Send us a text

What would Stacy Whitman, owner of The Curious Cat Bookshop, do differently today if she were starting her bookstore from scratch? She's got a few ideas, mostly about preparation and community. Are you thinking of starting a bookstore or would like some advice on writing, publishing, or the book business? Let us know in the comments. Also, at least 5 cats make appearances in this video, with varying levels of interruption.

Stacy is the founder, former publisher, and now editor-at-large of Tu Books, the imprint of Lee & Low Books that publishes diverse middle grade and young adult novels and graphic novels. She is also the owner of The Curious Cat Bookshop in Winsted, CT, including the Curious Cat Bookshop Podcast. She holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons University. In 2013, Stacy founded the New Visions Award, which honors a new unpublished writer of color. Authors and illustrators she has worked with include Guadalupe García McCall, Yamile Saied Méndez, David Bowles, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Tony Medina, Kimm Topping, Anshika Khullar, Raúl the Third, A.M. Dassu, Olivia Abtahi, Axie Oh, G. Neri, Aamna Qureshi, Supriya Kelkar, and more.

Prior to launching Tu Books, she was an editor for Mirrorstone, the children’s and young adult fantasy/science fiction imprint of Wizards of the Coast. She has edited elementary school textbooks at Houghton Mifflin, interned at the Horn Book Magazine and Guide, and was a children’s bookseller at Barnes & Noble (not to mention editing phone books and transcribing overland trails journals in college, typesetting college textbooks and the publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in LaTeX at various points in time, freelance editing and copyediting; and writing, editing, and photography for Electrical Apparatus, the trade magazine for the industrial electrical motors aftermarket—as well as a small local paper in Stark County, Illinois). In her eclectic career, she has worked with a wide variety of writers, artists, and publishing professionals who taught her the gamut of the publishing industry, and she applies that every day no matter what part of the book industry she’s focusing on that day.

Support the show

More about The Curious Cat Bookshop

Shop online anytime for in-store pick-up or home delivery

Keep track of our in-store and online events

Become a member of The Curious Cat Bookshop! We have a subscription box or you can just add a little bit to help us become more sustainable

Follow us elsewhere!

• Bluesky
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube (live events stream here)
• Threads

And always, our events locally and online can be found on our website!