Richie Fulco, poet, playwright and novelist, is a 56-year-old West Orange, New Jersey dad of twins whose lifelong dream was to own a bookstore that would morph into the hub of a literary community. His dream has come true with Big Red Books, a store positioned in a picturesque Hudson River town as an antidote to big-box bookstores, like the ailing Barnes & Noble chain and the online giant, Amazon.
Richie’s dream took shape in January, 2023. “I was walking down the street and saw the spot,” said Fulco. “It called out to me. I don’t mean to sound too new age-y, it just spoke to me.” His partner, artist Nan Ring, urged him to take the plunge.
Nestled in the village of Nyack, Big Red Books is anchored by a welcoming big red couch, and is a community center for bookworms and authors alike, managed by an owner who knows what it is like to be an author, not just an entrepreneur.
Recently, book blogger Julianne Buonocore of The Literary Lifestyle told the New York Times that future physical bookstores will rely ever more on “programming” to draw customers in. “In my experience, this works especially well with all kinds of children’s events, like storytime and themed parties, as well as popular author events for adults.”
Fulco is on board with the strategy: he has scheduled readings, has collaborated with libraries and schools, sponsored writing workshops, author conversations and author book signings each week, making Big Books into an experiential shop.
This month, Fulco and Big Red are kicking off what may become a long-term relationship with the Italian American Writers Association (IAWA), which has been conducting a monthly literary reading series for 33 years – in New York and almost 10 years in Boston. Nyack is a new direction for IAWA too.
Board member and co-curator, Kathy Curto followed up on a stray tweet and a catchy logo about a new bookstore, owned by an Italian American named Richie Fulco. We lost no time in visiting.
She and I sat on Big Red sharing biscotti and a love of books with Fulco until we ultimately agreed on a date – Thursday, Nov. 21 to feature poet Andrea Talarico (the bookshop owner of Stanza in Beacon, NY), novelist Marisa Labozzetta and Richie Fulco himself, the author of two novels. He has never read his own work at the bookshop, so this too, will be a first.
More firsts are on the horizon for Fulco: he was invited to be on the Poet Laureate committee to help select the first Poet Laureate of Rockland County; once the poet is chosen, Fulco will serve as an advisor for future competitions.
Upcoming events include a workshop with the Nyack Public Library during National Novel Writing Month, an Indie author day, a Meet & Greet with newsroom veterans John Barry & Rick Massimo, Will Hermes in Conversation with Eric McCarthy.
Because of his own career in education, Fulco’s outreach goes beyond the Hudson River literary community to offering teachers 10% discounts year-round, he will host field trips and Big Red Books will donate a portion of in-store and online purchases to classes, libraries or projects.
Anchored by that big red couch smack in the middle of the shop, this is indeed a sanctuary where you can go to a lot of places without walking very far, so well stocked are the shelves, stacked with every genre of book for every age reader.
INFO:
Big Red Books: 120 Main Street, Village of Nyack, NY 10960; 845-875-7707
Hours: 11am-6pm, Wed.–Sat.; 11am-4pm, Sun. and 11am-5:30pm Mon. & Tues.
Visit https://bigredbooks.net and on insta, Facebook, and x.
