We invite you to visit!

AND THEN BOOKS (Opens September 5th)

400 Spring Street, Rossville, GA
Thursday – Saturday, 12 pm – 7 pm

AND THEN BOOKS is an independent bookshop that is part of the 501(c)3 mission of ELLA Library, to nurture the expression and exchange of knowledge and culture through story sharing

When you shop at AND THEN BOOKS, you give books a new life and help inspire future story shares!

Serving Chattanooga

East Lake 
Language & Arts

We’re a community arts organization in East Lake, Chattanooga, TN. We love to see the power of language and art to help people connect. We’re passionate about sharing our art with our neighborhood, and watching what happens when we come together.

What we do

STORYSHARING

Stories have the power to change the world and everyone deserves to be able to share their story. That sharing is more than just telling. Stories build community.

CHATTANOOGA

We live, work, and play in the East Lake neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Together we can create a healthy and thriving community.

OUR LIBRARY

We love reading and hunting for books that are going to inspire, motivate, and empower. We believe that everyone should have access to books that show them new worlds and allow them to see themselves in the stories. Books are our gateway to storysharing.

East Lake Día del Niño

Get ready for an afternoon filled with laughter, creativity, and joy at the Día del Niño celebration hosted by ELLA Library at East Lake Park on Saturday, April 27th, from 12pm to 4pm. Whether you’re a bookworm, an artist, a sports enthusiast, or just love playing around, there’s something for everyone at this community day of play. The park will be buzzing with excitement as families come together to bond over storytelling, hands-on activities, and friendly games. So mark your calendars and get ready to make lasting memories with your loved ones. See you there!

The sound of clean

The Sound of Clean is a celebration of the opportunities for art in the Chattanooga, TN neighborhood of East Lake. Working with Public Art Chattanooga to garner community input to help determine what and where residents want public art in the neighborhood. With the help of residents and a neighborhood-based artist, ELLA Library created an interactive sculpture instrument fabricated out of found objects.

The Sound of Clean was designed to both vocalize themes found in ELLA Library’s public art engagement and to inspire community members through the materials and resources that are found around them. Everyone deserves access to high-quality public art. Where do you see art in your neighborhood?

The heart behind it all

We aim to nurture the expression and exchange of knowledge and culture through storysharing using different modes and mediums of artistic expression to connect the people of East Lake. We believe that storysharing inspires positive social change and helps our community gain understanding of themselves and others.

STORYtelling

What if we asked students about their sense of place? What if we asked them to tell us a story? What if we decided that it would be amazing if we listened and worked with writers and illustrators to bring their ideas to life. Thanks to funding from Arts Build our what if’s became “And Then” a visual literacy artistic expression set in our neighborhood of East Lake.

OUR CITY & HOME

Our city and home, East Lake is a piece of the whole. We love Chattanooga and support storysharing throughout the city of Chattanooga alongside our community partners. Working together makes our city stronger.

READ MORE!

Whether you know where to start or you have read everything you’ve ever come in contact with, we’ll keep you posted on what we are reading and how to turn book reading into storysharing.

“A beautiful, welcoming, exciting learning community!”

 – Lauren Bruce

Donations

ELLA Library is a 501(c)3 public charity and we need people like you to help us keep the lights on and to help us equip others with the tools of storysharing. Be part of our team and consider giving a one time or reoccuring gift.

Let’s TALK
What’s your story?

We’d love to learn more about you and share a little bit more about us.