Evolution of the Wild Librarian Bakery & Bookstore - Read About My Dream

I’ve always loved sweets. In fact, I’m known for my daily practice of “chocolate before noon.”

When I made the transition from vegetarian to vegan around 2007, I wanted to make sure I had an abundant supply of my cherished sweets around. I started experimenting with vegan baking. There was a period of time when I made a vegan chocolate cake almost every week!

My Home Bakery

Around 2012-2014, and after several years of my baking experiments and receiving good feedback from people, I went through the process of getting a home bakery permit through the county where I live. I called my home bakery the Wild Librarian Bakery. The tagline was “vegan baked goods inspired by great books.” I baked for a restaurant in downtown Santa Ana, California, and also baked for Food Not Bombs, at art and literary festivals here and there, and sometimes for the Catholic Worker in my community. It wasn’t a serious business endeavor, but I had a lot of fun. During this time I created favorites like the Women Who Run with the Wolves Wild Blueberry Muffin.

My experiences with the Wild Librarian Bakery transformed into a dream of owning my own place called the Wild Librarian Bakery and Bookstore. I imagined it as a great community gathering place with awesome baked goods, inspiring books, delicious coffee, and diverse events like poetry readings, live music, and art workshops.

Zine

In 2016, I created the Wild Librarian Bakery and Bookstore Zine (a zine is a self-published booklet or pamphlet). This has been one of my most popular zines where I detail my dream.

Novel

In 2019, realizing having an actual place was beyond my means anytime soon, I thought of bringing my dream into the world another way. In 2021, after several drafts, I completed my novel-in-stories titled Stella Peabody’s Wild Librarian Bakery and Bookstore about the bakery bookstore with an assortment of beloved characters. I’m independently publishing my novel through Wild Librarian Press in November 2021. (I have exciting plans to publish the work of other writers in the future.)

Children’s Book

In 2020, I got the idea to create a children’s picture book about the bakery bookstore. I started creating art and writing a storyline. I signed a contract in late 2020. The picture book is now available from Litwin Books, the publisher of my first picture book Poetry Hounds, which was inspired by my beloved rescue dogs Joni and Walter.

Book Club

In 2020, I also thought I could do more to bring the Wild Librarian Bakery and Bookstore into the world - even if the place is still in my imagination. The Wild Librarian Book Club launched in 2021! After several great meetings, I’ve had to pause the club due to work and school commitments. I plan to start the club up again when things settle down.

What’s next? I suppose anything is possible with imagination. As Clarissa Pinkola Estés says, “The wild woman is fluent in the language of dreams, images, passion, and poetry.”

Thank you for stopping by today!

-Stacy