Another popular bookstore with a mission is in Winston-Salem, where Bookmarks hosts a book festival and literacy outreach programs to help bring more books to underserved populations.

Julia Carpenter learned about it when she visited Bookmarks.

[soft whimsical music] - Winston-Salem is the City of Arts, and Bookmarks Bookstore is the center of the literary community.

Uniquely, Bookmarks is a nonprofit, and hosts the largest annual book festival in the Carolinas.

- The book festival is held at the end of September every year.

We bring 50 to 60 authors from all over the country and all over the world.

We have typically about 20,000 people who come to the festival.

Usually about 25 to 30 states are represented.

Kids, adults, all ages, there's something for everybody at the festival.

- [Julia] Bookmarks collaborates with other nonprofits on literacy programs, with authors visiting around 70 schools, and speaking to over 10,000 students.

They donate approximately 20,000 books to local libraries, schools, and children each year.

- Books in the home are such great determinants of success later in life, in education, in the desire to read, and literacy.

We have about 300 volunteers throughout the year who help us with a variety of things, and for the festival specifically, usually around 150 to 200 volunteers.

The festival, the bookstore, all of our programs and outreach we do in the community is under that nonprofit umbrella.

It is unique in the state of North Carolina and one of the only in the country that operates in that way.

- [Julia] 180,000 books pass through this store each year, and reach an ever-growing diverse community.

- There are over 90 book clubs registered through Bookmarks, and these provide an opportunity for you to engage in community.

So whether you've lived here your whole life or you're brand new to the area, you can get plugged into a book club.

It's a really wonderful opportunity to have that sense of togetherness.

I'm a part of the Latina Book Club that was started here by a staff member.

We are all looking for each other, and to find a book club where you see yourself in your peers, and in the books you're reading, is phenomenal.

Part of the mission of Bookmarks, to bring authors to students, to have them engaged, to ask them questions, to get them thinking about the process of being an author, to delivering a book into a child's hands, it is nothing short of magical, and it really can change the outcome of a child and how they see themselves, whether they're a reader, whether they're an aspiring writer.

I think that's a really, really, really critical part of Bookmarks' mission.

- [Julia] Charlie Lovett is a "New York Times" bestselling author and an award-winning playwright, whose children's plays have been seen in over 5,000 productions worldwide.

- It's wonderful to have a local bookstore that will launch your new novel, allow you to connect with your readers.

I get a chance to meet lots of other authors, both at the festival and at other author events, which again adds to this sense of being a part of a community, even though I've chosen this profession that sort of makes me solitary a lot of the time.

- [Julia] Bookmarks is events-driven, and facilitate over 150 outreach programs, and numerous book signing events each year.

- As an author interviewing other authors, I always want to talk about more than just, "What is your book about?"

I like to talk about craft, I like to talk about the ways in which different authors approach the task of writing a book, and I think audiences, whether it's podcast audiences or people watching a live interview, find that fascinating.

I think authors are able to interview other authors in a way that maybe nobody else can.

Winston-Salem has always valued the arts, but for many, many years that meant the performing arts and the visual arts.

And Bookmarks came along and said, "The literary arts are just as important, and we're gonna be that third pillar," and they've successfully done that.

[soft whimsical music] - [Deborah] Bookmarks is at 634 West 4th Street, 110, in Winston-Salem, and they're open daily.

For more information, you can call them at 336-747-1471, or go online to bookmarksnc.org.