By Carolina de la Cajiga
It takes a special kind of courage to open a bookstore, especially nowadays, and that's precisely what Kim Malcolm did in July 2023. For Kim, who is passionate about books, how could San Miguel's vibrant hub of local and international writers and the renowned Writers' Conference have no new English best-seller bookstore? She changed this by opening Aurora Books.
This surprising action is not strange to someone who has embraced nonconformity all her life. For starters, Kim wandered the world on her own for seven years, and for eight months, she aided refugees arriving in Greece from war-torn Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. "This experience reminded me of my grandfather, who escaped the 1915 Armenian genocide, probably traversing those same waters of the Aegean Sea. This made me feel connected with my global family," reminisces Kim.
In 2018, on one of her trips to Mexico, Kim and a friend followed a caravan of asylum seekers escaping violence in Central America. They raised money to help feed them. She explained, "Most refugees have lost everything, including family, possessions, and community. However, they remain hopeful they will find a better life one day." Seeing this, Kim appreciates how lucky she is in her comfortable life and humbly states, "I learned to accept everyone's circumstances without judgment."
Kim's introduction to San Miguel happened when she vacationed with her son in 2002. She mentions, "My sister lived here in the 1970s. She kept telling me I needed to spend time here because San Miguel had changed her life and would change me too. And it did. I love being a nomad, but I'm happy walking the same streets and learning how to feel at home in San Miguel. Every time I came, I stayed longer and met more people I cared about–mostly writers and people helping refugees. All with big hearts and lots of energy. In my travels to almost 60 countries, I'd never experienced a place like San Miguel."
On her last trip here, in 2022, Kim stumbled upon a house she instinctively knew was meant for her. "I found my place. San Miguel is my forever home," she says with a big smile. Although Kim still gets restless, her activities keep growing like a spider's web of her own design softly entwining her. In time, she discovered the carving above her entrance's lintel is Jerome, a catholic saint known for his love of reading, writing, and travel. An extraordinary coincidence! Representations of catholic saints are popular and meaningful in her neighborhood, a mix of Mexicans and internationals, where monthly street fiestas unite neighbors under paintings of the Virgen de Guadalupe, the patron of Mexico.
Kim is an avid reader and attends three book clubs, where they mainly read "celebrated fiction," as she calls it. Her preferred writers are Jesmyn Ward and Viet Thanh Nguyen because they tackle complex subjects with spellbinding, lyrical prose. Kim, a published writer, is working on her third book.
In her second book, "Burden of Truth," Kim delves into the history of a black Louisiana family whose oil resources were stolen from their farmland for over 100 years. The matriarch, Robby Carrier Bethel, gives voice to thousands of black families in the US who have lost their land and mineral resources through corruption, theft, and scams. "I've learned from Robby's wisdom and quiet strength while researching this book. Unexpectedly, this project was a way of resolving some of my feelings about the fact my ancestors enslaved people in South Carolina. Of course, nothing can repair the damage they caused, but telling Robby's story will hopefully contribute to an understanding of how the legacy of slavery and discrimination continues to oppress black people and deny them justice and dignity," remorsefully explains Kim.
Aurora Books, like her owner, does not conform. Aurora supports the community's authors, readers, and literary events. Friends volunteer at the bookstore and put a good word. Kim usually has a "wine and guacamole" open house when Fábrica La Aurora's art walk takes place on the first Saturday of each month. Everybody is welcome.
"My master's in public policy from UC Berkeley has served me well and given me practical and philosophical lessons relevant to everything important in my life. I see the world through a lens of what's fair and makes sense from an analytical and humanitarian perspective," says Kim Malcolm.
And she adds, "My journeys taught me valuable lessons that gave me hope. Most people are good and kind. In my travels, strangers often came along to protect me when I was in risky situations. I felt safe everywhere I went."
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