A Hopkinsville native is back on the best-seller lists.
The New York Times reported last week that bell hooks’ 2002 book “Communion: The Female Search for Love” has seen a remarkable resurgence — thanks in part to a grass-roots campaign that encouraged readers to buy hooks’ book before Vice President JD Vance released his own new memoir, also titled “Communion.”
According to the Times, hooks’ “Communion” reached No. 12 on the newspaper’s paperback best-seller list in June. It also hit No. 1 on the Indie best-seller list and No. 1 on Bookshop.org during the week ending June 17. HarperCollins, which publishes both hooks and Vance, told the Times that sales of hooks’ “Communion” are up 1,000% since the end of March compared with the same period last year.
For readers in Hopkinsville, this is more than a national literary story. hooks — born Gloria Jean Watkins — remains one of the city’s most significant native daughters. Hoptown Chronicle has followed her legacy closely over the years, from tributes after her death in 2021 to local gatherings and programs that continue to study and celebrate her work.
And there’s a local connection to this particular book, too: “Communion” was the first selection for the community bell hooks Book Club, which launched in June 2024 at the Pennyroyal Area Museum through a collaboration between the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County and the bell hooks Legacy Group.
At the time, museum executive director Alissa Keller described “Communion” as part of hooks’ love trilogy — a book centered on self-love, relationships and women’s search for connection.
That message appears to be finding new readers now. That feels fitting for a writer whose legacy is still rooted here, even as her influence stretches far beyond Hopkinsville.
I was reminded of that reach a several years ago while walking across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, where hooks once studied. On the walkway to Memorial Union — one of my favorite Madison spots — I came across her name on an outdoor exhibit honoring distinguished alumni.
There she was again: Hopkinsville’s own bell hooks, recognized hundreds of miles from home.
Moments like that are a reminder that her work continues to resonate — through classrooms, book clubs, museums, libraries, bookstores and now, once again, best-seller lists.
You can read more of Hoptown Chronicle’s coverage of bell hooks and her Hopkinsville legacy here.
Julia Hunter is the engagement editor for Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at julia@hoptownchronicle.org.
