Bonus: Books We’re Excited About Right Now As we prepare for our inaugural Winter Books Salon , it feels like the right moment to add our own voices to the Community Bookshelf - a growing list of books recommended by our readers, special guests, partners, and collaborators. This shelf reflects not just what we sell, but how we think, read, and try to understand the world. I’m Julia, proprietor of Staunton Books & Tea, and this is a glimpse into how our shelves came to look t

(This blog post was written by the co-host of this month's international book club, Ali Hosseini). Shahrnush Parsipour is an Iranian writer now living in the US.  When Women Without Men   was written in 1977, no publisher was willing to publish it. After her novel, Touba and the Mining of the Night , was well received,  Women Without Men  was published in 1989. Before pressure groups and security agents could ban it, the book sold out and became unavailable. Shortly afterward

Across the country, theater organizations are navigating a difficult moment. Arts funding is shrinking. Production costs are rising. Audience habits are shifting. Many companies are still recovering from the pandemic's long tail while being asked to do more with less. These conversations often stay at a national level. What’s harder to see is how those trends show up in real places, in rehearsal rooms, classrooms, and small towns like Staunton. And yet, Staunton offers a powe

*This blog post was co-authored by Aubrey Whitlock and Dr. Peter Kirwan The American Shakespeare Center is thrilled to curate a Community Shelf with Staunton Books & Tea - a reading list designed to deepen the conversation around the plays on the Blackfriars stage and to invite audiences into the rich, ongoing life of classic literature. As we bring together works from across centuries and genres throughout our 2026 season, we’re reminded that what keeps “the classics” aliv