“Shut Up and Read” is not just a saying for Jeannine Cook. It’s an affirmation, a prayer, and the title of her new memoir. Shut Up and Read follows Cook’s life from being raised by a blind librarian, to fleeing abuse and creating the iconic Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia. Cook writes about how she found her purpose, community, and survived the COVID-19 pandemic when many shops could not.

As part of Spotlight PA’s bookclub, Booklight PA, engagement coordinator Yaasmeen Piper spoke with Cook about her work. Watch their conversation in the video below:

This event is in partnership with A Novel Idea, a community-minded bookstore and event space in East Passyunk, Philadelphia, run by Alexander Schneider and Christina Rosso-Schneider. Read more about A Novel Idea and purchase your books here.

Test your knowledge of the state’s most iconic Black authors, artists, and Black-owned bookshops in the seven question quiz below. (Not seeing anything below? Click here.)

OTHER BOOKLIGHT PA EVENTS:

Mother Tongue, Sara Novic. Watch here.

Black Genius, Tre Johnson. Watch here.

Sidle Creek, Jolene McIlwain. Watch here.

Journalists discuss Gov. Josh Shapiro’s memoir. Watch here.

If Sons, Then Heirs, Lorene Cary. Watch here.

Saturnalia, Stephanie Feldman. Watch here.

The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan. Watch here.