Wichita’s newest bookshop is a little store with a big mission:
“We are all about amplifying representation, cultivating perspective and empowering community,” said Latasha Eley Kelly, owner of Left on Read in downtown Wichita.
“Left on read” is an internet-era phrase that means someone read your text message but did not respond. In the same way, Kelly said, authors of color are often ignored or not given priority placement.
“When you go into more traditional, mainstream bookstores, we’re relegated to a very small section, or no section,” she said. “So, we’re just trying to flip the script on that.”
At Left on Read, authors of color take center stage. Picture books feature Black children prominently on their covers, including Tabitha Brown’s “Hello There, Sunshine” and Debbie Allen’s “Dancing in the Wings.”
A social justice section features works by Bell Hooks, Emily Bernard and Ta-Nehisi Coates. And the fiction shelves are stocked with Colson Whitehead, Octavia Butler, Percival Everett and Kiley Reid.
“I take a lot of customer recommendations,” Kelly said. “I follow a lot of the different publishing houses, and also a lot of Black authors, so I can know when they have new releases coming out. And … also stuff that just speaks to me.”
Kelly said she grew up loving books.
“I’ve always been an avid reader. My brothers always called me a nerd growing up, and I hated it then, but now I embrace it,” she said.
“Those were in good times, but also when things started getting rocky in our home life,” she said. “Books were just an escape for me — the library, the bookstore. I just loved getting lost in a book.”
All that reading led to success in school. Kelly grew up in Virginia, where she earned her undergraduate degree in sociology, a master’s in educational policy, planning and leadership, and a doctorate in language, literacy and culture.
And then she moved with her husband to Wichita.
“Everything just fell into place when we came here, and it almost felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief,” she said.
When a local book club recently decided to read Charmaine Wilkerson’s “Black Cake,” members made a point of ordering copies from Left on Read.
Kelly plans to start a book club at the store sometime this year. Until that happens, she likes when customers visit and stay awhile.
“There was a young couple that came in, and I didn't know what they were doing. And then, lo and behold, they were on a date,” she said.
The couple brought coloring books and supplies with them, and parked inside the store to relax and enjoy their time together.
“And that just warmed me so much because that’s what I want,” Kelly said.
Kelly founded a media organization called the Millennial Black Professor, and she hosts a podcast called “Black in One Piece,” where she interviews local Black leaders and entrepreneurs.
She says she’s gotten a warm welcome in Wichita so far.
White customers have come into the store wanting help to diversify their reading or learn more about race and social justice issues.
“They are seeking, they are wanting to learn,” Kelly said. “Some are saying, ‘I’ve read the basics already, but I want something deeper.’ Or, ‘I’m just starting out. I’m a little overwhelmed. Where do I start?’”
Here are a few titles that Kelly recommends to customers:
- The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love by Bell Hooks
- Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab
- Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
- I Am More Than My Name by Dr. Kamshia Childs
- Hello There, Sunshine by Tabitha Brown
