Haki Madhabuti received an alarming call in December 2022. He was in Cleveland and one of his employees from Third World Press called to say a pipe burst and flooded the basement.
Madhabuti, who founded the Chicago independent Black publishing house in 1967, returned home the next day to a devastating scene. Books swam in the basement. Staff filled dumpsters up with them — close to $190,000 worth of book inventory washed away. Tears welled up in his eyes.
