About Líf Books
Set in a whimsical environment, our bookshelves are creatively curated with a special emphasis on visually appealing and interactive books. Líf is about creating an inviting and delightful bookstore experience for adults and children alike.
The family-friendly space will also soon offer a variety of programming, events, and activities. We want to host book clubs, silent reading parties, open mics, music, writing contests, special promotions, and much more. We aim to connect and collaborate with local businesses, nonprofits, authors, illustrators and creatives.
Líf hopes to utilize the powers of literature to inspire a culture of connection and empathy, spur curiosity, and supplement education in our customer community. We also plan to give back to our community. A percentage of proceeds will support inclusivity, literacy, and the arts. We aim to make a positive impact, and eventually set aside funds for literacy projects and local youth scholarships.
Origins of the name: The word Líf, pronounced leaf, means life in Old Norse and in Icelandic, and is the name of the Eve-like figure who survives the mythical Ragnarök apocalypse by hiding in the woods or world-tree. When she emerges from the protective tangle of roots, leaves and branches, she repopulates the earth with her partner and brings back life. I believe our lives are stories; I believe books can save lives; the words on the leaves and pages of a book are life-giving and life-sustaining. Books are magic!
Welcome to our cozy corner of the literary world. I hope our bookstore or the books you find here can offer you either the excitement and escape, or the solace and sanctuary that you seek.
About the owner: Valerie
A lifelong lover of stories and books, it has always been a dream of Valerie’s to own a bookshop.
Valerie Marie Arvidson is a writer of fiction, non-fiction and hybrid/inter-media writing; she is also an amateur visual artist. She has published stories, personal essays and poetry. She recently earned her PhD in Creative Writing with a doctoral scholarship at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her dissertation focuses on the third space between image and text in hybrid fiction. Originally from outside Boston, she lived in Oakland, and then Seattle for several years before moving to New Zealand with her husband to near her PhD. She now lives in Massachusetts again and has two children.
Valerie earned her B.A. in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (2008) and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington in Seattle (2012).
In Seattle she taught literature and research writing at Green River College and creative writing and composition at the University of Washington. While living in Oakland, Valerie was an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow for Citizen Schools.
Her writing has appeared online or in print with Permafrost, Forage, Capital, Headland, Drunken Boat (Anomaly), The Seattle Review, Blunderbuss, Anomalous Press, Hunger Mountain, and Apt.
valeriemariearvidson.com
Welcome to our cozy corner of the literary world.
Bookshops are magical
translated from the Poetic Edda
Photos of Valerie, your local literary nerd, taken and edited by Roy Marin
