Magic City Books Opening Plans

Magic City Books, Tulsa, Okla., Opening Early Next Year

Magic City Books, a for-profit bookstore founded by the Tulsa Literary Coalition, is opening in Tulsa, Okla., early next year, Bookselling This Week reported.
The store, which will have 1,800 square feet of selling space, will stock "books for all ages," including literary fiction and narrative nonfiction, and offer lectures, panels, book discussions, poetry readings and writing workshops.

Tulsa Literary Coalition is a nonprofit organization founded by former Tulsa City librarian Cindy Hulsey and Jeff Martin, the founder of Booksmart Tulsa, a literary organization that coordinates author events throughout the city.

Magic City Books will be the anchor tenant in "a 1920s-era building located at the corner of Archer Street and Detroit Avenue in the vibrant Brady Arts District, which is home to a variety of museums, restaurants, and an urban park," BTW wrote. "The building, which houses 10 other retail tenants, is currently undergoing extensive renovations by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, a charity that has been working on refurbishing Tulsa's historic downtown district. The foundation originally approached Martin to see if he would be willing to open a bookstore in the space."

"The idea for the Tulsa Literary Coalition came about after our one independent bookstore in town closed in 2013 or 2014, and we felt like we were seeing the literary community shrink," Martin told BTW. "We created it as a 501(c)3 based on the idea of promoting a literary community, and we thought that maybe the best vehicle to drive that mission would be a physical bookstore. Magic City Books will be a great hub for what we are doing through the coalition."