Donate to Print Ain’t Dead

Hello friends,

We’re Cierra and Arielle of Print Ain’t Dead, a Boston-based bookstore and publishing initiative.

When we started Print Ain’t Dead in Arielle’s kitchen in 2018, we didn’t set out to start a business. We started it because we noticed a problem. Why are there so few bookstores in Boston’s neighborhoods of color? Frugal Bookstore in Nubian Square is our closest option. We wanted to change that. So, Print Ain’t Dead was born.

We launched the project with a pop-up store in Uphams Corner, funded by Design Center for Social Innovation in the Fall 2018. Our intention was to highlight ideas and literary and text-based artifacts produced by black, brown, and indigenous artists. Our pop-ups featured local authors of color and we sold used and new books for between $2 to $10.

Eventually, we found a home at a studio space in Hyde Park. We transformed it into a small bookstore and we’re proud of what we’ve built. Since then, we’ve created our Black Feminist Study Hall series with Dr. Jovonna Jones, worked with the BCA and Demita Fraizer on “Combahee’s Radical Call” (a multi-modal exhibit exploring the history of Black feminism in Boston), published 5 zines and have continued to pop up to sell our discounted books around Boston.

But things are changing and our future at Print Ain’t Dead is tenuous. Our landlord is raising rent and in a city like Boston, rising rent means eventual displacement. We are also limited by our size and our current location concerning programming and accessibility.

Our dream is to find a permanent home, where Print Ain’t Dead can flourish as a bookstore and publishing initiative. Where we can better serve and reach the communities of color in Boston that we created PAD for. We would love to find a space where our friends, like you, can come visit us in person for the first time since COVID-19. We’re ready to become a full-fledged bookstore- but we need your help to do it.

Funds will be used to cover our immediate cost of rent so that we are not displaced from our current studio. The rest of the funds will be used to support the next stages of planning to move into a real space where we can continue to grow.

All donations to Print Ain’t Dead are processed through Allied Media Projects, a 501c3 tax deductible organization.

You can also contribute by sending a check made out to to Allied Media Projects and mail it to the following address:

Allied Media Projects
4731 Grand River Avenue, Suite 400, 
Detroit, MI 48208

Please write “Print Ain’t Dead” in the memo line.