The Literary hosted its second Book-to-Brick event on Sunday, where people painted their favorite book covers on bricks.
Participants shared a love of reading, eating kettle chips from the book bar and drinking coffee.
Dylan Renner, The Literary’s event manager, said manager Jenny Shima came up with the idea one year ago.
“I think she took some inspiration from seeing similar things online,” Renner said. “It was a cool idea to utilize the books in a new and fun way.”
According to Renner, the original idea was for people to make bookends, but participants used the bricks to decorate their gardens instead.
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The Literary has also collaborated with local artists and authors in recent events, such as a poetry collage last week and a flower arrangement workshop with Andrea Hunt, owner of The CU Flower House.
Renner also shared plans for upcoming events at The Literary, such as the Memoir Writing Workshop this Friday.
Marijke York, graduate student studying library and information science, discovered The Literary when she moved to the area two months ago.
“I came across The Literary, and I love good coffee, food (and) books, so I’ve started coming here more regularly,” York said. “I’ve been to a book club event and their Valentine’s event. This one seemed particularly really fun.”
York painted the cover of “The Song of Achilles” and talked about how much she loves the themes and storyline it conveys.
“I’ve read it probably three times, and I’m re-reading it again,” York said. “It’s a really beautiful queer romance, Greek myth retelling.”
York said she loves the community that The Literary has built in the years since it opened.
“I love that it’s a smaller, independent bookstore, and I think bringing coffee, drinks, books all together really helps build community spaces,” York said. “It’s really nice to find places that have in-person community.”
Alongside York was her friend, Brooke Christenson, graduate student studying library and information science.
“This is my first time here,” Christenson said. “But I’ve heard such good things about this place.”
This probably won’t be the only Book-to-Brick this year — Renner anticipates summer and fall Book-to-Brick events, too.
“If anyone’s interested in this event or other events like it, we’ve been really pushing out a lot of different cool stuff this year,” Renner said. “There’s a lot more cool stuff coming up, and it’s all on our Instagram, Facebook page, event page.”
