Filipina U.S. Navy veteran opens ‘femme’ bookstore in Florida

Vanessa Nicolle, a Filpina American Navy veteran and the owner of Femme Fire Books, opened her brick-and-mortar store in Riverside, Jacksonville, Florida on July 16. SCREENGRAB News4JAX

A Filipina U.S. Navy veteran finally realized her deferred dream of owning a bookstore by opening one in the Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida, where Filipinos make up the largest ethnic minority.

While in the Navy two years ago, Vanessa Nicolle started the online bookstore Femme Fire Books, which gained a modest following on Instagram. But she had to put it on hold when she was deployed for six months.

Now that she’s a civilian again, Nicolle opened her first brick-and-mortar Femme Fire Books, which “celebrates diversity and encourages reading for all.”

“So we try to stock as many books written by women and people of color who have been historically marginalized in the publishing industry,” Nicolle told News4JAX.

Her bookstore is part of a national trend. A recent New York Times report found that 300 new independent bookstores of more ethnically diverse ownership emerged in the traditionally white business sector during the pandemic.

As a Filipino American Nicolle makes sure her heritage has a reflection in the store’s shelves by stocking them with works by her compatriots, like Halo-Halo by author Justine Ramos.

Also on the shelves among the more than 1,000 books, are titles that some right-wing parents have tried to ban from school libraries, like Rainbow, which features a Black transgender character.

She notes that, ironically, such contested books often end up being best-sellers.