UBS Monocle
A way with words
Mitchell Kaplan
Founder, Books & Books
When Miami native Mitchell Kaplan studied English at the University of Colorado, he learned about the central role that bookshops played in great literary movements, such as Paris’s Shakespeare and Company and the Lost Generation.
When Kaplan returned to Miami, he set out to create his own literary movement. Books & Books opened in 1982, a collaborative space where international authors could visit and local writers could garner more attention. “I was interested in creating a place that could reflect and serve the community where I grew up,” says Kaplan. “A place to reflect the diversity of South Florida and bring writers to town who usually didn’t come.”
Today, Books & Books has five locations, but its flagship in Coral Gables, with its signature floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves, is the heart of the business. “Through our literary foundation, we bring authors into schools, bring books to communities that don’t have easy access to them, and do all we can to foster community and advocate for the freedom to read,” says Kaplan.
Within two years of opening, Kaplan further developed Miami’s literary reputation by creating the Miami Book Fair International, which is now the largest community book festival in the US with more than 400 writers on the bill each year.
On his own love of reading, Kaplan quotes Jorge Luis Borges – “I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books” – and adds that “a good book is an empathy machine. It’s why there are attempts to limit their distribution. Reading a book allows us a window into another’s world, and sensibility, which makes us more accepting of our differences.”
Browse the shelves at Books & Books flagship in Coral Gables, 265 Aragon Avenue, Miami 33134.booksandbooks.com
