Our Story:

The State of Florida has entered a dark era. Hundreds of books have been banned in Florida’s schools and libraries;  Florida’s rightwing government has implemented an authoritarian chokehold on education that prevents schools and colleges from teaching BIPOC history or LGBTQ+ stories. 

We have been galvanized by this to open an independent bookstore in our gorgeous university town of Gainesville, Florida. We want to bring as many authors and ideas to Florida as we can, to promote books, authors, and readers, to celebrate the deep and extraordinary literary legacy of Florida, and to uphold the right of all people to tell their stories and help their stories find the audiences that need them.

A lynx is ferocious, one of Florida’s two native wildcats. The name of The Lynx is also a double entendre: we will be the link, the nexus, bringing together writers and readers, offering books to populations that do not have the access to them that they deserve, and holding disparate parts of our city together in a space dedicated to books and book events. We want to be the place where you will find community with other people who share your interests, whether it be romance, horror, poetry, manga, international fiction, gardening books, and so on: we will be here to help you build and sustain the literary life that you are hungry for. 

The effort to open The Lynx is being spearheaded by the Gainesville writer Lauren Groff, but it is truly a shared effort. We cannot do it without the help of the literary network as a whole, and our incredible Florida network in particular. 

We hope that you will help us to fund and support our community, events-driven store. When we are open in April 2024 (fingers crossed!) we hope that you will come visit us in South Main Station. 

A group of lynxes is a Watch. The Lynx will be your store; please join our Watch today.

Other ways you can help:

If you can’t swing a donation, we absolutely understand! Times are tough. But you can still help: please send this campaign to people who would be interested, and post it on social media. 

And if you would like to collaborate in the future, please keep us in mind. Our mission is to spread the love of literature and ideas as much as we possibly can. 

Thank you. We love you.