Kepler’s Books remains hub for literature and activism in the Bay 

Between the bookshelves of Menlo Park’s Kepler’s Books, handwritten writing prompts invite Post-it Note responses from readers. Each sign has over 25 Post-its underneath it, the words all scribbled in the distinct handwriting of the bookstore’s many visitors.

One sign reads, “OUR KEPLER’S MEMORIES: favorite memory at Kepler.” The responses: “My love surprising me and bringing me here.” Another: “Seeing [author] Richard Ford! Thank you Kepler’s. Resist!” 

That word (“Resist!”) is fitting for Kepler’s. Founded in 1955 by activist Roy Kepler, the bookstore has long been known in the Bay as a community hub with a loyal customer base. The store was reimagined 12 years ago under the management of CEO Praveen Madan. Madan guided Kepler’s through a shift to a “hybrid business model, where generally the retail part of the business works as a for-profit organization, but there is an adjacent nonprofit organization that’s doing the mission-oriented work,” Madan said.

It’s a model that around 40 bookstores have adopted across the country. In the coming years, Madan hopes to convert Kepler’s into a full nonprofit.  

The nonprofit side of the bookstore is known as Kepler’s Literary Foundation. The foundation’s work primarily consists of author events, both on and offsite depending on audience size, as well as  workshops and panels. Events highlight both local and world-renowned authors, including Stanford faculty like classics professor Ian Morris and figures such as John Green or Ann Patchett. 

Kepler’s Literary Foundation looks to continue the bookstore’s legacy of activism, which started with the paperback revolution in the 50s. Back then, Kepler’s fought to expand access to books through the production of cheaper paperbacks, alongside City Lights in San Francisco and Cody’s Books in Berkeley.

“Very quickly in the years that followed [Kepler’s opening], a lot of the Stanford people, the beat intellectuals, people like Joan Baez and Grateful Dead, started hanging out at Kepler’s, playing at Kepler’s, having salons at Kepler’s,” Madan said. “It just very rapidly evolved from not just being a retail bookstore, but turning into this place where people were gathering to exchange ideas and have intellectual conversations.”

Now, activism for the bookstore means promoting wide-ranging and active conversations through literature. To Madan, promoting “the freedom to read and carry books that convey a variety of diversity of ideas” is activism in of itself.  

Collectively, Kepler’s events attract around 8,000 attendees per year, according to event manager Heather Birchall. Birchall noted these events help community members forge personal connections. 

“I’m at the top of the [book signing] line every time,” said Birchall. “So, I hear these little conversations [between readers and authors] that are happening. I think that’s where the inspiration comes, that’s when that sort of personal moment comes, and it’s exciting.” 

Kepler’s future mission is to provide all its booksellers a livable wage (approximately $35 per hour in San Mateo). Currently, this isn’t financially feasible for the business, according to Madan. However, shifting to a full nonprofit model would enable Kepler’s to allocate funds from community fundraising to offer higher wages. Doing so would mean emphasizing the complexity and importance of the role. Madan wants the job to be recognized financially as much more than a side hustle. 

“[Booksellers] look at it as a career, which means we have to compensate them fairly,” Madan said. 

The handcrafted decor of Kepler’s, from the twisted streamers hanging over aisles to the staff  recommendations sticking out from shelves, gives the bookstore a homey atmosphere. The existence of these small independent bookstores has been threatened by Amazon and Kindles, not to mention a nationwide decline in reading. Nonetheless, Kepler’s reputation remains strong.  

The bookstore serves a wide range of patrons from the surrounding area and beyond. Young or old, well-read or not, Kepler’s serves all types of customers. 

“I went [to Kepler’s] as an undergraduate in the 90s, and I loved coming back as an author in the 2020s,” Nicholas Thompson ’97, CEO of the Atlantic, wrote to The Daily. In November, Thompson spoke at an author event hosted at Kepler’s to promote his novel “The Running Ground.”

“We’ll all be lucky if [the bookstore] keeps thriving another 30 years,” Thompson said.    

“When [an author] gives a reading on the peninsula, it is Kepler’s. It is the go-to bookstore,” said Adam Johnson, English professor and author of “The Wayfinder.” According to Johnson, who also participated in an author event at Kepler’s in November, authors are drawn to the bookstore because “they want the readership, the very sophisticated readers that a bookstore cultivates over decades.”

As a site of first dates, Christmas card photo-ops, weddings and even memorials for the loss of a loved one, Kepler’s continues to touch patrons’ hearts in irreplaceable and wide-ranging ways. And as it has for decades, the bookstore welcomes it all.  

“[These] everyday interactions where we realize how much [Kepler’s] means to people, how much joy it brings into their life, [they’re] very gratifying,” Madan said.

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