Sugar and Shwa Laytart's counterculture press and bookseller: online catalog, rare and indie books, and the monthly Doomed Poetry nights.
Sugar and Shwa Laytart met through roller derby, married, and moved from Santa Rosa, California, to Las Vegas in 2018. Avantpop began as a way to sell off part of their large book collection online, and it has been a Las Vegas bookseller since 2019. A publishing arm followed in 2021. The name comes from Avant-Pop, a 1990s literary movement that mixed mass-media material with avant-garde technique.
The shop years
In June 2022 the couple opened a storefront in New Orleans Square at the Historic Commercial Center, with shelves sorted into sections like Counterculture, Womxn and Altered Consciousness, plus a back studio for publishing, book restoration and podcast recording. Desert Companion's 2023 Best of the City made it one of three stops on its Best Literary Crawl and called it the best game in town for the eclectic and esoteric. In about two and a half years the store put on more than 200 events, from book signings to poetry nights to independent film. After the square's owner died and other tenants began moving out, Avantpop left Commercial Center at the end of 2024.
Where to find the books now
The website lists no shop address today. The shelves live online in three parts:
- The Avantpop Publishing catalog of subversive and counterculture books and zines
- A hand-picked collection of indie-press titles, local authors and rare books
- An expanded selection through Bookshop.org, which still supports independent stores
There are also gifts for readers, from tees and stickers to tarot and candles. Recent releases include Shwa's illustrated children's book The Gray Areas Podcast with Gibby Grey & Tarda the Mutant Water-Bear, drawn by local artist Bluumangoo; a graphic novel about a teenage Clash fan in Cleveland; and Mike Falconer's Adversarial Poetry for Verbal Combat.
Poetry nights
Doomed Poetry meets monthly at Red Dwarf Bar on Vegas Valley Drive, 8 to 10:30 p.m., free and 21 and over. It alternates between featured-poet nights and a Chaos Roulette open mic. Shwa also hosts a podcast, Avantpop Bookstore Presents, and the press takes booths at book fairs such as the Las Vegas Book Festival.
Contact Avantpop Books & Publishing
Las Vegas, Nevada. Online shop, contact form and event listings.
avantpopbooks.com
Researched September 26, 2026. Source 1; Source 2; Source 3; Source 4; Source 5; Source 6; Source 7; Source 8; Source 9; Source 10. This is an independent directory listing, not a claim that the owner has joined or installed a badge. For a correction or removal, contact Cody. Listings are free and badges are optional.
Is this your business?
Claim a seat free: call (725) 202-7691 or text Cody at (725) 502-3114. Something wrong, or rather not be listed? Email cody@702alliance.com and it's fixed or taken down.