Meet Angela Maria Spring, Duende District Bookstore Owner and a Literary Champion
If you are a Latinx bookworm in the DMV area, you have probably heard about Duende District Bookstore. It’s a unique pop-up boutique bookstore ran by people of color for people of color (and all are welcome). Angela Maria Spring, a poet and a journalist, is the phenomenal Latina behind Duende. Her family is from Panama and Puerto Rico and she grew up in Albuquerque. She has worked in bookstores in New Mexico, New York City, and D.C. for almost two decades. She started Duende in 2017 because she wanted to create a flexible, financially viable bookstore model that uplifted voices of color in bookselling, writing/art, and in our communities. Her motto is “Todas las voces — all the voices.” Angela has created an exceptional space that empowers and embraces diversity; a space we should cherish and support.
You can check out the store at www.duendedistrict.com (they are doing free shipping right now) for more information about the pop-out locations, future events, and authors’ readings. Also make sure to check this list of authors to support during the pandemic: https://www.duendedistrict.com/support-poc-writers-during-the-pandemic
You can follow Duende District: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook are all @duendedistrict
Angela’s personal handles: Twitter is @BurquenaBoricua, Instagram: @amw505
What does Dignidad Literaria mean to you?
Dignidad Literaria means that the Latinx literary community will fight back against its silencing by every part of the establishment, that we will be heard, in our own words, and we will celebrate our writers. But it also means that we must look within our own culture and selves to learn how we constantly, systemically, push out Black and Indigenous Latinx. I am a white-passing Latinx and each day I try to recognize and learn about my inherent biases and work on centering others’ voices. We cannot have true dignidad if we are not truly inclusive.
I’ve seen many people buying toilet paper and empty shelves in pretty much all the stores I’ve been to. What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen out there?
I’ve been quarantined with my baby for over a week, so I haven’t seen much. However, I don’t appreciate people hoarding things like baby wipes. We were down to our last pack and when we went to get some at Costco the other week, they were all gone.
We’re lucky in that we’re currently financially stable but some people can only afford to buy things from week to week, so hoarding formula and baby wipes mean that babies are going without.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done out there?
I’m just going crazy at my home since the abuelas are my childcare providers and they’re quarantining since they’re high risk.
How is this affecting your work?
So, oddly, this has forced me to focus on the store in a way I haven’t been able to since I found out in my third trimester that I had a high-risk pregnancy. My husband and I both work remotely anyway, but since our mothers can’t help out, we’ve had to switch off taking care of the baby. It means I still have a very limited time. But I’m trying to make sure I have as many online options for the Duende community in terms of getting books and also thinking about what kind of programming I can do.
How does your literary community normally look like? And how does it look like now?
My literary community is Black and Brown and beautiful. It still looks like that. It will always look like that.
How can we help you?
My work, Duende District, is for PoC writers and PoC communities. It’s for you. I work hard to find the absolute best new adult and children’s books by authors/illustrators of color and bring them to you because we all deserve to see ourselves in our books. But our actual selves — not the selves that white publishers tell us we are. They don’t think we buy or write books. To shop with Duende — you can buy books on our website, I’m doing free shipping right now — means you will get a wonderful book and you will also engage in an act of resistance against those who seek to silence us. Every purchase is a celebration of us.
How can you help others?
I have a small list of books you can shop on our website for writers who have chapbooks or books with small presses. They have lost a lot of income they depend upon with the pandemic and if you buy these books, I send the money immediately to them and they’ll ship you the books when it’s safe for them to do so.
It’s a live list; so if you or anyone you know would like to take part, please email me at duendedistrict@gmail.com.
Do you have any anxiety tips to share with the rest of us during these uncertain times?
Please, don’t be hard on yourselves. For any reason, it’s tempting to think we need to be overproducing work (or anything else) or really going strong with making sure your kids have educational activities. But this is enormous and so many of us who are PoC are already dealing with the fear, anxiety, and trauma that comes from the oppression and racism we deal with every day, which has heightened dramatically since Trump was elected.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Fried plantains and flour tortillas.
How can we keep each other safe? (Emotionally or in any way you can think of)
Be kind to each other and know everyone’s experience of what happening right now will be at a different angle. Check in with friends and families who struggle with mental health issues. Do not buy medications meant for people with chronic illnesses such as Lupus. I have two friends and prima with Lupus and I am stricken at the thought they might not be able to get the medication they need.
Any books that you would like to recommend us?
The Worst Best Man, by Mia Sosa; So We Can Glow, by Leesa Cross-Smith; Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera; The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon; A Year of Cozy, by Adrianna Adarme; Magical Negro, by Morgan Parker; Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz
Any TV shows/movies that you would like to recommend us? (We’ll add them to our social distancing list)
VIDA, The Good Place, Avenue 5, High Fidelity (the Hulu show), Dollface
What type of music is in your playlist?
I have the weirdest musical taste; it’s mostly Latin pop, alt metal, arena rock and Tori Amos.
Any work from home tips?
Clean your kitchen to help you focus before you start work. Make a task priority list. Then put in headphones and ignore everything else until you get the first priority done. Don’t try to get everything done in one day.
