Eso Won Books

34°0′18.7″N 118°19′54.08″W

Eso Won Books
IndustryBookseller, retail
Founded1988 (1988)
FounderJames Fugate, Tom Hamilton
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
United States
Number of locations
1 store
Area served
Los Angeles metropolitan area
ProductsNew books primarily about and written by African American people.
OwnerJames Fugate, Tom Hamilton
Websitewww.esowonbookstore.com

Eso Won Books, an independent bookstore located at 4327 Degnan Boulevard in the Historic Leimert Park Village neighborhood of South Los Angeles, was one of the largest Black-owned bookstores in the U.S. In 2021, Publishers Weekly awarded the business Bookstore of the Year.[1]

Description

Eso Won Books was an 1,800-sq-ft bookstore with an inventory mix of African American classic and contemporary titles, including a children’s section.[2] The bookstore regularly hosted author events and community gatherings. It closed in 2022.

History

Eso Won Books started in the summer of 1988 in Los Angeles.[3] Eso Won, which means “water over rocks” in the Ethiopian Amharic language, was originally named Eso Won Books on Wheels.[2][4]

James Fugate and Tom Hamilton, founders and co-owners, said their goal was to sell books at community events, such as the L.A. Times Book Fair, and be “seen as not just a Black bookstore for Black people, but a Los Angeles bookstore in which everyone is welcome.”[2]

Eso Won Books has hosted author signings with Muhammad Ali and his biographer Howard Bingham, historian Yosef AA ben-Jochannan, Octavia Butler, John Henrik Clarke, Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., poet Nikki Giovanni, Berry Gordy, Jr., Patti LaBelle, Wynton Marsalis, Gloria Naylor, Sonia Sanchez, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichal), and Alice Walker.[5]

Recognition

Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of “Between the World and Me” remarked in one interview that Eso Won Books is "my favorite bookstore" and was also on his first book tour.[6]

See also

References
  1. Green, Alex (31 May 2021). "Eso Won is PW's Bookstore of the Year". Publishers Weekly: 12–13.
  2. Holley Jr, Eugene (14 May 2021). "PW Bookstore of the Year Finalist: Eso Won Books". Publishers Weekly.
  3. "About Us". esowon.com. 24 December 1997. Archived from the original on 1997-12-24. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  4. Wick, Julie (4 June 2020). "Essential California: A black-owned L.A. bookstore's 'incredible surge'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  5. "About Us". esowon.com. 24 December 1997. Archived from the original on 1997-12-24. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  6. "7 Writers on Their Favorite Bookstores". The New York Times. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  7. Ajayi, Luvvie. "Insecure - Fresh-Like Recap". HBO. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  8. Braxton, Greg (August 14, 2007). "Under covers". LA Times.
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