We now know that over the weekend, a crowd of about 500,000 people packed the streets of Washington for what was one of the biggest worldwide political protests in US history.

But women, men, and children also packed DC bookstores throughout the weekend, Publishers Weekly reports.

The night before the inauguration, Busboys and Poets hosted a Peace Ball at the National Museum for African American History and Culture; meanwhile, about 200 people filled the Busboys and Poets at 5th & K Street for “the poetry of rising and resistance.” Politics & Prose also held events throughout the weekend, including a reading and teach-in on the subject of women’s rights under the Trump administration.

And finally, East City Bookshop, which opened in April, hosted a sign-making party on the day of Trump’s inauguration, later inviting customers for an evening of women’s poetry following the Women’s March.

“It was just something people needed,” said East City Bookshop bookseller Laurie Gillman.

Related reading: Poet Randa Jarrar turns Trump’s inauguration speech into a poem.

Photo Credit: Claire Kirch.