KNOXVILLE, Tenn — A Knoxville woman is opening the first black owned coffee shop in the city. Mis Amores Bookshop Cafe also serves as a romance novel book store, with an emphasis on titles involving marginalized communities.

Anaika Anderson, better known as Anya, was born in the Dominican Republic and Spanish is her first language. She identifies as an Afro-Latina. She said it took her five years to learn English and reading helped her learn the language. Now she wants her bookshop to be a safe space for all.

"It's very exciting and I think it's beautiful because I plan on having like books with different languages and stuff like that so hopefully people can pick up a book in their own language and they can fall in love with reading, too," said Anderson.

The bookshop cafe was born out

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