In the golden age of Amazon.com and with a megalith of a bookstore on campus, most of us students don’t venture out to book-and-mortar shops these days. Last weekend, however, I did just that—and boy, am I glad I did.

St. Louis has been the home city to a number of literature’s greatest talents, including Maya Angelou, Tennessee Williams and Nelly (lyricists totally count). But even with such famed writers from the area, most students don’t know about the literary scene of St. Louis.