Grolier Poetry Bookshop facts for kids

Outside Grolier Poetry Book Shop, August 2005

The Grolier Poetry Book Shop is a special bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. It's located near Harvard Square. Even though it started by selling rare first edition books, today it sells only poetry books.

This small, one-room shop is packed with tall bookshelves. It's known as the "oldest continuous bookshop" that sells only poetry books and books about poetry. Many famous poets have visited the Grolier over the years. It became a very important place for poets in the Cambridge area. This was because Harvard University attracted many American poets.

Some poets who often visited the store when they were students at Harvard include John Ashbery, Robert Bly, and Frank O'Hara. Other well-known writers and poets like E. E. Cummings, T. S. Eliot, and Allen Ginsberg were also "friends of the Grolier."

The Grolier's Story

The Grolier Book Shop first opened its doors in September 1927. It was started by Adrian Gambet and Gordon Cairnie. Later, in 1974, a woman named Louisa Solano bought the shop after Gordon Cairnie passed away.

Early Days and New Ownership

In the beginning, Gambet and Cairnie didn't worry much about making money. They even gave away books sometimes! The shop was more of a social spot for writers and thinkers.

When Louisa Solano took over, she made the Grolier a successful business. She wanted more people to enjoy poetry. She also wanted to celebrate many different voices in poetry.

To help the shop, Louisa started new things:

• She offered appraisals (figuring out how much old books were worth).
• She set up a mail order business.
• She organized an annual poetry reading for college students.
• She held autograph parties with famous poets.

In 1983, the Grolier Poetry Prize Annual was published for the first time. This book and the poetry readings were supported by the Ellen La Forge Memorial Poetry Foundation. This foundation also helped pay for six poetry festivals. The shop even had its own basketball and baseball teams!

A Landmark for Poetry

Under Louisa Solano's care, the Grolier continued to be a place for hard-to-find poetry books. It was the first store in New England to sell Language Magazine. This magazine helped start a new style of poetry called L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry.

In 2002, the shop celebrated its 75th anniversary. More than 800 people came to the party! The Academy of American Poets calls the Grolier a "poetry landmark." This shows how important it is to the world of poetry.

New Beginnings

In 2004, Louisa Solano announced she needed to sell the shop. She wasn't feeling well, and sales were going down. Things like the internet and big chain stores made it harder for small shops to survive.

In March 2006, a poet from Nigeria named Ifeanyi Menkiti bought the store. He was also a professor at Wellesley College.

In September 2012, the Grolier Poetry Book Shop celebrated its 85th anniversary. This celebration lasted for a whole year! Owner Ifeanyi Menkiti also created the Grolier Poetry Foundation. This is a nonprofit group that helps support the store and local poetry events.

Images for kids

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  Gordon Cairnie. Photo by Elsa Dorfman.

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  Louisa Solano, owner of the store from 1974 to 2006, and Pumpkin. Portrait taken in 1984 by Elsa Dorfman.

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  Gail Mazur and Gordon Cairnie at Grolier in the 1960s.

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  Robert Lowell at Grolier in the 1960s.

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  Lawrence Ferlinghetti at Grolier in the 1960s, with Gordon Cairnie, the owner at the time.

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  James Tate and Gordon Cairnie at Grolier in the 1960s.