The Story Behind Books Are Magic’s Melt the Guns Tote Bag
On an Instagram break from the reliably bleak news, I spied a post from novelist Emma Straub. The unfussy snap depicted a stack of tote bags printed with a striking image: a pink flower with a red center, encircled by the slogan Melt the Guns.
The totes are being offered for sale at Straub’s Brooklyn bookstore, Books Are Magic (they’re also available online). That print? The work of illustrator and author Carson Ellis, known for her best-selling children’s books as well as her art for indie-rock band The Decemberists.
It’s no longer a surprise to see activist messages in everyday spaces—whether that be social media feeds or IRL venues. But what was behind this particular collaboration?
“Carson Ellis is an absolute genius,” Straub tells me over the phone. “I’m obsessed with her because she wrote the best children’s book of—I’m just going to be generous and say the last century—called Du Iz Tak, which is written in a made-up language.” Already an Ellis fan, Straub herself paused on the artist’s Instagram feed when she saw the original Melt the Guns image. “It happens so often now, that we need to say things like that, that she has posted it more than once,” Straub says. “The last time she posted it was the week of the shootings in Dayton and Texas.”
Fans commented on the post, asking whether they could buy prints of the image, but Ellis didn’t have any intention of producing it for sale. “This slogan, Melt the Guns, comes from the XTC song of the same name,” writes Ellis via email. “Gun violence in America—the scope and frequency of it—is horrifying and inscrutable.” Ellis made a wearable pin featuring the design in the wake of the Parkland shooting, but was loathe to monetize the print. “For one, it’s not my slogan,” she says. “For another, I don’t feel comfortable profiting from political slogans anyway.”
But Straub had an idea—she reached out and suggested that Books Are Magic take on the task, and pass the funds on to the gun control organization Everytown for Gun Safety. Ellis says she was “only too happy to turn over the design.” “It’s nice to just feel like you’re doing something. That’s how I feel most of the time right now—I wish there was something I could do,” Straub says. “I feel like the best thing that we can do here at the store is raise money for people who really know how to spend it best.” That strategy seems to be working; in just two weeks, Books Are Magic has sold over 500 totes.
It’s not the first time Books Are Magic has raised funds to support deserving causes. The store has a poetry gumball machine, the proceeds from which go to a different organization each month. Last year, the store stocked a T-shirt that benefited the Ali Forney Center, which serves homeless LGBTQ youth.
Bookstores are natural destinations for literature lovers, but Straub also thinks there’s an obvious connection to broader social justice issues: “I think that readers are people who are curious about other humans. And I think that if you’re curious about other humans—people from other places, people who are different from you—then you’re more likely to have empathy and to care. I think bookstores are full of activists, whether they would call themselves activists or whether they would just call themselves engaged citizens with heart.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
