Neighborhoods

A new ‘literary gathering space’ is coming to Dorchester

Boston's latest independent bookstore is set to open in Fields Corner this June.

By Zipporah Osei

February 26, 2024

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For Porsha Olayiwola, the city’s poet laureate, Dorchester’s Fields Corner neighborhood is a crossroads of everything that makes Boston great. When the opportunity presented itself to open a new bookstore, she and her business partner, Bing Broderick, saw the neighborhood as a natural fit. 

“We thought of a bookstore, but I think [more] than a bookstore, it’s really just this literary gathering space. A space that centers literature, but even bigger than that, centers community,” Olayiwola said. 

The new bookstore, justBook-ish, is set to open its doors this June after years of planning and community involvement. Olayiwola and Broderick said they see the new shop not just as a bookstore, but as a gathering place for the city’s rich literary circles. Both are residents of Dorchester and said they understand the value of creating more social hubs close to home. 

When justBook-ish opens, visitors will find books by local authors and writers who have been underrepresented by the publishing industry, regular author talks, poetry readings, gallery exhibitions, live music performances workshops, and more that they hope will “activate the neighborhood,” Olayiwola said. They also plan to serve coffee and other refreshments, and eventually, a beer and wine list. 

The business partners are no strangers to fostering community spaces in the region. Broderick is the former executive director of Haley House, a nonprofit based in the South End and Roxbury. It was through the Haley House that the two formed a working relationship and friendship. Ten years ago, Olayiwola was a regular in the Cambridge slam poetry scene and came to Broderick with an idea to create a slam event at Haley House. Their shared passion for creating inclusive, communal spaces kept them close over the years and led to create justBook-ish.

“I think right now there’s a lot changing in Boston and a lot particularly in Dorchester, and I think having a place where people do feel like they have agency and do see their neighbors is really important at a time like this,” Broderick said.

The two said the community has been supportive of the new store from the very beginning. Community members were involved in fundraising efforts, donating everything from a single dollar to thousands, to make the space a reality. And by partnering with other local businesses like Dorchester Brewing Company and The Record Co. to host in-person fundraisers, they were able to test out the kind of programming that will be central to the new bookstore. 

“We talk a lot about the fact that we want people to have ownership of the space. So regardless if it’s $1 or $100, or $1,000, we want folks to feel like they literally helped to community-build this space,” Olayiwola said. 

The store will be located on the first floor of the Dot Crossing Apartments, 1463 Dorchester Ave., where construction is already underway. The space was designed by the team who designed the Dorchester Food Co-op and construction is being handled by ERise, a Black-owned business out of Dedham. Both businesses were intentionally chosen to stay aligned with the mission of being “culturally curated, radically influenced, and locally inspired.”

Several new bookstores have opened in and around Boston in recent years, but justBook-ish brings something new to the table not just because of its “radical approach” but also because of its location. Boston is already well-known for being an intellectually and culturally minded city, and the two business owners believe it’s time that be reflected in a neighborhood like Dorchester. 

“I think oftentimes neighborhood folks get forgotten in that academia or intellectual setting,” Olayiwola said. “We’re trying to [put] the books and the literature and these political or intellectual conversations at the intersection of just regular-degular community folk who are brilliant in a plethora of ways outside of the institution.”

The ultimate goal is for the store to become a true “third place” for residents of Dorchester and beyond.

“We are both really conscious of hospitality … it’s really important that people feel welcome,” Broderick said. “We want people to hop off the T on the way home from work and see what’s going on because there’s always something going on there.”

Ahead of the June opening, Olayiwola and Broderick are raising money through GoFundMe to stock up on books and other inventory. Donations will help fill the space with 9,000 titles, which will be curated to represent the communities the store will serve, both in language and subject matter. 

“We hope to be a bridge for folks. Folks who live here, but also the organizations and the businesses that live here,” Olayiwola said. “I think Fields Corner already has a really unique business district … we’re just trying to add to the narrative that’s already happening.”