by Cesca Janece Waterfield
To celebrate the one year anniversary of Urban Views Weekly, we’ll feature our Contributors each week. This week, meet Linda Pate, our bi-weekly contributor in books.
Linda Pate is owner of Precious Memories Bookstore, located at 3229 Idlewood Ave. The shop is a mainstay of its Carytown-area neighborhood, and is known for hosting events that bring the community together, including book signings, poetry readings, and the famous Valentine’s Day “Chocolate Sip and Dip” event, where everything is made of chocolate. Last week, Precious Memories went live with its online bookstore just after celebrating its sixth anniversary.
Business is good, but Linda, who attended Seton Hall University on scholarship, says she’s more excited about encouraging people to read. She was the first columnist for Urban Views Weekly and she says, “I’ve been enlightened since I’ve been writing with Urban Views of the importance of literacy. Book clubs are important.”
But hold on a minute… “Miss Linda,” as she’s known to many customers and readers, won’t promote just any book. “I’m very careful, because I don’t want to send out a negative message,” she says. “I feel it’s not always about the money. It’s about how we’re educating. I try to feel the heartbeat of the community. What are they looking for? How is it going to empower them? I think that’s so very important. We need to know how to empower each other and I try to empower and build through literacy.”
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[To read this full article, go to our free electronic edition, UVW Digital]
