Small Business Focus: Quotes and Co Gifts

It’s the season of giving and what better time to learn more about the small business Quotes and Co Gifts. The online store focuses on literary-themed gifts and we spoke to founder Giedre Pavalkyte about the motivation behind the shop, their brand new LGBTQ+ literary map, and why representation within the publishing industry is so important.

Hi Giedre – can you tell us more about yourself, your work and your shop Quotes and Co Gifts?

Hi! My name is Giedre Pavalkyte, I’m originally from Lithuania, but I’ve been living in Madrid, Spain, for the past 13 years. Literature has always been one of my biggest passions, and although in Madrid I worked in higher education for many years, I’ve always tried to find time for literature. I’m the founder of one of the biggest English language book clubs in Madrid and co-founder of a literary non-profit Madrid Bookie.

Two years ago, I met my partner Eitan Felner, an Israeli Argentinian entrepreneur and book lover, and joined his literary venture TindLeer – an online store of literary gifts, seasoned with a touch of humor. That was when I have finally decided to take the leap and leave my job in higher education to fully immerse myself in literary projects, a decision which I have never regretted.

Encouraged by the success of TindLeer literary gift store and driven by the desire to share our love of literature further afield, we decided to launch Quotes and Co Gifts, a sister store of TindLeer for book lovers in the USA. In our online store, you’ll find a wide range of unique literary gifts created to pay homage to great writers and works of literature, as well as a special series dedicated to LGBTQ+ writers — a group that has often been underrepresented and marginalized in the literary community.

You’ve recently launched a new poster featuring LGBTQ+ authors across America – can you tell us more about this?

Yes! We are especially proud of this literary map that features American LGBTQ+ authors from the fifty states and Washington D.C. From James Baldwin in New York to Emily Dickinson in Massachusetts, from Alice Walker in Georgia to Truman Capote in Louisiana, from Mary Oliver in Ohio to Chuck Palahniuk in Washington State, our map of LGBTQ+ authors across America celebrates the history of the queer literary scene in the United States. We hope it will encourage people to read their way across America with some of the most famous pioneers in the movement, as well as emerging LGBTQ+ writers.

What was the creative process behind the design?

It took us a couple of months to research the American LGBTQ+ literary scene in each state and select the authors we would feature on the map. The process involved some difficult decisions as there was not enough space to include all the LGBTQ+ authors we love on the map! We also tried to be as inclusive as possible for all groups and genders, as well as cover both classic and contemporary, famous and emerging writers.

When we had the final list of authors that would go on the map, we joined forces with a young and very talented graphic designer Luis Loro – who is also part of the LGBTQ+ community – to create the map.

Why do you think LGBTQ+ authors still have such little visibility?

A lot of LGBTQ+ authors who lived before our time are still not widely known and recognized as part of the LGBTQ+ community, as it was not always socially and/or legally acceptable to be open about their sexual orientation. Also, for many years, the word “writer” was associated almost solely with an image of a white, straight, cisgender male. And even though that image is slowly becoming more diverse, the publishing industry still needs more diversity in its ranks for that change to be fully reflected in who gets to be published and reaches a wider readership.

However, I am hopeful, since the latest studies about the publishing industry in the United States show that close to 50% of publishing interns identify themselves as LGBTQ+ – a diversity that can’t be seen in the overall industry numbers. If these interns are retained and promoted, we could see a very positive change in the publishing industry.

Why was it important to you to bring attention to these incredible LGBTQ+ authors?

LGBTQ+ writers have been historically underrepresented in the literary community and there’s still a lot to be done to give them the visibility they deserve. A lot of our favorite writers are queer, including James Baldwin, Emily Dickinson, Garth Greenwell, Susan Sontag, to name a few. By creating the poster of American LGBTQ+ authors we wanted to pay homage to these great writers and their work.

On a personal level, this project also taught me a lot about the LGBTQ+ authors across America, and I hope that our poster could be instructive for others as well.

What do you see as your role as an ally to help the work and stories of these authors?

Even though our work is not directly related to the publishing industry, as a literary gift store we hope we can contribute to the cause and increase the visibility of LGBTQ+ authors by featuring them on our products. If our map of LGBTQ+ Americans helps someone discover a few authors they were not familiar with and, better still, read their works, we will know it has served its purpose.

What do you hope to do next with Quotes and Co Gifts?

Apart from the LGBTQ+ American Authors map, we have already launched a few more products featuring LGBTQ+ authors, including Emily Dickinson, Federico García Lorca, Virginia Woolf, and Oscar Wilde. We plan to add new names to the LGBTQ+ series, as well as expand it to different types of products – totes, mugs, sweatshirts, hoodies, among others.

We are also working on new literary maps. The series currently includes the literary map of New York and the LGBTQ+ American Authors map, and we hope to soon add literary maps of other cities, as well as other groups of writers that have been underrepresented in the literary community, including women and Black writers.

Where can we find and support your work?

If you are based in the US, you can buy our LGBTQ+ American Authors maps with a special 15% discount, as well as other literary products, on our Etsy store. You can also support us by following our brand new Instagram account and on Facebook. Our own website is in the works.

If you are based elsewhere, you can check out our Spanish store TindLeer, which also offers a series of English language products and ships anywhere in the world.