May Update
New Jersey Bookstore Crawl new website & event lineup, new stickers, new zine, four calls for local artists
Greetings from a very busy spring so far. I loved meeting everyone who came to Jersey Art Book Fair at the beginning of the month. The second New Jersey Bookstore Crawl, which I organize, is set to kick off in a few weeks, from June 5-7, and we have both a brand new website and a slate of events planned for it (details listed later in this email!). I’m also gathering and continuing to post guest blog posts for a series called “Steal My Crawl,” which shares some past and future bookstore crawl itineraries by writers, librarians, artists, and more. Those have been really fun to read, so please check them out!
We also put out a new zine and have a new series of stickers for our sticker machine, all of which you can learn about
Thanks for reading,
Kerri
I shared Bury Me in New Jersey’s submission call a while back, and that issue of Mourning Pages is out now! It features a ton of great writing and artwork, and a lot of Jersey-specific topics, too.
There are two open studio events the weekend of the bookstore crawl that I would attend if I wasn’t going to be at bookstores:
Jono Pandolfi is having an open studio sale on 6/5 and 6/6. I went to the one in May and got one of their beautiful serving platters, and they were having sandwich and bakery businesses doing a pop-up, so I also got lunch. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, they produce handmade dinnerware for restaurants (and for the TV show The Bear) at their studio in Union City.
Conveyor Studio, a book publisher and production studio, is hosting an open studio on 6/6 at their facility in Clifton. They’re showing how some of their bookmaking equipment works, offering a print demonstration, and will have live music and books for sale.
I enjoyed reading this conversation with Petia Morozov, whose organization Dense also organizes the Jersey Art Book Fair.
As a daily Jeopardy! watcher, I obviously was cheering on New Jersey’s Jamie Ding during his run, and I’m looking forward to watching his return when they do the tournament of champions!
I can barely keep up with all of the amazing things the 60 writers and artists who contributed to New Jersey Fan Club are doing, but I loved Kat Schneider’s debut graphic novel, Someday Perfect, available now!
If you read Blood & Ink, you’re already familiar with the 1922 double murder of a New Brunswick minister and his mistress, a member of his church’s choir. This new play that opens in two weeks, is using that source material for the basis of a musical comedy, and centers the perspectives of members of the choir, promising “humor, heart, and homicide.”
There’s a new book coming out next week called New Jersey Hot Dogs: A Frank History, which obviously caught my eye. I can’t wait to read up on the intricacies of our state’s regional hot dogs and the places that serve them.
Zine
You may remember an intro I wrote for an issue of this newsletter a few months ago about the Asbury Park Casino. When I was writing it, I realized after a few paragraphs that I had a lot to say on the subject, and that maybe it was going to be something more than a little intro for the newsletter.
I’ve put together a zine called I Wish You Could’ve Seen It: A Personal History of a Disappearing Jersey Shore, and it’s available in our webstore now.
It’s 12 pages of words, photographs, and scanned ephemera about watching a place that shaped you turn into one you barely recognize. About how people need access to novelty and history and uniqueness in order to learn to be artists. About ghosts. It’s part one of what will end up being a series of three booklets, a triptych of sorts.
Also in zine news, I am thrilled to have an essay in issue #8 of Beach Badge, an anthology zine about the Jersey Shore. I have been meaning to send them some work for at least eight issues now, and finally got my act together and finished an essay about a John F. Kensett painting called View of the Shrewsbury River and how seeing it in an art museum was one of the first times I saw a work of art that was a positive depiction of my home state. I had fun writing it and I’m so glad they published it alongside the rest of the great pieces in the issue. You can pick up a copy on their website or from Asbury Book Cooperative.
Sticker Club’s new series!
Like last year, our sticker machine had a pop-up at Watchung Booksellers on Independent Bookstore Day, and in the machine we debuted a series of brand new stickers! Thank you to everyone who came by to grab one! If you want one, there will be an opportunity to visit the machine during the bookstore crawl (see the events listed below)!
Upcoming events
New Jersey Bookstore Crawl
Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7, 2026
70 participating bookstores across the state. See the map and get your crawl guides.
We’re also hosting a few official crawl events that weekend. Hope to see you there!
Coffee, Crawl Guides, and Coloring
Friday, June 5 from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Cafe Willy: 5 Sylvan St, Rutherford, NJ
Ease into the chaos of a busy crawl weekend and come find us at Cafe Willy. RAD Co. has created a bookstore crawl-themed coloring sheet just for us, and we’ll have plenty of art supplies. Cafe Willy serves Cozz Coffee and has many specials!
Jersey Collective Sticker Club Pop-up at House Finch
6/5 through 6/7 whenever the shop is open (Fri 11-6 , Sat 10–6 , Sun 11–4)
House Finch: 740 Haddon Ave, Collingswood, NJ
Get your quarters ready! Stop by House Finch and visit our sticker machine. Get our exclusive book-themed designs by local artists (read about them and their work here).
New Jersey Bookstore Crawl Afterparty
Sunday, June 7 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM
3BR Distillery: 7 Main St, Keyport, NJ
Close out the weekend at our casual afterparty at 3BR Distillery! Mingle with other crawlers, show off your purchases, and celebrate with us. 3BR allows outside food to be brought in, and they have a mocktail menu in addition to the unusual spirits, liqueurs, and craft cocktails they are known for! Come any time during the event window, but keep in mind they close at 8.
I’m vending at Princeton Zine Fest!
Saturday, June 20, 2026 from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Princeton Public Library: 65 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08542
Let’s hear from an interesting New Jerseyan! Interview has been lightly edited for space.
For this month’s Q&A, I talked to Leann Bey, Executive Director of Asbury Park Beach Badge Fund, an organization that provides season beach badges for free to residents who cannot afford to buy them for their families. They help ensure all families living in Asbury Park, including those who live below the poverty level, have access the wonderful amenity that draws so many people to their town every summer. Read on to learn why this initiative is so needed and how you can get involved.
Obviously the prices of a lot of things are really high right now, but I keep seeing posts comparing this season’s beach badge prices to previous years, or showing how much they’ve increased for different towns from last year. To me, it’s such a system failure that a city with condos that sell for millions of dollars has such a sizable population of residents who can’t afford a season pass to the very thing that many would argue makes the city a desirable place. How and why did the AP Beach Badge Fund start?
The Asbury Park Beach Badge Fund was established in 2018 by Lisa Cramp. Lisa was working at Wonder Bar one summer when she noticed the families waiting for badge checkers to leave for the day so they could access the beach, but unfortunately when the badge checkers leave, so do the lifeguards. That particular year there had been many off-hours drownings.
Lisa wanted to find a way to help families access the beach at a time when it would be safer for them, so she started a GoFundMe and it gained a lot of traction very quickly!
I took it over from Lisa in 2021 after she moved to New Mexico. Since then, it has grown exponentially thanks to social media campaigns and our annual fundraising event! We still use GoFundMe to collect donations but we also operate via a handful of local nonprofits, our primary partner being Trinity Church, who very graciously accepts large donations on our behalf and helps us distribute badges via their community outreach program.
Were you able to find businesses and politicians who supported the fund from the beginning, or did more of that support come later?
It took a few years of establishing ourselves as a recurring resource in the community before we were able to create partnerships with official government agencies, like the Asbury Park Recreation and the Asbury Park Library. This is our biggest year yet—we’ve received support from Senator Vin Gopal, Garden State Equality, and Assemblywoman Donlon.
What are some of the memorable impacts that recipients of beach badges have shared with you?
Past recipients have been incredibly grateful! Families have shared that it's given them a place to go that's been made affordable. Teens who have received badges through our program have expressed interest in learning to surf and even becoming lifeguards!
Are you aware of any other initiates like this for other shore towns?
I’m not aware of other initiatives like this in other towns but it is my ultimate goal to have a network of beach badge funds for every beachside town in New Jersey!
What is the process for someone to get a badge from the initiative? And how can someone lend support?
We distribute our badges mostly through Trinity’s community outreach program. Any families receiving assistance through the church are offered badges, and anyone interested in receiving a badge can contact Trinity. We also give badges to all families with children enrolled in KYDS summer camp programs, including their teen counselors. As of last year, we created a partnership with Asbury Park Recreation, and any families enrolled in town recreation programs can submit a request for a badge. Lastly, we have partnered with the Asbury Park Library and created a program where anyone with a valid library card can check out a badge the way they would a book!
Links to donate via GoFundMe or offer business support can be found here.
New Jersey Transit seeks artists for a mural project, as well as photographers for an exhibit. Deadline: 6/4.
Friends of Metuchen Arts seeks work for a juried group show titled “Summer Vibes.” Deadline: 6/7.
Essex County Parks seeks submissions for a photography contest that highlights the county’s parks. Deadline: 9/9.
Can't wait for the crawl!
I’m so looking forward to the bookstore crawl this year! 🤩