Michelle Obama pays visit to Salt Lake bookshop on ‘secret mission’

SALT LAKE CITY — Former first lady and three-time author Michelle Obama paid a recent surprise visit to the Beehive State to promote her most recent work, “The Light We Carry.”

Obama posted about her “secret mission” Tuesday after she visited The Kings English Bookshop to sign copies of her book on the shelves.

The book is a follow-up to her widely successful memoir, “Becoming,” which covered everything from her early childhood, to meeting former President Barack Obama and completing their second term at the White House.

In her new book, Michelle Obama tells new stories and shares “practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful,” according to her website.

Michelle Obama was in town Thursday to speak at a Qualtrics summit, held at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Although, her words at the conference were off-record at her request, and were not recorded.

In the video she’s first seen in the back of an SUV in a “disguise” of a black baseball cap and large black glasses. She proceeds to the store, where the camera watches her sign paperback copies of the book, and flip through some others.

“This is my good friend Michelle Norris’ book,” she said, picking up a copy of “Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity.”

Michelle Obama’s post also showed her interacting with the employees of the store, admiring a robe on display, and a photo of her husband on the wall.

By the end of the video, she’d picked up a few books and was on her way.

The bookshop, after a difficult period of recovering from pandemic-restricted sales, and a bomb threat in Sept. 2023, expressed its honor and appreciation for her visit in a comment.

“Thank you so much for visiting us!” the bookshop stated. “We are honored and so appreciate your incredible support of bookshops and literacy.”