Abby Dan (she/her) has been a lot of places, seen a lot of faces. A co-owner of Booked and a southern gal at heart, she fell in love with Evanston as a Northwestern undergrad back at the turn of the century and was delighted to schlep her family to live here in 2018 after stints in New York and London (you can be impressed, it's fine). Abby believes in fresh air, queer joy, and curated shelf tchotchkes. She toys with endurance sports and has been known to jog whilst listening to audiobooks and/or show tunes, thanks to her absolutely not secret life as a theater nerd. She loves families, overalls, and Central time.
Alicia is the only person who wrote her bio in the first person, so: Howdy!! My name is Alicia (she/her). I am the intrepid leader of the Sunday Smut adult romance book club and a staunch believer in picture books as coffee table books. My time not working at Booked is spent at my other book related job, which I often work remotely from Le Cafe Booked with a Booked branded mug of Brothers K coffee or hot chocolate if I’m cutting down on caffeine (doesn’t happen often, but always necessary). Big supporter of whimsy and silly goosery, hot mom allyship, and critical thinking. Famously known for comparing buying books at an indie bookstore to collecting wine via a sommelier. Infamously known for defending genre fiction*, particularly romance, as being critical literature, and defending audiobooks as being a completely valid way to read. Go get that knowledge! Sandwich your emotional and intellectual realizations between dragons and kissing! Live, I beg!!
Betsy Haberl (she/her) is co-owner of Booked. In a former life, she wrote Sad Fiction for Grown-Ups and is very grateful that her job now includes reading middle grade fiction that makes her feel feelings, dystopian YA, and weird-ish adult fiction. Betsy takes her role as Booked's events coordinator extremely seriously, ensuring that whimsy and silliness levels remain elevated at all times. She also loves building school and community partnerships and welcoming anyone and everything to come chat with her about books at the store! She loves using exclamation points when talking about books! But perhaps most importantly, Betsy is the store's resident Bubble Fairy, often boasting that Booked's bubble machine produces 2000 bpm (bubbles per minute).
Scarlett (she/they) is the store manager, bookseller, and proud parent of Cooked at Booked, the store’s beloved cookbook club. When she’s not valiantly preventing the bookstore from being incinerated by unruly book dragons (a full time job, honestly), she’s summoning new pinterest boards with the power of mild inconvenience and attempting to organize chaos with lists that multiply when no one is looking. Scarlett has strong opinions about tacos and can usually be found lounging with her extremely sleepy, suspiciously dragon-esque dog, Nugget, and because she has delusionally convinced herself that the books miss her when she’s gone, she makes sure to tell them “goodnight” before locking up the store.
A bookworm from birth, Theresa (she/her) grew up wishing Amelia Bedelia could be her babysitter and Matilda her BFF. She loves to read together with her family. When her nose is not in a book, she also enjoys playing board games, riding bikes, listening to music and making art. Theresa's go-to karaoke song (which she doesn't get to use enough) is Love Shack by The B52s, and she is always down for a dance party. Theresa is in a gang of two with Abby, because they both own the silliest car in Evanston. IYKYK.