Medu Bookstore to close as owner and Black culture keeper Nia Damali retires

Over its 35-year history, the southern, Black-owned bookstore has become one of Black America’s major literary hubs

It’s said that when an elder dies a library burns. With Medu Bookstore owner Nia Damali’s retirement, a critical pillar of the Black community crumbles. image credit: courtesy of the Nia Damali  

Historically, bookstores serve as vital curators of culture; these brick-and-mortar buildings are intellectual safe havens and community hubs that foster new worlds of discovery. The writer Cecelia Ahern has described good bookstores as "matchmakers" between readers and books. Bookstores transform towns, civilize neighborhoods and act as literary bastions protecting literature. Nobel Laureate Wole Sonyika said, “Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress truth.”  

“I shop at Medu Bookstore because it’s in the Black community,” says Killer Mike. “It’s of the Black community. Black people owned it, Black people supported it. And it is particularly important to me to take my daughters there so they can see a Black woman behind the counter, so they can be greeted and treated like they are brilliant, Black, and beautiful; so they will be encouraged to read.” 

For African Americans, a bookstore, especially an independent Black bookstore, is one of the unsung pillars of the African American community, serving as a repository of wisdom, both ancient and modern. It is a sacred space for marginalized voices often suppressed or overlooked. According to the African American Literature Club, there are approximately 177 African American bookstores currently in America.  

Black bookstores are sacred gathering spaces where teaching and learning take place.  They are literary sanctuaries for Black authors, a place where they can find sympathetic readers and bond with them through the spirited exchange of words and ideas.  

For well over 30 years, poet and cultural entrepreneur Nia Damali has been a stalwart champion of Black authors and their books. As the owner and founder of Medu Bookstore, Mama Nia, as she is affectionately known in the Atlanta literary community, has been connecting readers to books and helping young, budding writers launch their careers, a task that she takes extremely seriously.  

“Reading, studying and knowing oneself is extremely important,” says Damali. “This has been a life mission for me. In those 35 years before, and even beyond, it is very important to understand who we are to move forward.” 

Nia Damali was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in the tight-knit community of Rockwell on the city’s West Side. According to her, Rockwell was a “progressive” and “strong” community that was rich in history and culture.  

“I grew up in the area where Fred Hampton lived. I grew up down the street from the Black Panthers’ program on Medicine Street, where they used to do the free breakfasts. I think my mom allowed me to go to some of the programs that were held by the Black Panther Party.”  

It was in this heady environment filled with the possibilities of Black politics and culture that Damali’s love for the written word was born.  

“Chicago’s Black art community was amazing,” recalls Damali fondly. “Haki [Madhubuti] and so many different writers were there and really promoted [the arts] in terms of creativity, writing and all of it. So I kinda followed in their footsteps. And I also did a poetry reading with Dr. Margaret Burroughs. Hoyt Fuller and so many others were there when I did the reading. I remember I was so nervous. It was one of my first times, and I got so nervous. I looked in the crowd, and Hoyt Fuller stood up, lifted his hands, and pointed at me, and told me, "Do this! And I did.”  

Damali continued to write and recite her poetry at various cultural events in Chicago and published her first book, entitled “Poetry of My Identity” on her own publishing company, Blackwood Press, in 1979. Three years later, she published her second volume of verse, entitled “I Am Natural” (Blackwood, 82).  

Blackwood Press would go on to publish “The Teachings of Ptah Hotep: The Oldest Book in the World," a translation of the wisdom of the vizier of King Isesi of the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty (ca. 2414-2375 BC). The teachings were words of wisdom on human relations meant to be instructions for his son. Damali, along with Africana scholars Asa G. Hilliard and Larry Obadele Williams, translated the book from the original hieroglyphs. In 1982, she published a book of African and Arabic names, entitled “Golden Names for an African People."  And in 1990, Blackwood released “Ascension from the Ashes,”  a collection of poetry by me, Charlie Braxton.  

In 1982, Damali left Chicago and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to attend Clark Atlanta College, where she earned a degree in mass communications and public relations. At the time, she was searching for a Black bookstore to carry her poetry book.  

“When I got here, I shortly started working in the book business because I found a bookstore near the campus, and I asked them to carry my book of poetry.” 

That led her to her first job as a bookseller at the Atlanta branch of Hakim’s Bookstore, located near the Clark Atlanta College campus. She started working for Hakim’s Bookstore in 1983. 

Damali worked at Hakim’s Bookstore until she decided to strike out on her own and open her own bookstore. Initially, she started a bookstore with a partner in 1988, but, unfortunately, the venture didn’t work out.  

Undaunted and determined, Damali opened her own bookstore called Medu Bookstore in December 1989.  

Medu is an ancient Kemetic word that roughly translates to mean “the power of word,” a definition given to her by the late great scholar, Dr. Asa G. Hilliard. She started with a prime location in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall, which is an unusual spot for an independent Black bookstore. According to Damali, the opportunity came as a result of being selected as the National Black Arts Festival’s official book vendor, which allotted them a temporary location in Greenbriar Mall.  

“I was invited to do [the books for] the National Black Arts Festival. And after the festival closed, we started to break down; the community uproared and said that they needed the bookstore to stay. So we were asked by Macy’s and the mall themselves to stay. We went with the mall instead of Macy’s, and I’ve been there ever since.”    

Over its 35-year history, Medu Bookstore has become one of Black America’s major literary hubs. A virtual parade of who’s who of Black writers has held book signings there. Among the list of prominent authors who have been to Medu are: Terry McMillian, T.D. Jakes, Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Manning Marable, Asa Hilliard and Anthony Browder. And her loyal customer base is as diverse as the Black community itself. For example, Greg Carr, professor of Africana Studies at Howard University, makes it a point to drop by Medu Bookstore whenever he’s in town, and so does Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike, who says he buys most of his books from Medu Bookstore.  

“I shop at Medu Bookstore because it’s in the Black community,” says Killer Mike. “It’s of the Black community. Black people owned it, Black people supported it. And it is particularly important to me to take my daughters there so they can see a Black woman behind the counter, so they can be greeted and treated like they are brilliant, Black, and beautiful; so they will be encouraged to read.” 

Unfortunately, after the end of March, all of her regular customers, the people who make up her bibliophile family, won’t be able to purchase their books from her anymore. After 35 years of loyal service to the community she loves, Nia Damali has decided to retire from selling books. She says that she plans to take a year to just rest. After that, she plans to write and travel. While many of her longtime patrons understand that Damali’s departure from Medu Bookstore is what’s best for her, they still can’t help feeling sad. Her departure leaves a huge void in the City of Atlanta. “She is an invaluable part of the Black community,” said Killer Mike, “and she will be missed.”