James Crossley and Amanda Clark, the duo behind Leviathan Bookstore, have considerable experience in the field. James is a recent transplant from Seattle, where he began a career in the book business more than twenty years ago and has served on the board of directors for PNBA, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Most recently, he was the founding manager of Madison Books, which was named by Publishers Weekly in 2022 as one of the five best bookstores in the country. 

Amanda brings her experience as a frontline bookseller (as well as the events and marketing manager) for The Novel Neighbor in Webster Groves. In that capacity she arranged and hosted author appearances of all sizes, from 5 to 5000 attendees. She is an expert about and a passionate advocate for St. Louis, having founded Renegade STL, a tour company featured in the New York Times, and she is currently a public historian and community tours manager for the Missouri Historical Society.

James and Amanda met in New York in 2018 while they were attending BookExpo, the largest publishing trade show in America. They began trading bookselling tips with each other from 2000 miles apart, a correspondence that eventually turned into a cross-country romance. Making frequent visits to St. Louis, James fell almost as hard for the city as he had for Amanda, and relocated in 2023 to live permanently with both.