Africa Schaumann

​Africa Schaumann is the manager of the Dawn Treader Book Shop; she took the helm shortly after the unexpected passing of the previous manager, Corby Gillmore in 2018. She is originally from Ypsilanti, and came home into a position at the Dawn Treader after attending college in North Carolina where she studied History, specifically, race relations in the United States between 1890-1965. Africa has worked in libraries, bookstores, and has training in archival book bindery, preservation, and conservation.

In her role as manager, she strives to create an environment that is both welcoming and safe to the diverse array of patrons – students and townies alike – who frequent the book store, which has become a local institution in the 40+ years of its presence in Ann Arbor. Her favorite part about being a bookseller is the exchange of knowledge that goes along with selling books in a college town. She learns as much from patrons as they learn from the books they purchase.
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You can often find her reading about history (really, anything historical, but The Golden Age of Piracy, The Jazz Age, as well as the Civil Rights and Reconstruction Eras, especially), Cookbooks, Theology, and the odd science-fiction novel. Her primary hobby is reading and selling books, so it’s safe to say that she has found the rare and elusive dream career in managing a used bookstore. During non-pandemic times, you could find her spending an evening at an A2SO or UMS event, watching black-and-white films at the Michigan and State Theaters, or walking one of the many museums around campus.

The best way to support the Dawn Treader during the pandemic is to browse and purchase in store (given that you have no symptoms of COVID-19), donate to their ongoing GoFundMe, and/or purchase a gift certificate at shop.dawntreaderbooks.com. Browsing hours are currently Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm.