Rachel Pastiva
FounderTori Booker
SecretaryTori Booker has master’s degrees in social work and in public health. She has spent her entire career thus far working with Latina/o, migrant and immigrant communities in the nonprofit field. An original member of Aunt Agatha’s Book Club, Tori was introduced to the AABS by Aunt Agatha’s co-owner Robin Agnew and is excited to serve on the Board and share her experience with nonprofit management. A lifelong avid reader, she enjoys reading historical and contemporary fiction and non-fiction (World War II and civil rights are of particular interest), mysteries, and an occasional magazine. The daughter of a Chilean mother, she usually seeks out books by international or multicultural authors.
Karen Alvarez
Karen Alvarez has a bachelor’s degree in art history and a master’s degree in medieval studies. She is a self-described history geek whose favorite activity is visiting museums and historic buildings. She began her career as a museum assistant and eventually became a grant writer for nonprofit organizations. She loves traveling and often seeks out independent bookstores wherever she goes. Her reading interests run the gamut, but her favorite subjects are history, literature, and historical fiction.
Gabriella Jones-Monserrate
Gabriella (she/her) holds a B.A of English and is soon to graduate with an M.L.A of Creative Writing & Literature. She has moved recently to Ann Arbor after a dedicated six years working in a social justice-centered contemporary art space. She began her career in arts administration at the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art at Harvard University, where she was the program director. She established the Cooper Gallery LIT, a museum-centered literary initiative for which she curated a dedicated reading list of recommended books per exhibition to supplement the museum visitor experience. In 2018, she became a freelance editor, and has been copyediting and proofreading academic manuscripts, nonfiction books, SEO articles and literary novels. She is a member of the Editorial Freelancer’s Association and spends her free time writing and editing short stories with her graduate writing group. As a Puerto Rican woman with an active imagination, she likes to read socially-conscious speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy and horror. She is excited to further integrate herself into the Ann Arbor creative and literary community.
Betsy Bloom
Website ProgrammerBetsy is a website programmer and did our recent website redesign. She fell in love in Ann Arbor when she was an English Lit. major in the 80’s. After 30+ years living other places, she has returned to Ann Arbor and is excited to be part of the literary and bookstore culture! She enjoys reading historical fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, and books that take you to a different place and time.