Queer literature takes centre stage at new East Vancouver bookstore

Nena Rawdah has started a new chapter in her life.

After owning a bookstore south of the border for a decade, Rawdah has relocated to Vancouver and opened up shop on Commercial Drive. Called Cross and Crows Books, it's an indie bookstore that sells various genres with a special focus on queer literature.

With Pride Week celebrations currently taking place in the city, Rawdah's shop is brimming with books that celebrate queer excellence.

She will also be hosting her first in-store event on Saturday evening when queer activist Martha Shelley will read from her memoir We Set the Night on Fire: Igniting the Gay Revolution.

"I'm queer, my entire family is queer, which is amazing to me having come from a childhood in Texas," said Rawdah. 

"So being able to prominently feature queer books and queer writers and queer subject matter, it's literally the first section you see when you walk in my door...and I'm really proud of that."

After growing up in Texas in the 70s and 80s where Rawdah says gay was usually a term thrown around as an insult, she relocated to the Pacific Northwest and opened a book store in Portland. Once there, she found acceptance, friends and chosen family in the literary community.

She said she also found support after her move to Vancouver in opening a similar store in the city, one where people who loved to read could come and hang out in an inclusive space.

"When it sounded like it might be possible for me to have a bookstore again in my new home, people started asking me, well, how can I get you money? How can I help you with this? Have you opened a Go Fund me yet?," said Rawdah.

"With that encouragement, I did and my former community of readers and writers showed up with over $20,000."

Rawdah hopes the seed money will help grow Cross and Crows into another community gathering spot.

"I think a lot of us during the pandemic really noticed the absence of those spaces in our lives and started thinking about where we find them and how important they are," she said.

The pandemic also put a pause on Pride Week events, but the parade returned in 2022 and this year, organizers of the Vancouver Pride Parade and Festival, which began in 1978, have expanded programming to include more entertainment, music and vendors.

Don Wilson is the owner of Vancouver's Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, which opened on Davie Street in 1983 to serve the LGBTQ community. It became know across Canada for a years-long court battle that ended in a landmark decision against the Canada Border Services Agency over rights and freedoms.

Wilson said while the queer literature market in Vancouver may still be small, it's "good for the whole city" to have bookstores like Cross and Crows.

"With all the younger ... people coming out ... the more [information] that's out there, the easier it is for them," he said. 

"Even regular bookstores are getting on to the game plan of having queer sections in their stores. Some of them are just more reluctant to do it."

Book picks for Pride

And if you are looking to celebrate Pride curled up on the couch or a beach blanket with a book, Rawdah has a few recommendations.

Her picks include Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H, a coming-of-age memoir about a Muslim immigrant teen and Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper.

Cooper made headlines in 2020 when the avid birder and queer author stood up for himself after a white woman accosted him in New York's Central Park because he asked her to leash her dog.

For people with children, Rawdah suggests It's About You Too, by Tracy Whitmore which is an informational read for parents of queer kids.

She also recommends Pride Puppy by Robin Stevenson, which is a rhyming alphabet book about people at a Pride Parade coming together to find a lost dog.