Our Member Owners

Avery

Avery is an early childhood educator who sometimes writes. She is currently searching for a book that actually scares her.

Cat Batsios

Cat is a person, place, or thing. Cat is from Flint, has been in Detroit since 2013 working as a poet, teaching-artist, community literary organizer, & curator. Cat loves to talk about poetry or the next cool thing coming up at the store. Cat is also the author of Streetlamp Nautilus (Luchador Press, 2025).

Connie Shelton

Connie Shelton’s lifelong dreams of working on a historic building and owning a bookstore became a reality with Book Suey. Besides books and old buildings, Connie loves music, up north, and hanging out with her grandchild. Ask her about her part in the rehabilitation of our beloved 1923 bank building and learn about all its former lives. Connie enjoys historical fiction, history, and apocalyptic science fiction.

Elijah Sparkman

Elijah Sparkman is a writer based in Detroit. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in ANMLY, Sleepingfish, and X-R-A-Y. He is the Program and Volunteer Coordinator for 826michigan, a youth creative writing organization. He is a member-owner of the co-op bookstore Book Suey in Hamtramck, MI. Website:  https://elijahsparkman.com Instagram: @elijahsparkman20

Emma Laut

As a lover of the alleys, dives, and treasure hunts Hamtramck has to offer, Book Suey is one of my heavens on Earth. Come shoot the breeze with me about your local reads, guidebooks, and favorite things to do in the city.

Eric Roy Anderson

Primarily reading Italian authors of all genres while trying to zero in on the best Italian sci-fi. Current favorites of all genres: Andrea Viscusi, Clelia Farris, Veronica Raimo, Domenico Starnone. You won’t see me in the store this year, currently on a remote assignment in Venice.

Megan Schultz

Megan joined Book Suey early 2024 and is occasionally in-store with her 1-year-old. She published her first book in 2020 under the pseudonym Cassandra Mason. She attended Saginaw Valley State University for her B.A. and Oakland University for her M. A.. At present she is allegedly working on her next book.

Reynaldo Hinojosa

This guy! This guy right here says reading is fun and essential to making sense of this wild wild world. If you wanna talk about it, send him an email. If you don’t, that’s cool too. Either way, this guy right here says thanks for stopping by!

Scott Kraus

This man absolutely loves to sell books. He will sell you any book you want. It’s absurd the lengths he will go to part you with money in exchange for a book.

Sydney S

A lifelong reader and fantasy girly, Sydney is now a teen and youth librarian at her childhood library in addition to being a Book Suey member-owner since late 2019.

When not doing something with books, Sydney can be found snuggling her cats or hopping between fiber arts projects.

Top genres: manga, graphic novels, YA, fantasy, and nonfiction about fiber arts or social issues.