IT’S HAPPENING! Bol is excited to announce that we are moving into a brick-and-mortar space in the Brookland neighborhood. We need you now more than ever as we continue to build the first worker-owned bookstore and community space in Washington D.C.

We started as a small pop-up in 2021 during the height of the pandemic. Over the last four years, we have organized more than 250 community events including author talks, fundraisers, book clubs, open mic nights, and music and artists workshops. Our events are all free and open to the public.

We are committed to maintaining our ethos of providing thought-provoking, politically-engaged programming to the D.C. public. In order to do so we need your help! We are asking for funds for our current and future expansion, including:

With these short-term goals in mind we have a fundraising goal of $150,000 in the next year.

What We Currently Do:

At Bol, we curate an exclusive and unique collection of artistic, scholarly, and activist literature. We often say, you might come looking for a book you want, but will find the book you need. We have become an integral space for artists, mediamakers, scholars, and activists to come together to discuss the most pressing issues of our contemporary moment and develop strategies for social change. We are most proud of the fact that those who attend our events consistently say there is no other space in all of D.C. like it, especially when it comes to bringing intellectual, artistic, and political programming to the public in an accessible, welcoming, and interactive format. Our events include artist workshops, a cookbook supper club, author talks, film screenings, and open-mic nights.

Our amazing community partners include: Asian Labour Review, DC Queer Muslims, CodePink, Claudia Jones School, Solidarity Supper Club, Rhizome, Festival Center, After the Storm Magazine, People’s Books, Roti Collective, HEART: Sex Education and Advocacy for Muslims, Hindus for Human Rights, Third Space Politics, Long Haul, Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, The Jewish Bund, Books and Bouquets, Black Alliance for Peace, DC Sabha, American University’s Anti-Racist Research and Policy Center, Georgetown University’s Culture and Politics Program, Ward 1 and 2 Mutual Aid, Democratic Socialists of America, Muslim Counterpublics Lab, and Muslims for Just Futures.

Who We Are:

We are a group of activists, artists, educators, and workers with a shared goal of establishing Bol; a worker-owned bookstore and event space in Washington DC. Bol sets itself apart from other bookstores by adopting a worker-owned cooperative business model based on the ideals of global racial justice and economic democracy. Bol encourages our community to find global solidarities through a shared commitment to open dialogue, never-ending curiosity, and social change. We are inspired by third world liberation movements. We aim to serve as a model for creating wealth in the community through politically driven programming, reading groups, artist workshops, and stimulating booktalks. At a time of deepening unrest and demoralization, we believe that many people in our city are longing for safe places to freely discuss their ideas, find and speak to like-minded individuals, and learn how to be a part of real change.

The word "bol" means “to speak” in Urdu and Hindi. We take inspiration from Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a dissident poet, who urges us to “speak" with conviction, to “speak” in the face of oppression, and to "speak" for truth. When we say speak, we mean it! We want to speak without fear and with the humility to learn something new. We want to speak in a way that has been slowly eroded in the era of fake news, pandemics, and miseducation. We want to speak against injustice by finding new ways to relate and act together. We want to speak with courage, conviction, and love. We want to speak with the intention of forging global solidarities rooted in a deep sense of care for one another.