My first visit to Elizabeth’s Bookshop and Writing Centre, located inside 647 Coffee at The Well Community Development Corp., was driven by my out-of-town friend’s desire to learn more about its author events and reader meetups. 

We met Madison Helbig, who works there part-time. 

Helbig also works as an English instructor at the University of Akron and as a creative writer and poet. She previously read many of the books on Elizabeth’s shelves as part of her coursework in the nation’s only consortial MFA creative writing program — the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts — a partnership between the University of Akron, Kent State and Cleveland State.

“This job is truly everything little Madison and adult Madison could’ve ever wanted,” she said. “Being around books all day? It sounds like a dream, and it really is.”

The bookstore, located in Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood, is quaint in size but big on equality and equity. Its mission is to celebrate, highlight and amplify the work and voices of Queer, Trans, Black and Indigenous People of Color, as well as disabled writers. These creators, she believes, are often excluded from traditional cultural, social and academic canons.

Madison Helbig of Akron
Madison Helbig, bookseller at Elizabeth’s Bookshop and Writing Centre, stands for a portrait in the poetry section of the bookshop Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood. (Kassi Filkins / Signal Akron)

Helbig shared some of her favorite hard-to-find authors and titles:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong: “Eloquent, heartbreaking, honest, potent, poetic, intense.”

Obit by Victoria Chang: “Descriptive, inventive, heartbreaking, poignant, unique, lasting.”

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar: “Visual, descriptive, memorable, profound, contemplative, whimsical.”

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado: “Painful, candid, inventive, unique, powerful, lasting.”

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates: “Profound, honest, somber, emotional, analytical, historical.”

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: “Heartwarming, poetic, serene, lush, intersectional, meditative.” 

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib: “Descriptive, lyrical, visual, historical, unique, complex.”

Visit the Black-owned, woman-owned, queer-owned, independent bookstore Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.  

Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood
Madison Helbig, bookseller at Elizabeth’s Bookshop and Writing Centre, points to some of her favorite collections in the poetry section of the bookshop Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood. (Kassi Filkins / Signal Akron)

Patricia Sheahan is a professor, student teacher supervisor, installation artist, educational consultant for the integration of the arts across all disciplines and a freelance writer. Sheahan enjoys more than four decades of education experience at K-12 schools in New York and Pennsylvania and higher education at Seton Hill University, the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Penn State and most recently the University of Akron. Her favorite courses to teach are Social Justice Through the Arts, Ethics, Introduction to Critical Education, Classroom Management and Integrating the Arts K-12. Interests include visiting the Akron Art Museum, Akron Library, Civic Theatre, walking downtown to view murals and window light installations plus the stunning flower and plant arrangements, antiquing, especially from her own vendor space at The Brothers North Antiques in Medina. She also frequents Akron restaurants and local boutiques, travels and spends time with her family; a daughter and her newly blended family in North Canton, a son and his family in San Diego and a son in Dallas.