About Us

Our Store

Village Lights opened in 2008 as a brick-and-mortar shop in Madison, Indiana. For fifteen years, as a full-service general bookstore, we offered a carefully curated selection of used and new books, out-of-print book searches, bookbinding & repair, poetry readings, author events, live music events, a spacious reading room, loads of comfy chairs, and a never-ending cortege of bookstore cats.

In 2024, Village Lights transitioned to a rare, antiquarian, and out-of-print book shop, operating by appointment, and, in 2026, relocated to Nashville, Indiana. We are a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), and the American Booksellers Association (ABA).

If you’re a collector or dealer, we offer a very modest, but growing, eclectic selection, with strength in modern firsts and signed copies. We also sell handmade letterpress books from Larkspur Press, as well as new trade books online through our affiliate account with Bookshop.org. We value direct communication, so please feel free to call if you have questions about our listings or to confirm that an item is still on hand. We invite you to peruse our website or make an appointment to visit us in the forested hills of Brown County, Indiana’s “Little Smokies.” And, yes, the cats are still around… somewhere.

Our Staff

Nathan Montoya

A native of Upstate New York, Nathan was born into a family of professional musicians and educators. After a nomadic early childhood, he landed in Indiana, where he found himself attending the same high school as Kurt Vonnegut (just not at the same time). He earned a BA in Psychology and Religious Studies, a BA in Biology (Certificate in Environmental Studies), and an MS in Ballet (Cognate in Opera Stage Directing) from Indiana University.

In the 1970s Nathan drove a taxicab in New York City and worked as a manager at the legendary Café Figaro in Greenwich Village while training under scholarship with the Harkness Ballet, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and the Martha Graham School for Contemporary Dance. In New York he performed with the Martha Graham Ensemble and the Pearl Lang Dance Theater. During the 1980s he and his wife, Anne, taught master classes through Germany and the United Kingdom and performed with the dance companies of the opera houses in the German cities of Detmold and Giessen, where Nathan also served as ballet and modern dance master and resident choreographer. After returning to the States, following the birth of their son, he served for 17 years as a professor in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

Nathan transitioned into the professional book world in 2008 as co-founder/owner/proprietor, with his wife, of Village Lights Bookstore, where he specialized in world religions, science fiction, poetry, and literary fiction. He served for three years on the Award Panel for the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award and for six years on the Board of Directors of the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. During the fifteen years that Village Lights maintained an open storefront, he eased into the realm of rare and antiquarian books. Nathan is now a proud member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, and adheres strictly to their code of ethics. He works out daily, indulges in forest bathing at every opportunity, and practices the traditional Japanese martial art of Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Shodan, or first degree black belt.

Anne Vestuto

A true Mid-western girl, Anne was born in Normal, Illinois, and spent her childhood playing hide-and-seek in the corn and soybean fields of the central plains. At her artist father’s side, she developed a deep love of nature and the outdoors as they explored the forests and fields surrounding their home. As a teenager, Anne moved with her family to Bloomington, Indiana, where she graduated from high school and went on to pursue a degree in Biology from Indiana University… and dreamed of becoming a forest ranger...

While taking a ballet class at IU, Anne met her future husband, Nathan. Dreams of the forest were deferred, as they traveled extensively throughout the urban east coast and then moved on to many years in Europe. They finally returned to the U.S. with their newborn son and settled in the decidedly unforested concrete sprawl of Dallas, Texas, where Anne earned a nursing degree. Fast-forward 17 years; hear the call of extended family, and feel the persistent pull of the rolling hills of Southern Indiana...

For fifteen years, as co-founder/owner/proprietor of the bricks-and-mortar Village Lights Bookstore, Anne happily curated the collection of new and used books, focusing on children's books, middle readers, and young adult. She was also the store accountant, did basic book repairs, and refinished furniture for both store and home...

She is still the Village Lights accountant, refinishes furniture, nurses the occasional sad book...

And hikes in the woods as frequently as possible.

Our Furry Staff

Gerrrtrude Stein

Nathan was driving from Baltimore to Indiana in late spring of 2010. It was a dark and stormy day, as he traversed the wilds of southern Ohio. Some distance east of Cincinnati he stopped for a cup of coffee at a small café outside Sardinia. Dodging puddles in the rain-soaked parking lot, he heard a plaintive “meeowww!” coming from behind him. Turning around, Nathan discovered a matted and drenched piece of black fur addressing him most directly... “You will take me home with you meow-NOW!” There was no negotiating—this diminutive kitten demanded a response. Looking around in all directions—no houses, not a farm in sight—“Where did you come from?!” There was no calling home for “permission” — in the middle of nowhere with no cell-phone service. So the cook at the café found a tiny box for the tiny black ball of fur, and this strong-willed, five-week-old feline headed down the highway, leaving the gypsy life behind in exchange for a literary life in Madison, Indiana. With such a stubborn, bossy nature, Gerrrtrude Stein was the only moniker for her. But she deigns to respond to “Trudy."

Oliver O. Twist

Oliver O. Twist (“O” for Orange) arrived at Village Lights Bookstore on July 1st, 2020. To be more precise, he rolled up to the front curb under the hood of a local musician's red roadster. Our ears were assailed with a great screaming, and crying, and yowling. What fearsome beast lurked before our door? The hood was popped open to reveal a tiny, scrawny, ginger-orange kitten. The blisters on his poor little paw pads were tended to, and then a bit of food was proffered. The food vanished, and then came a very polite request (“please, sir”) for MORE. No longer tiny or scrawny, Oliver Twist is not skin and bones, in fact he’s remarkably… well, let's just say… robust.