Virtually as well. Host is so give us an update five months into this. Guest its been like a roller coaster, to be honest. Weve had ups and downs. Weve, we were able through the ppp loans to be able to bring our staff back. Unfortunately, when we brought them back, our storeses were under, were still hut down because of the pandemic here in florida. But toward the edge of it we were the end of it we were able to open around the beginning of june or so. Actually not june, i think it was july. Now that i think about it, it was in july we began to open. And we opened all but one of our stores. One of our stores weve closed permanently on miami beach. But were looking forward to finding another space there as well. Host whats it been like to have customers back in the store, mr. Kaplan . Guest you know, for us, its been fairly smooth. Our customers have been all very, very respectful of wearing masks, theres been no hesitation on anybodys part about that. Our staff has been very upbeat. Weve been making sure that we keep everything clean and up to cdc guidelines. One of the stores on miami on coral gables we have a cafe, so thats been a little up and down. We were able to serve inside for a while, but were now, we only have the ability to serve outside. And fortunately, youve been to that store, and it has a courtyard. So were able to serve there. But, of course, as it would be last weekend or just this past weekend we had a hurricane. So it seems to nerve end, this challenge to never end, this challenge that were facing. Host now have you had any of your employees tested . Has there been any evidence of transmission . Guest yes. I think whats happened is theres been an incredible spike over the last few weeks, and theres the finally, you know, our hospitalizations are up, people are getting sick, people i know are getting sick. The employees, the grandmother of one of our employees, unfortunately, die. Its been, its been pretty much in the trenches here in miami. Our employees have been fine. Nobody has gotten the virus here. But its scary. I mean, you know, weve laud off we used to have well over 80 employees. We have half that amount now. A lot of the older employees have not felt very safe about coming in. You know, i said this before and ill say it again, you know, the comorbidity that a bookstore has that we we want to gather people. We want people to come in and comingle. And that is something that the virus loves. So we have to be very careful about that. So our online all of our events that we did for years and years and years have now morphed online, as youre seeing in bookstores all across the country. Host and booktv has covered some of your events. Guest yeah. Host whats been the process of doing a Virtual Event . What have you learned . Guest well, its been a Straight Line are up. [laughter] you know, i never knew i mean, i i never even heard of zoom prior to march 17th. But we have now our entire events team now runs all these events. So we did an event, for instance, with jim carrey that we did with jim and his coauthor dana, and we had judy blume do the introduction from key west. I was in miami. Dana and jim were somewhere west, and we the woman who was handling it, christine, our events coordinator, was doing it from our home. Were now doing it all over the world. And as you know, you cover the Miami Book Fair, the book fair this year will be virtual as well this coming year. So, you know, were a long way til we get to the, you know, other side of this. And as one who loves the physical world, i just cant wait. Host mitch cab land, is kaplan, is in the first time that the Miami Book Fair will not be held in downtown miami . Guest you know, it is. Its the first time in our 30 this is our 38th book father. We did have one fair where there was a hurricane, believe it orbit, in november. But we were able to im sorry, just cancel the street fair, but we had the authors come. So, you know, this is the first time that its been, that there will not be downtown miami filled with booths and authors and all of that. Yes, youre right. Host how many years have you been in business, and have you ever experienced anything like this before . Guest ive been in business 40 years, and ive been through it all. Ive never experienced anything like this. I think the closest would be 9 11. But 9 11 we didnt have any the wrecked effect. It was really the ancillary effect if people not traveling. But theres been nothing. I dont think in any of our lifetimes theres been anything quite like this. The way i see it is that lots of trends that were happening were acceleratinged by this accelerated by this. And i dont know what itll look like at the end of it. Retail, for instance, the bookstore business, many of us didnt do a very big Online Business at all because it was given up to the big chains, the online chains. But all of us have had to become virtual online booksellers, and is so our Online Business has grown to where its, you know, 20, 30, 40 of our business now. Thats something that was probably trending in that direction, but the pandemic accelerated it so that we all had to kind of confront it very, very quickly. No, a ive never seen anything like this. And, you know, peter, its, its made me appreciate what you do more and more, to be honest, the importance of getting information out in nontradition always like over the airwaves. Ive taken great solace in booktv. Its brought me closer to some of the authors that i sell. Ive been able to pay more attention to it. You know, i its just a very, very different way of living. And were going to have to, i think, get used to it for a while. Im hoping that some of these economic bulls that i see going through Congress Come out the right way and that the safety net is stitched back together for lots of people who are hurting, you know . I dont want to get into any of the politics of it, but, you know, when you have to lay off 40 employees, you start looking very long and hard at what unemployment really is. And in the state of florida, the most you can get is 275 a week. And thats not a lot for a lot of people. And ive done what i i can to keep all few folks on health care as much as i can. So it makes you really understand, you know, from an economic point of view just what Small Business with means and what its all about. And the familial nature of it. Host mr. Kaplan, what nonfiction books are selling this summer . Ogg. Guest oh, that too has been a roller coaster. With all of the black lives matter, antirace u. S. Discussion thats been going on and i thank you for running lots of those panels on booktv those books have been selling like mad. And i really, really am happy to see it. And im happy to see also bookstores owned by black and unding now people of color. Im happy to see those stores get their due as well. Many of this many have been adopted by even our customers, and im very happy to see that happening. Host one of the things we always like to ask you book recommendations or what are you reading right now . Guest oh, my ea reading is all over the place, as you might imagine. But im really, really im reading a lot of galleys, books that are not quite out yet, so i can tell you whatll be really interesting come the fall. But right flow im read right now im reading a book on James Baldwin and really, really finding it fascinating. You know, James Baldwin came to our very first miami book father. So to get a sense of what he was like through that period or and earlier is really remarkable. Inform, were doing a Virtual Event with eddie gloud and the secretary of the smithsonian in a couple of weeks. Im also reading a really wonderful book that was, that was published a little while ago by brad melzer, a mutual friend, his book on the lincoln conspiracy. And that is quite remarkable. But i would say that the book that really has defined this period for me is getting a bit of miami history that is written in the style of the devil in the white city. Its called the year of dangerous days. Its all about miami in 1980. Miami in 1980 was very interesting. You had in the very same year you had the mariel boat lift, the mcduff few riots which was mcduffy riots which was probably the most violent riots in miami history certainly, and the beginning of the cocaine epidemic happening here in miami. The Federal Reserve in miami had a 7 billion surplus, and nobody could figure out where that was coming from, and it was coming from a kind of under the table kind of market. And ask that book is written by Nicholas Griffin published by simon and schuster, the year of dangerous days, and it is really compelling. For fans of nonfiction as well as fiction, a little bit of wire in out, a little butt of eric hardson a little butt of eric larson is. Really a marvelous book. Host if people want to contact books and books, whats the best way . Guest best way is you can reach me personally at mitchell books and books. Com or go to books and books. Com, join our mailing list, and you will never be feel honely. Youll get a lot of emails from us, for sure. Host mitch kaplan is the owner of books and books bookstores in the miami area, coral gables is their headquarters. We appreciate the update and well check in with you in a few months. Host peter, its always great to see you and glad to know that all is welch well. Youre watching booktv on cspan2. Television for serious readers. Here are some programs to watch out for this weekend. On our Author Interview program after words, former Deputy Assistant attorney general in the george w. Bush administration john hue weighs in on president ial powers and the u. S. Constitution. Harvard University Professor cornel west leads an author discussion on the black lives matter movement. The wall street journals melissa corn and jennifer lev visits9 investigate the recent College Admissions scandal, and the life of the late republican senator job mccarthy. Mccarthy. Consult your Program Guide or visit booktv. Org. Recently, booktv interviewed republican senator Martha Mcsally of arizona, who reflected on her life and her path to becoming the first female pilot to fly a combat mission in the United States air force. Many can relate to this right now in 2020. Maybe your plan were derailed. Many peoples have been because of this pandemic. But i took a route because they still didnt change the law. It wasnt fair. It was against the law even though i graduated higher than others who performed, i till couldnt be a career pilot because i was a girl. So i picked an assignment to be an Instructor Pilot in texas flying the p37. Wasnt a glamorous job, but it gave me the opportunity. You know, youre turning pedestrians into pilots, you know . Theyre all putting you in danger and puking all over you, but its important work. But people usually graduating high in the chat didnt take out. But i saw it was a chance for me to keep building my armyship, keep excelling, keep growing in my experience as a pilot and keep the door open that if they changed the law and the policy well, the law was changed at that point, but the policy count that i felt like it was going to happen soon, and id be ready x id be leaning forward and building my experience, and its exactly what happened. The door opened and i was in the right place at the right time with the right experience. So i encourage the reader, whats your p37 . I look back, had i not been dekale railed initially, i would not have been in the position to actually have, you know, broken the barriers and been the first woman to fly in combat. Sometimes you cant see that a detour is actually taking you on your path to your destiny, and that was my experience. To watch the rest of this interview, visit our web site, booktv. Org. Search for senator mcsally or the title of her book, care dare to fly, using the box at the top of the page. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is bennett, and im a bookseller and the events coordinator, and im going to be your host tonight for at home at literati. I want to extend a thank you to everyone for your support of our Events Program in
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