Order Now: Limited-Edition Independent Bookstore Day Tote Designed by Roz Chast

Through October 30, booksellers can order a limited-edition canvas tote bag designed by cartoonist Roz Chast for Independent Bookstore Day, to be held on a national level on May 2, 2015.

The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association and California Bookstore Day are coordinating production of the totes and are not anticipating a second printing, so bookstores are encouraged to order their full supply now. Booksellers should contact NCIBA at [email protected] or (415) 561-7686 to request the order form.

Chast is the author of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (Bloomsbury), a 2014 National Book Award finalist for nonfiction. She is known for her witty cartoons, which have been published in The New Yorker, Scientific American, the Harvard Business Review, Redbook, and Mother Jones.

To support Independent Bookstore Day, Chast donated a six-panel, book-themed cartoon titled “Time-to-Spare Book Club” that will be printed on the canvas totes alongside the name and date of the event.

The totes, which will come in navy and red versions, must be ordered by October 30 and will ship to stores nationwide in November, in time for the holidays. They are sold in bundles of 20 and are priced at $7.50 per bag, including free freight; imprinting is available at an additional fee. The suggested retail price per bag is $15. The bags are nonreturnable.

Bookstores are welcome to sell the totes in the months leading up to Independent Bookstore Day, as well as beyond, to help generate excitement for the event.

Following the success of the first California Bookstore Day earlier this year, the nine regional bookseller associations are working together to collaboratively support Independent Bookstore Day. During initial meetings among the associations about what merchandise will be specially coordinated to draw customers on Independent Bookstore Day, New England Independent Booksellers Association Executive Director Steve Fischer suggested the totes based on Chast’s popularity and the overwhelming press for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

“She’s got everything going for her — she’s got books, she’s got the right demographic, she’s funny,” said Fischer. “And here we are today, where she is a finalist for the National Book Award, so it’s even more fabulous.”