Eastwind Books Offers Refuge from the Storm of Corporate Bookstores
Asian-specific bookseller gives to community
By Allison Lee
Special to AsianWeek
Eastwind Books of Berkeley is not your average Barnes & Nobles. In fact, this 800-square-foot space shelves over 1.4 million books on a variety of Asian topics. Dictionaries in numerous Asian languages sit on one shelf waiting to be of assistance. Perusers will also find books specializing on ethnic studies, Chinese medicine, martial arts, language learning, philosophy and culture.
There is no other bookstore quite like Eastwind, especially because of its dedication to the Bay Area’s Asian Pacific American community, authors struggling to get a running start on their careers and education in general.
The idea for this purely Asian bookstore arose from the concerns of UC Berkeley professors who felt that books for Asian American studies classes were in meager circulation. In 1982, these professors pooled their efforts together to create Eastwind Books.
Co-manager Harvey Dong pointed to six immense shelves against the wall and remarked, “These are dedicated to Asian Pacific [Americans] alone.”
The bookstore shares a uniquely symbiotic relationship with many of the authors whose books it carries. The bookstore benefits from a vast collection that it has attempted to expand for the past 10 years, and authors profit from the wonderful publicity Eastwind Books provides. Essentially, Eastwind Books wants to see these Asian authors make it.
One way the bookstore seeks to promote authors is through readings. According to Dong, it invites about six to seven guest speakers per year. On Sept. 21, the bookstore will host the distinguished author Leland Wong, who will present his colorfully animated book, Exploring Chinatown: A Children’s Guide to Chinese Culture, which describes the history and unique aspects of Chinatown. Wong will be on hand to sign books and offer caricature portrait sittings.
Eastwind Books is also proactively supportive of education outreach. The five-person staff constantly seeks and introduces informative materials that would be of use to educators. In fact, staff members partake in many education conferences each year. Recently they attended the San Francisco State University Hapa Convention, at which they presented over 100 titles. They also had a book table at the Oakland Public School workshop where new teachers showed tremendous enthusiasm in what Eastwind had to offer.
While lending its space to many serious books, Eastwind also has an ever-growing source of children’s books. Bea Dong, another Eastwind staffer, explains that this selection is unique because it provides a variety of works that include traditional Asian folk tales. There are even bilingual children’s books such as Chandra and the Mirror of Moonlight in Hindi and English.
Meanwhile, the classics draw the farthest travelers, some of whom are willing to drive anywhere from San Francisco and Sacramento. Dong explains that these classics are not only “translated literature that people love to read over and over again,” but they are also hard to find. There are many popular titles which come in volume sets, such as Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Nevertheless, the real addicts come craving the extremely popular AsiaPac comics, which come in the Japanese anime manga style. As Dong stated, “These comic books are a fun way of learning about anything from Chinese culture to Chinese philosophy.” The selection is huge because authors seem to just “crank them out.”
No matter what one’s interest holds, Eastwind can most likely fulfill it. The staff treats their customers as they treat their books — with care.
Eastwind is exactly the kind of bookstore the Bay Area needs.
Eastwind Books of Berkeley is located at 2066 University Ave. Hours of operation are Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. For more information, go to www.ewbb.com or call 510-548-2350.
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