Lynn Archives

Lynn was born in Minnesota, USA, in 1949. Her first sentence was ” O, datta boek!” Her mother read to her before their afternoon nap and took her to the library weekly, where they always checked out the maximum number of books.
Although she thought she’d be a writer someday, she’s spent 50 years co-creating bookstores instead. The urge to write a little bit once in a while is satisfied by making blog posts about things few others will remember.

US Mid-term Elections – What to do?

written by Lynn Mid-term elections in the US on November 8 will determine all kinds of policy changes over the coming two years. In anticipation of the books that will be written about the outcome, we have a couple of recommendations for you in the meantime: Read about the rule of [...]

Sophie2022-11-06T12:05:01+01:00Tags: Best of Lists, Elections, Lynn|

50 years of Memories – Another riveting ghost story

written by Lynn Following Oprah’s initiative, in 2003 we launched our first Community Read. It had been done before in Chicago, when the entire city—media, government, library and school system—got together to encourage everybody in Chicago to read the same book during the same summer. It worked wonderfully! People spoke about [...]

Sophie2022-12-01T10:17:45+01:00Tags: Anecdotes, Fiction, Lynn|

ABC Ghost Stories

Our Halloween reading list It’s that time of year again: jack-o'-lanterns, ghosts and black cats hiding under flaming autumn leaves. Why not get in the mood? From ghost stories to thrillers, we’ve got your ghoulish literary cravings covered. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier A newlywed arrives at her [...]

Sophie2022-11-01T22:45:49+01:00Tags: Best of Lists, Halloween, Lauren, Lília, Lynn|

Bring on the banned books!

written by Lauren Book banning in the US is on the rise. According to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans, there were 2,532 book-banning incidents concerning 1,648 titles in the US from July 2021 to June 2022—almost half of them young adult books. The most banned books by far contain [...]

Sophie2022-09-29T10:22:13+02:00Tags: Best of Lists, Jitse, Lauren, Lília, Lynn, Natalia, Pleun|

Trees Talking to Trees

written by Lynn Tree-hugging comes and goes with me. As a child, I was happy lying on my back in the grass, surrounded by a square of waving and rustling poplar trees that framed the starry sky in my own backyard. My favorite place to study as a teenager was under [...]

Sophie2022-09-15T13:34:14+02:00Tags: Lynn|

ABC Anecdotes: From the beginning

To mark our 50th anniversary, we’re going back through the archives to share some of our more memorable stories. “1997: ABC at the Moscow International Book Fair” written by Lynn After watching Dutch media magnate and Moscow Times founder Derk Sauer’s recent interview on the Dutch Summer Nights [...]

Sophie2022-09-19T11:11:12+02:00Tags: Anecdotes, Lynn|

A short History of Open Mike Night (OMN)

Come share your best stuff! written by Lynn Open Mic Nights were initiated by Molly Ackerman, the first manager of the ABC Treehouse, in 2000. Artist Molly had come to the Thanksgiving Day dinner and marveled at the space in the ABC Treehouse. She had lots of paintings [...]

Sophie2022-09-03T15:10:53+02:00Tags: Events, Lynn, Open Mic Night|

ABC Anecdotes: From the beginning

To mark our 50th anniversary, we’re going back through the archives to share some of our more memorable stories. “Shoes” written by Lynn In 1972, co-founder Mitch Crossfield decided to have the attic at Kalverstraat 158 converted into an apartment so that he could live above the store. [...]

Sophie2022-09-07T10:44:13+02:00Tags: Anecdotes, Lynn|

Wild Ride: ABC Opened Amsterdam’s First Gay Bookstore in 1975

written by Lynn ABC’s co-founder Mitch Crossfield and most of our male staff in the early years were gay. That’s because Amsterdam was open, as opposed to Belgium and Spain, where homosexuality was still forbidden, so Mitch was able to hire gay booksellers from Amsterdam’s teeming population. Bookseller Harry displayed several [...]

Carla2022-09-03T15:12:26+02:00Tags: Anecdotes, Lynn|

Previous 23

I agree to the tracking cookies

I agree to the third party tracking embeds