The booksellers at Powell’s City of Books are no ordinary retail associates. Esoteric degrees and past lives are a norm, and without them, the store would be an indecipherable mountain of books or, worse, a Barnes & Noble. Whatever you’re seeking—guide to Slovenia, gem of the birding section, queer novel that reflects your own experience?—they can help you find it (unless they’re on strike, which happened after their labor contract expired in June, leading to extended negotiations and a Labor Day strike at all Powell’s locations). We asked five booksellers to tell us about themselves.
Nicholas Yandell
Lead bookseller, events team member Start date: 2013 / Hourly wage: $18.14 / Relevant experience: Nine years combined at a prior bookstore and library / Other gigs: Freelance composer, poet, novelist, poetry editor for literary journal Deep Overstock, which was founded by Powell’s employees
What kind of composing do you do? “I have a master’s degree in musical composition. On the side I write film scores, notate music for people, and teach lessons.” What drew you to Powell’s? “No place has the size and depth of Powell’s. When I moved to Portland, that was it. I didn’t apply anywhere else.” Favorite section of the store? “The LGBTQ section in the Red Room. When I first became a bookseller, I was like, ‘I want to take on that section.’”
Lori Blumenthal
Bookseller Start date: 2000 / Hourly wage: $18.85 / Relevant experience: Prior career as a record company promotion manager, and a world traveler / Other gigs: Pet-sitting business
What drew you to Powell’s? “On business trips [to Portland], I would look at Powell’s longingly, like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’” Can you support yourself on your wages? “With sacrifice. I almost never have a day off from both jobs.” What’s kept you around? “The store is a magical place. I walk in the building, and I do feel like I’m part of something that’s bigger than me.” What’s your favorite section of the store? “The travel section. A customer might say, ‘Oh my God, you’ve been to Mongolia?’ ‘You’ve been to Uzbekistan?’ and you can really make a connection with them.”
Katherine D. Morgan
Bookseller, events team member Start date: 2017 / Hourly wage: $16.50
(part-time) / Relevant experience: Writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, Bitch, LitHub, the Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, and the Rumpus. / Other gigs: Hostess at 10 Barrel Brewing, customer service representative at bookshop.org
Favorite section of the store? “I’m considered, like, the romance expert, almost. When they have romance questions, they start calling me.” What’s kept you around? “I love my job. I run a book club for Black women in Portland. Being a bookseller is everything to me; it’s my favorite thing to do. If it paid more, I’d do it full-time.”
Kevin Sampsell
Events coordinator, overseer of small-press section Start date: 1997 / Hourly wage: $20.90 / Relevant experience: Author of six books / Other gigs: Editor and publisher of Future Tense Books
What does a bookseller do? “It’s like you’re guiding people. By exposing them to books and writing, you’re changing them, changing the way they are as people, and how they think, and how they perceive the world, and what they think that writing is, and what books are, and what art is.” What’s your favorite thing about Powell’s? “I love publishing and the excitement of books coming out, and writers reading at Powell’s for the first time and seeing their name on the marquee.” Are you making ends meet? “Only because I live in a house with a friend, and he owns the house.”
Annabel Jankovic
Bookseller Start date: 2021 / Hourly wage: $16.70 / Other current gigs: Nonfiction editor at the Northwest Review, and copyeditor at the Los Angeles Review of Books / Relevant experience: Master’s degree in comparative literature from Dartmouth
What’s your favorite thing about Powell’s? “Access to writers and publishers, and being made to feel by them like you’re an important part of their community.” What’s kept you around? “The people that I work with.” Favorite section of the store? “I’m mostly a Red Room person: sociology and urban studies, Eastern European history and culture. I’m a huge fan of the bird section, too—also in the Red Room.” Are you able to support yourself? “Scarcely. You have to be able to afford to work there, you know?”