power wielded by the Veiled Prophet has not gone uncontested. Since the Gilded Age, the Prophet has faced resistance from orphans armed with pea-shooters, Communist Party organizers during the Depression, Civil Rights icons, and renegade debutantes. The Ferguson uprising of 2014 was only the most recent challenge to the Prophet’s influence.

As the fight for the soul and streets of St. Louis intensifies, it’s more critical than ever that we expose the sordid history of these powerful, masked figures and their control over our democracy."

For our July book club, we will be discussing Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel “Yesteryear”. Join us on Thursday July 30 at 7:00 pm for a lively discussion in The Footnote! We’ll have traditional book club snacks and drinks as we talk tradwives, influencers, and hauling firewood.

“My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.”

We are kicking off The Footnote Salon with our first topic--YOUR IDEAS FOR SPRINGFIELD!

Join us for this open discussion of ideas for improving our city! We want to focus on cultural and artistic ideas for this first discussion (keep any ideas for traffic flow, recalling of elected officials, etc. for potential future salons!). Think: Shark Tank for Springfield!

What to expect: A lively and engaging conversation and any ideas both practical and pie-in-the-sky are welcome!

Join us on July 25th as we kickoff our Expansion week of events with our first Local Author Showcase in The Footnote at Bookmarx! Featuring local literary voices reading from and discussing their work. Whether you’re a fellow writer or a reader, this is an event you won’t want to miss!

Featuring:

Andie Kern

Andrew Dietz

Mar the Ghost

Daniel Cochran
Eletha Thompson
Eve Peregrine

See you at 5:30 pm on Saturday July 25th in the Footnote!

We are beyond excited to invite everyone to check out our new expanded Bookmarx! On July 24 at 5:00 pm, we will be having Ms Cyrano CUT THE RIBBON to open up the other side.

Dress up!

To celebrate, we are having a literary costume party! Dress like your favorite author or character!

Bring a donation for The Kitchen!

We want to fill our new stage in The Footnote with donations for The Kitchen, so bring physical donations of any item or items from The Kitchen's Need List and get 20% off your entire Bookmarx purchase!

https://www.thekitcheninc.org/needs-list/

Write a postcard!

Write a postcard for a friend (or enemy!) from our postcard writing station and we will mail it for you!

Introducing our Mr Googorium’s Movie Emporium and Bookmarx film book club series which we will be starting on Thursday Jan 29 with Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon in the lead up to opening our video store in March. We also have recommended viewing for each month (yes I am asking you to watch 2022’s unfairly maligned Babylon and 1967’s Doctor Doolittle 3 hour musical). We have paperback copies of each title now in stock. So join us in gossiping about Hollywood’s seedy beginning.

January 29: Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger

For our first book, we will be looking at the sleazy beginnings of Hollywood with Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon.

Queen City Shakespeare Company presents Shakespeare’s Puppet Players: Winter Tales at BookMarx bookshop, 325 E. Walnut st. in Springfield, MO on Saturday, December 13 from noon to 2 p.m.

Join in the merriment of a story time puppet show for the whole family! The show begins at 12:30 p.m., but come early and stay late so the kids can enjoy a FREE ornament craft and hot chocolate.

There will also be a bake sale where you can grab a sweet treat to enjoy during the show or at the Springfield Christmas Parade. All proceeds go to support Queen City Shakespeare Co.’s 2026 season.

There are no tickets required for this event and participation is free!

(I’m trying to get HYPE going for our GQ releases, so here’s the countdown to the next release of Googey Quarterly). OCTOBER 3 at Art Walk get the special HELL ISSUE of Googey Quarterly. Who is in heaven? Who is in hell? Our Afterlife Correspondent Googey reports from above. We also discuss the brief cultural moment of the Evangelical HELL HOUSE, give Squash some column space to vent his rage, and pick the perfect Ethan Hawke film to help you contemplate the end. Issues are FREE at Art Walk and sitting on the counter until they all go!

We are going to be taking part in the final Captain Springfield’s Ball in honor of Googey’s time as 2023’s Captain Springfield. We are going to be raising money for Watching Over Whiskers!

Details about the event:

“This is your last chance to hang out with past Captains while celebrating our new Captain Springfield Nki Calloway. Enjoy a relaxed evening at Mother’s Brewery while giving back to local causes.

What to expect:
Delicious food from Brockrito (yes, home of the Taco Dog ).
Music + DJ vibes from Gabriel Cassady, sponsored by 2oddballs Marketing.
Local brews from Mother’s Brewing Company.
A fun, family-friendly night supporting amazing nonprofits.

No tickets needed! Each honorees will have a bucket for their favorite nonprofit. We’d love if you could show them some love with a cash donation—support one or support them all!

Meet the Captains:
Nki Calloway (2025 Captain Springfield) supporting Mosaic Arts Collective
Betsy Fogle supporting CASA of Southwest Missouri
Joshua Arnett, in honor of Googey supporting Watching Over Whiskers (WOW)
Rebecca Weber supporting Friends of Springfield Fire
Brandy Harris supporting Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield
Michael Underlin supporting Ozarks Literacy Council
Janelle Mitchell supporting United Way Ozarks Region
Crystal Quade supporting Better Life in Recovery
Matthew Simpson supporting Foundation for Springfield Public Schools

Special thanks to Steve Herzog from the SGF News-Leader for creating the Captain Springfield tradition!
We also wanted to give tribute to "Googey" the cat owned by Bookmarx's Joshua Arnett who is no longer with us.

All ages welcome. Come as you are, bring the kids, and celebrate one last time with us!”

Banned? Challenged? That means it’s a book worth talking about. Come talk about it at the Banned Book Club at BookMarx, in partnership with the Springfield-Greene County Library. Meet with your neighbors to read books that have recently been in the news. This month’s book is “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. Discuss the book, reasons for it being banned or challenged and ideas surrounding intellectual freedom. This book club is for adults, but teens age 15 and older are welcome to attend with a parent or guardian.

5:30 p.m. for adults at BookMarx, 325 E. Walnut St. Read books that have recently been in the news for being banned or challenged. We'll discuss the book, the reasons it was banned or challenged and ideas surrounding intellectual freedom. Teens age 15 and older are welcome to attend with a parent or guardian. “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. Call 417-616-0509.

"A stunning graphic memoir...a wholly original achievement in the form." —The New York Times

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Banned? Challenged? That means it’s a book worth talking about. Come talk about it at the Banned Book Club at BookMarx, in partnership with the Springfield-Greene County Library. Meet with your neighbors to read books that have recently been in the news. This month’s book is “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez. Discuss the book, reasons for it being banned or challenged and ideas surrounding intellectual freedom. This book club is for adults, but teens age 15 and older are welcome to attend with a parent or guardian.

From Kirkus Reviews: “Mexican-American girl and a black boy begin an ill-fated love in the months leading up to a catastrophic 1937 school explosion in East Texas.

The powerful story opens with the legendary school explosion in New London and then rewinds to September 1936. Naomi has begrudgingly left behind her abuelitos in San Antonio for a new life with her younger half siblings, twins, and their long-absent white father, Henry. Now a born-again Christian, Henry struggles to atone for his sins. The siblings struggle to fit into the segregated oil town, where store signs boast "No Negroes, Mexicans, or dogs." The precocious twins read better than half the senior class, and dark-skinned Naomi is guilty of not only being Mexican, but also of being "prettier than any girl in school." Their one friend is Wash, a brilliant African-American senior from the black part of town. Pérez deftly weaves multiple perspectives—including Henry and "the Gang," the collective voice of the racist students—into her unflinchingly intense narrative, but the story ultimately belongs to Naomi and Wash. Their beautifully detailed love story blossoms in the relative seclusion of the woods, where even stepfathers can't keep them apart. But as heartbreaking events unfold, the star-crossed lovers desperately hope that any light can penetrate the black smoke cloud of darkness spreading around them.

A powerful, layered tale of forbidden love in times of unrelenting racism. (author's note)(Historical fiction. 14 & up)”

During our November First Friday Art Walk, Nancy Dornan will be selling and signing copies of her new book “I Married an Immigrant”.

”Bridget, an 18-year-old Midwest farm girl elopes with 32 year old Domino Danzero, a dashing and romantic Italian immigrant. She defied her father and convention to live a fifty-year love affair. The story of Bridget and Domino is a story of adventure, travel, growth, and creativity sewn together from Bridget’s diaries, letters, transcriptions and enhanced by Domino’s extraordinary photographs. Open this book and experience a turn of the last century life of great risk and opportunity, of travel, of the Spanish Flu Pandemic, and the Great Depression, of the advent of radio and highways…. all seen through Bridget’s eyes.

How did they do it? Why did they do it? Could this be done today?”

“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson

Meet with your neighbors to read books that have recently been in the news.

We’ll discuss the book, reasons for it being banned or challenged, and ideas surrounding intellectual freedom. Teens age 15 and older are welcome to attend with a parent or guardian.

“In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.”

Local comedian and tinkerer-about-town Nate Black brings an unusual, whimsical show to Bookmarx this month. Just in time for Halloween season, Nate’s large-scale works feature unexpected objects on a variety of hand-cut wood animal skulls. (Googly eyes, but make it art.) Nate hopes to both amaze and amuse by making us all look closer at the everyday objects around us.