Cafe Noir, a new coffee shop and bookstore highlighting marginalized authors, will open in the Edge District this summer.

The bookstore and coffee shop will open at 635 Madison Ave. in the 1,960-square-foot space within The Ugly Art Co. gallery.

The open area will feature custom book shelving on the walls, a lounge area, tables and chairs and a coffee bar.

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The coffee will be provided through a partnership with the Black-owned local roaster and importer Cxffeeblack. 

The bookstore and coffee shop will host events organized by the Literature is Liberating Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on literary-arts programming.

Native Memphian Jasmine Settles founded Cafe Noir in 2020 and Literature is Liberating Foundation in 2023 to help make literature more accessible and enjoyable outside the classroom. 

Although the two are separate entities, the foundation’s headquarters is Cafe Noir, so they will collaborate to provide programming for literary arts. 

Settles said she hopes this new structure can become a model for others to follow, “offering a blend of literature and coffee.”

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Settles said Cafe Noir blends her passion for literature and community, which has deepened since childhood when her grandmother ignited her love for reading.

Four years ago, Settles began her mission to provide the public with opportunities to buy books that have limited availability at most bookstores, if they’re offered at all. 

“We want to highlight marginalized voices and give them a full platform,” Settles said. 

At the start of 2020, she said she talked to other Black-owned bookstores, authors, publishers and sales representatives to learn what this venture would entail. 

She said she quickly learned the book world was not a typical place for a Black woman.

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“You get sales reps that are not going to send you books that are published by Black authors,” Settles said. “You have to navigate that world and find it and be very intentional.”

Settles said the lack of diversity in the book world fueled her even more to open Cafe Noir.

“I think about the works that inspire me, like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Lucille Clifton, all these writers I adore,” Settles said. “I’ve taken little pieces of their work with me, and I hope to offer something that someone else can take and carry with them.”

Between the COVID-19 pandemic, her pregnancy and being a graduate student in literature with an emphasis on African American literature at the University of Memphis, she decided to pause her vision for Cafe Noir. 

But at the end of 2020, two months after she gave birth, she launched her digital bookstore: Cafe Noir.

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The bookstore started having pop-ups around Memphis to build an audience for the brand, which focuses on highlighting the voices of Black and LGBTQ+ authors as well as other authors of color. 

Settles always planned to open a brick-and-mortar bookstore and coffee shop to create a safe cozy space big enough for everyone, which she felt Memphis lacked. 

“When I was in (graduate school), I wanted to be in a coffee shop, but there would be such limited space,” she said. “I want to sit somewhere that’s cute and comfy. There was nowhere that felt like that.”

Now she sees her venture’s finish line. 

The renovation of the space will cost $128,000, according to an application to the Economic Development Growth Engine, which awarded Settles a $25,000 Inner City Economic Development loan.

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Since Cafe Noir occupies only a portion of the art gallery, Settles pays only for the rental space it uses in the 1936-dated building, which helps cut overhead costs. 

Settles describes the two-story building shared with The Ugly Art Co. as a creative campus because both have access to the whole building, including an event space upstairs with front door access on Marshall Avenue. 

The event space will eventually convert into a restaurant, but Cafe Noir will continue to use it as an event space if they need it.

The architecture and development firm for Cafe Noir’s space is the local Cnct Design, which also is the building owner. 

Cnct reinvests revenue from its design services into “community-focused projects” in the Edge District and Downtown “with the goal of building (a) sustainable connected neighborhood,” said John Halford, a Cnct project manager.

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He said Cafe Noir fits that mission through its “valuable resources,” including the space, coffee, books and educational programming while also “building community.” 

“We believe Cafe Noir will be an excellent fit for the growing Edge District,” Halford said. “We expect Cafe Noir’s mission and programming to catalyze further activity and growth in this part of the Edge.” 

Settles said the Literature is Liberating Foundation is also an important part of Cafe Noir’s success.

Rheannan Watson, foundation program director and coordinator, met Settles almost a decade ago when they worked at a photography studio.

The two became fast friends, sharing a passion for the arts, including literature, music, food, film, theater and Memphis.

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A couple years into Cafe Noir, Settles said she wanted to address the need for literary arts, so she asked Watson to join her in establishing a foundation that promoted literacy. 

“We’re so similar and so different; we balance each other well,” Watson said. “It’s fun to work with Jasmine because she’s so innovative and constantly thinking of a million things at once.” 

They first promoted the foundation in 2023 through the first Literature is Liberating Festival accompanied by Cafe Noir and Crosstown Arts.

“We have goals to create an institution in the city that helps drive literacy rates but also takes literature out of the context of the classroom and creates a fun way of remembering that literature can be a leisurely activity,” Watson said. “It’s essential to our lives.”

The festival was one of the first times the foundation and Cafe Noir were promoted together.

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Now with the brick-and-mortar space, the events should be more frequent.

“We want to have a continued rotation of events,” Settles said. “That’s where Literature is Liberating comes in; they will be hosting the majority of their events there — craft events, author talks, movie screenings and stuff like that.”