The Mother of All Bookstores: How Twila Dang Is Nurturing a New Chapter in Bloomington

When Twila Dang talks about her new venture, BookMother, she sounds like someone on a mission. “I think I was like every middle-aged lady—I wanted to own a bookstore one day,” she said. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, ‘You know, I should probably learn about this.’”

As the founder of Matriarch Digital Media, a women-centered media company, Twila has built a platform rooted in connection and community. Now, fresh off winning the 2025 Hatch Bloomington award, she’s channeling that same energy into a brick-and-mortar space: the first independent bookstore in Bloomington in three decades.

From Idea to Award-Winning Vision

When Twila entered the Hatch competition, she wasn’t expecting to win. “Honestly, I thought it would just be a great stress test for the business,” she said. “I figured, if nothing else, we’d get some really good feedback.”

But round after round, BookMother kept advancing. “When we got to the top three, I thought, ‘Oh, they haven’t kicked us out yet. We’d better make sure we know exactly what this is.’”

That clarity, grounded in Twila’s sense of purpose, won the judges over and won her $100,000. That award money will help secure and renovate a Bloomington storefront.

Twila (second to left) accepts her $100,000 Hatch Bloomington Award on September 10.

Building in Her Own Community

Twila and her husband moved to Bloomington 22 years ago, one week after their first son was born. It’s where she raised her children and built her first business. “This has effectively been our kids’ hometown,” she says. “We’ve had good neighbors, good schools, good community. I always said that if I build something else, it’ll be here.”

Bloomington doesn’t currently have an independent bookstore. “There hasn’t been one for 30 years,” she said. “There was a used bookstore that everyone loved, but it closed a few years before we moved here. That felt like a sign.”

Instead, locals drive to neighboring Minneapolis or Edina for literary events or cozy reading nooks. “For as long as I’ve lived here, whenever I meet friends, I leave Bloomington,” Twila said. “I want to change that. I want to build a place that makes people want to stay.”

“A Space for the Aunties and the Uncommon Readers”

If Matriarch celebrates women’s voices, BookMother will give those same women a physical space to gather.

“The aunties deserve to be centered,” Twila said. “We all know those women—the ones who drive culture, who always know what’s good, who make everyone feel comfortable. If you create a space that’s safe and welcoming for them, everyone else will follow.”

That atmosphere is both practical and powerful. “Women control 80 percent of household spending,” she said. “We are the economic drivers. We make the decisions. So yes—everyone’s welcome. But we’re centering women, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Beyond the Prize

While the Hatch award jumpstarts the project, Twila knows that $100,000 doesn’t cover everything. “It gets us the space,” she said, “but it doesn’t fill the shelves or furnish it or pay for staff.”

To close that gap, she launched the Founding Reader Membership, a community campaign designed to raise an additional $60,000 to $80,000. “Since we won, people have been asking, ‘How can we help?’” she said. “So we built a way for them to walk alongside us.”

For a $125 membership, Founding Readers receive early access, exclusive merchandise, and a lifetime discount of one dollar on every purchase.

“My accountant said, ‘That’s a lot,’” Twila recalled. “And I told him, ‘Sir, it’s $125. If they come in often enough to make that back, I’ll be thrilled. That means we’ve built the kind of place people love coming back to.’”

Why BookMother

Despite the name’s obvious nod to Twila's media company, Matriarch, she says BookMother came from something deeper.

“For me, ‘mother’ is a verb,” she explained. “I mother my kids, my businesses, my community. It’s how I move through the world. I wanted people to walk into this space and feel what I try to do every day—safe, seen, welcomed, never silly for asking a question.”

BookMother, she said, “isn’t just about books—it’s about curiosity, culture and care.”