Lauren Groff’s Indie Bookstore the Lynx Is an Answer to Florida’s Book Bans

Rafa Fernandez Torres

Perhaps the phrase “safe space,” like “woke,” has lost some of its resonance since being co-opted and tossed around by right-wing politicos. Regardless of how fraught the language we use to describe it has become, a battle rages on over where marginalized folks can expect to exist in peace. The Sunshine State, in particular, has been a hotbed of regressive, controversial legislation in the so-called culture wars of late, stoked in no small part by Florida man Ron DeSantis.

The governor withdrew his 2024 presidential bid in January after a lackluster run-up to the primaries, though he kept plenty busy during that time with a censorship crusade over books in Florida’s schools. Largely targeted are works across the impossibly broad realms of race, gender, and sexuality and those by queer and BIPOC authors. The wave of bans affecting classrooms and school libraries (and, increasingly, public libraries) over the past three years is national. But the Florida surge has eclipsed all other states. The Florida Department of Education itself has a hundreds-strong 2022-2023 list of books “removed or discontinued by one of Florida’s school boards” — just, don’t call them “bans,” ok?

In response, Lauren Groff, the three-time National Book Award finalist, seeks to craft a genuine safe space. The acclaimed author and her husband will center banned books and host community events at their new Gainesville independent bookstore, The Lynx, which opens its doors on April 28. Groff, whose New York Times bestseller Fates and Furies was placed on Walton County, Florida’s ban list, has lived in the state since 2006. In that time, she’s seen Florida’s politics relegated to the butt of the joke among fellow progressives. “Florida man” quips aside, she doesn’t see what’s so funny.

“I have now claimed Florida as my home state,” Groff says. “And I'm angry about the way people from my original home state and original places — New York, New England — cast aspersions on Florida as if there aren't people here doing incredibly important work, as if there aren't vulnerable people here to protect. So I wanted to build a lighthouse.” Teen Vogue talks to Groff about The Lynx’s mission statement, the vibe of the store, and the anticipated backlash against it.

Teen Vogue: What was the tipping point that pushed you to launch The Lynx?

Lauren Groff: When we moved to Gainesville, there were a bunch of independent bookstores, and they all sort of faded away. I thought we could do a different model, an events-driven model. I'd been dreaming about it for a long time until I got so fed up with the book bans that are happening here and the fact that people I care about very deeply don't feel safe in my state, because the state is institutionalizing bigotry and hatred. I want to react against this dissemination of hate and overpower it with sheer love, which I know sounds really utopian, but I'm a writer of novels. There's nothing more utopian than that.

What we're doing is an act of love. I am not reacting against Republicans, I'm pushing back with an open heart and saying everyone is welcome in my store, and we are going to celebrate voices that are important and diverse.

TV: Given you’ve named one of your books Florida, it feels safe to assume the state has become a big part of you, in spite of its political landscape.

LG: It’s deeply a part of me. I resisted it for the first 10 years. I realized — through literature, which is basically my entrée into anything — to love the state through Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Zora Neale Hurston, who wrote the most amazing books about Florida. In some ways, Florida is a way of saying “I love you back” to this place that has, in some very hot and humid ways, loved me very deeply. I have wanted to move away many times in my life here, but I also can't; my husband's business is here, so I'm here forever. I could either be miserable in my gilded cage or I could make it what I want it to be, and I have the privilege to do so.

TV: What will the atmosphere in The Lynx be like?

LG: It’s very punk elegant. We have some antiques, so it's not all new. It's going to be mostly green, with that “old library” feel, but we also have these wacky elements. I just bought this chandelier for the children's section that has monkeys holding lights climbing all over it. We hired a local iron worker named Leslie Tharp to do a metal sign of a lynx with glowing eyes on the wall. There will be a cafe with local coffee and pastries. The best part is this outdoor patio with a gorgeous garden area where we can hold events and have people sit around reading their poetry and drinking their coffee.

TV: What kinds of books will be on the shelves?

LG: We just spent months putting together our first book order, which was 7,000 books, so it's a lot! I went through every single one of them. We will have a whole banned book section when you first come in. It's everything that Florida has decided is not kosher, so there will be a lot of Toni Morrison. There will be a lot of queer authors.

We're also really celebrating Florida writers, because in the past being a Florida writer has been a liability, but there's a really long and beautiful history here. We are pushing LGBTQI books, but we'll also have everything: Shakespeare, Robert Caro. We'll have something for everyone.

TV: How did you land on the name?

LG: I wanted it to be Woolf and Wilde, as in Virginia and Oscar. It'd be good, right? But nobody wanted it with me. One night, my husband — who’s my co-owner — and I were in the car and we were sort of back and forth-ing when we saw what we thought was an enormous house cat running across the road. It didn't have a tail, it had a beard and weird tufty ears. We realized it was a lynx, one of the two native wild cats in Florida. I love puns, and I thought, Oh my god, links: we are the link between disparate communities, the central nexus for literary events and for culture in Florida. We will try to be one of these many spaces in Florida for people to come together.

TV: How are you funding the store?

LG: It's all funded from my books so far, until the Indiegogo money comes in. So I'm very, very grateful to every single person who bought my books.

TV: Recently, DeSantis appeared to sort of walk back the ferocity of this book ban narrative, admitting there have been “bad actors” challenging certain books. What does that indicate to you as somebody who is working on this effort?

LG: It’s very clear. [The majority] of parents do not want book bans, right? Nobody wants someone else telling them what their children are allowed to read. It's just absurd. Nobody wants teachers to have felonies for having books in their classrooms. The book bans in Florida have really been generated by only a handful of people who have way too much time on their hands and think they know better than everyone else.

TV: With Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups supporting the policing of kids’ access to books, do you anticipate backlash in response to The Lynx’s mission?

LG: There will definitely be actions taken against us. Part of the reason I want to do this is because I can take the censuring and people being angry at me, because people have been angry at me publicly for a very long time just for being an opinionated woman in the world. I've gotten death threats after being on Charlie Rose. This is not a big deal to me.

If Florida goes to such extremes that it will arrest or censure business owners for selling these books, then I am happy to be the face of that, because I have a very loud voice. There are many people fighting against that and I want to be among them. I'm full of optimism. I've gotten an email every single day about what this will mean to transgender people in particular. It makes me want to cry, because I want to make a home for people who don't feel like they have a home here. I want the writers who are avoiding or boycotting Florida to have a place to come to, if they choose to come back to Florida. I will completely support them. And I will be selling the hell out of their books.

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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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