In New York City, the Nonbinarian Book Bike is a literary haven for queers of all ages, at a time when they need it most. It is, literally, a bright source of hope, and one that’s difficult to miss. Since its launch in July 2023, its creator, K. Kerimian, can be seen riding the bike attached to a gleaming pink mini-library, which was custom-crafted for the project. The library on wheels can be seen parked in common gathering points in NYC, in locations like Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, as well as The People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park in Queens.
In the age of widespread book bans across the country, Kerimian was eager to share books about queer inclusiveness, arts, history, and empowerment to the local public. The Nonbinarian Book Bike is a trans & queer led mutual aid initiative bringing LGBTQIA+ reading materials into the hands of the community in Brooklyn. From titles like memoir-manifesto All Boys Aren’t Blue, to children’s books like Dad’s and Daddy’s Big Big Family, the bike serves all ages, and includes all genres, and languages.
Kerimian is a career bookseller and events coordinator, having worked at bookish hotspots like the Greenlight Bookstore, an independent shop in the heart of Brooklyn. But they say anyone can be an activist, regardless of your hometown or career path. The key is to identify barriers to education and inclusiveness in one’s own community and build from there, says Kerimian. In fact, The Nonbinarian Book Bike is so much more than a mobile library, but an innovative approach to creating a community resource that has neither the constraints of a for-profit, nor the red tape of a non-profit. The mission and model are transparently outlined on the website, https://thenonbinarian.gay/. “It allows folks to read our mission, learn how to get involved, support us through all the various links shared above, see photos of our work on the ground, and generally just know we exist,” says Kerimian. “Our website receives a lot of foot traffic as it is the hub of all of our efforts.” Kerimian used GoDaddy to create the website for the book bike, one that will hopefully inspire others across the country, especially those in deep red states where queer book bans have become prevalent.
Here, Kerimian shares how they turned a breakthrough idea into a physical and symbolic presence of community engagement and enlightenment.
What led you to launch your creative and community-driven venture?
After receiving gender affirming care & reaching a milestone birthday, I decided to take matters into my own hands to celebrate the gender euphoria I felt as a later in life trans adult.
How did you go about building, designing, and creating the book bike? (It looks great!)
The Nonbinarian Book Bike was founded in October 2022 & officially launched distribution in July 2023. The book bike is custom built by the company Icicle Tricycles in Portland, OR. I designed the aesthetic in tandem with a Nonbinarian community member & professional designer, Bria Benjamin, for the graphic vinyl wrap.
You mentioned your biggest obstacle is funding. How do you plan to go about fundraising and what will the capital go toward?
I first received awards through the American Booksellers Association holiday bonus & The Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller Activists through BINC. We then funded the book bike through the community via GoFundMe. For current & ongoing expenses, such as storage, we have affiliate payouts from our Bookshop.org page, Bonfire merchandise, Libro.fm account, as well as using Ko-Fi for monthly membership subscriptions.
When we distribute during book bike outings, we have our Venmo available for optional donations should folks have the means.
How did the free library lead to the Riis Reads series–why is creating an IRL community so important?
Someone DM'd us on Instagram asking if we ever thought of hosting one! Within the hour, I organized it by reaching out to two other community leaders, Amelia Goodman at Bookworm Reads and Fayola Fair at The Reading for Black Lives Project, to have a wider reach. We coordinated logistics, made graphics, and announced it on all three channels. It was so popular we decided to host it again the following month.
The idea of a read-in is not just to meet new friends (although that's for sure a perk!), but a political act to demonstrate resistance that we are stronger in numbers. You can read more about read-ins as a tool to resist book bans as well as The Nonbinarian's Riis Reads specifically in the recently ABA Right to Read Toolkit (pages 40-43).
If your books are for free distribution, how do you make money to purchase and acquire new books?
We are not a for-profit retailer. We are a mutual aid initiative and rely entirely on community sourced donations. We have an inventory wishlist on our Bookshop.org as well as partner wishlists with P&T Knitwear & Greenlight Bookstore, so that folks who have the means to purchase new books may do so. We also accept donations of gently used, self-published, ARCs, or library discards from anyone willing to drop off or ship. We've had publishers and authors send comp copies as well.
Why is The Nonbinarian Book Bike important now more than ever?
Many young queer people do not have the funds or access to these books and with the rise of these titles being pulled and banned from schools and public libraries, free resources for queer and trans youth are becoming more scarce. Bringing these books to the folks who need them most will directly contribute to the empowerment, affirmation, and solidarity amongst queer people of all ages at a time when we need it most.
Tell us about your Pop-Up events and press partnerships.
The cargo bike is loaded with inventory, free giveaways and resources before biking to our chosen destination, typically at public parks (scheduled and announced in advance). We find a spot with active foot traffic and park, open the lid & door, and arrange the books so that it is merchandised on display for folks to browse. Whoever is there on behalf of The Nonbinarian that day (typically the cyclist plus one other book bike ambassador) operates as a sort of hype person, announcing to passersby that we have free books for distribution to welcome folks to browse. No matter how folks engage with us during our pop-ups, there is no expectation of transactional donations in order for folks to take what they'd like. I often ask for consent to photograph folks with their books for social media and our website.
We have recently drawn attention from press, including The Washington Post, NYC Trans Oral History Project, The Mary Sue, & Electric Lit.
How do you take this local, physical community and bring it to the online realm?
We have an active social media presence, primarily through Instagram. We have a Discord server with lots of behind-the-scenes channels, where a lot of our ideas turn into action. We have hosted online author talks, book giveaways and raffles, and offer exclusive content to our Ko-Fi members. We host a monthly virtual book club & have a monthly newsletter with guest essays from the community. We also have an online wishlist for another local organization, Trans formative Schools, in which we are sourcing & stocking their library for their afterschool program. In these ways, we invite folks from all over to get involved, even if they are not able to visit the book bike or attend physical meet ups. Folks need community now more than ever. Having online offerings is an important aspect of organizing & access. And, of course, our .gay website which we created via GoDaddy.
How did you find out about the .Gay domain - Were you surprised that it existed?
I first heard about it from the author Roxane Gay on Twitter and kept it in the back of my mind for when I would create a website. It was a no-brainer once The Nonbinarian formed that I would use .Gay. What could be more perfect?
Why did you choose GoDaddy as your registry operator? What products or features helped you streamline your goals as an online entrepreneur?
It's super user-friendly. I am by no means a web designer and when I decided to get a site up and running shortly after the inception of The Nonbinarian, GoDaddy had been recommended by friends. It's been a great experience. We have our email address through them & the different page layouts allow us to streamline our work and communicate what we do as simply as possible. I'm really proud of our website.
How do you envision The Nonbinarian Book Bike and Riis Reads in 2024? And beyond?
For 2024 we'll be able to start our season much earlier. We’ll have more cyclists to get the bike out more, and hopefully have more partner events so that even with inclement weather, we'll still be able to distribute. I'm looking forward to continuing Riis Reads as we'll have built our community over the next few seasons. I can't wait to meet these new Internet friends IRL. It's how a lot of our happenings have come together, from Internet friends becoming IRL relationships. 2024 holds a lot of promise. It's only up from here.