The Booksmith

Specialties

Books across a number of topics including counter culture, art & photography, graphic design, literary fiction and narrative non fiction, politics, history, sociology, gender & race, graphic novels, domestic & imported magazines, and children’s books.

History

Established in 1976.

The Booksmith has been Haight-Ashbury’s independent bookstore for over 30 years. In 2007, Christin Evans and Praveen Madan bought the bookstore from its founder Gary Frank. Since then, this fiercely independent-​minded bookstore has had a complete remodel (turquoise sign and purple door and all), enhanced the browsing experience (can’t get that on Amazon) and have expanded the already award-​winning literary events program to include hit Book Swaps and awesome authors including Sarah Vowell, Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, Lynda Barry, Adriane Tomine, Paul Madonna, William Gibson, Stephen Elliott, Michelle Richmond, Dave Eggers, Tao Lin, Dan White (not the assassin!), Andrew Sean Greer, Lisa Brown, Daniel Handler (known associate of Lemony Snicket), etc, etc, etc.

Meet the Business Owner

Christin E.

Business Owner

Christin Evans, literary entrepreneur, runs two Bay Area bookstores. In 2007, she and her husband, Praveen Madan, purchased The Booksmith in San Francisco’s historic Haight-​Ashbury neighborhood. In 2008 with Melissa Mytinger, they launched Berkeley Arts & Letters, now the East Bay’s most successful author event series. In 2012, Christin assumed leadership of store operations for Kepler’s Books, the Silicon Valley’s landmark bookstore established by pacifist Roy Kepler in 1955, now a hybrid business with an affiliated non-​profit events program. Having made it her work to re-​imagine the role independent bookstores play in their communities and how best they can be sustainable cultural institutions, she’s active in neighborhood associations and she welcomes conversations! Christin worked as a management consultant for A.T. Kearney; she holds a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.