A girl learns how the history of redlining has affected her neighborhood in this intergenerational picture book about racism, community action, and resilience by two New York Times bestselling authors.
Olivia can’t wait to invite her friends to the 62nd annual Main Street Block Party. But when she does, Alison says that Main Street isn’t safe. Olivia’s eyes fill with tears, and she begins to wish that she didn’t live on Main Street at all.
Then, Olivia learns what happened when her neighbor Ms. Effie was about her age: Ms. Effie's family was also told that Main Street wasn’t good enough. The bank wouldn’t give them a loan to buy their house based on where it fell on a color-coded map: Mostly Black people lived near Main Street, so the neighborhood was colored red on the map. To fight back against this practice called redlining, Ms. Effie’s family became friends with their neighbors and got organized.
With vibrant illustrations by David Wilkerson and engaging text by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, Main Street celebrates what might happen when neighbors come together for a common goal and everybody pitches in.
Features backmatter with an author's note about the full history of redlining and ideas for further engagement with your community!
Events
- NOVEMBER 2025: Fiction Book Club - November 13 @ 7PM
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NOVEMBER 2025: Fiction Book Club - November 13 @ 7PM
Sold outWe're meeting to discuss These Heathens by Mia Mckenzie!
BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS
When: Thursday, November 13 @ 7PM CST
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend. Support Fiction Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!
ABOUT THESE HEATHENS!
In this vibrant, gratifying novel, a pious, small-town teenager travels to Atlanta to get an abortion and finds herself smack in the middle of the civil rights movement and the secret lives of queer Black people.
“Bursting with heart and humor, These Heathens reflects powerfully on choice and chance, while also being endlessly entertaining.”—Allison Larkin, author of The People We Keep and Home of the American CircusWhere do you get an abortion in 1960 Georgia, especially if your small town’s midwife goes to the same church as your parents? For seventeen-year-old Doris Steele, the answer is Atlanta, where her favorite teacher, Mrs. Lucas, calls upon her brash, wealthy childhood best friend, Sylvia, for help. While waiting to hear from the doctor who has agreed to do the procedure, Doris spends the weekend scandalized by, but drawn to, the people who move in and out of Sylvia’s orbit: celebrities whom Doris has seen in the pages of Jet and Ebony, civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King and Diane Nash, women who dance close together, boys who flirt too hard and talk too much, atheists! And even more shocking? Mrs. Lucas seems right at home.
From the guests at a queer kickback to the student activists at a SNCC conference, Doris suddenly finds herself surrounded by so many people who seem to know exactly who or what they want. Doris knows she doesn’t want a baby, but what does she want? Will this trip help her find out?
These Heathens is a funny, poignant story about Black women’s obligations and ambitions, what we owe to ourselves, and the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend.
- IRL AUTHOR TALK: Chronicles of Ori with Harmonia Rosales - November 21 @ 7PM
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IRL AUTHOR TALK: Chronicles of Ori with Harmonia Rosales - November 21 @ 7PM
Sold outCelebrate the release of Chronicles of Ori with Harmonia Rosales!
EVENT DEETS
When: Friday, November 21 @ 7PM
Where: Kindred Stories(2310 Elgin St, Unity 2, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.
ABOUT THE BOOK
From the acclaimed fine artist Harmonia Rosales, a sweeping retelling of African myth illustrated throughout with Rosales’s spectacular paintings.
In Chronicles of Ori, her debut book, Harmonia Rosales retells the African myths she has long treasured, crafting an enthralling epic that spans the birth of the universe to the modern world of colonialism and resistance. She writes of the powerful, temperamental deities called the Orishas; of the founding of Yorubaland by the shrewd leader Oduduwa; of the young heroine Eve, born in a time of violence and despair, who would help her people regain their past splendor; and of shimmering serpents and monstrous shadows who stalk the lands of mortals. At the center of these linked tales is the bond, sometimes fraying, between the Orishas and the humans who worship them. It was the Orishas who made humans, and who gave them their most precious resource: their Oris, or destinies. Vividly brought to life by Rosales’s artwork, Chronicles of Ori will enlighten and delight readers for years to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Harmonia Rosales is a Chicago-born, Afro-Cuban American artist and author whose work centers the visibility and empowerment of Black women in Western art. Growing up visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, Rosales was captivated by Renaissance painting—but years later, her daughter’s simple observation that “they don’t look like me” exposed the exclusion at the heart of that tradition.
That moment sparked Rosales’s artistic journey: reimagining Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces with Black protagonists and centering West African spirituality. Since 2017, her work has visualized the Orishas, the deities of the Yoruba tradition, and explored the survival of their stories across the Middle Passage. With bold, uncompromising imagery and prose, Rosales challenges Eurocentric ideals of beauty, power, and divinity, reshaping both art history and cultural consciousness.
Rosales has previously been the subject of exhibitions at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; the Spelman Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA; the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA; the Wright Museum, Detroit MI, among others. Her work is held by numerous public and private collections across the United States, including the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, Washington D.C.; Spelman Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA, and others.
Her debut novel, CHRONICLES OF ORI: An African Epic, will be available beginning October 14, 2025; it is published by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Janice Bond is a visionary cultural strategist, curator, and multidisciplinary leader whose work operates at the nexus of art, architecture, and experiential design. Her practice bridges continents and disciplines, reshaping how communities, institutions, and markets engage with art, space, and storytelling. From Texas to Japan, Europe, and West Africa, her work reveals the deep connections between culture, consciousness, and place while advancing a philosophy rooted in the emotional and spatial intelligence of design.
As Executive Director of the Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG), one of the nation’s most historic public art organizations, Bond leads a new era of innovation and access. She is expanding CPAG’s legacy through immersive installations, technology integration, and strategic partnerships that unite artists, architects, and civic leaders. As CEO and Chief Curator of Bond Cultural Architects, she has guided landmark projects across sectors, from citywide public art programs to bespoke cultural initiatives for luxury brands. Her previous leadership roles include Deputy Director at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Director of Music and Social Programming at Kimpton Hotels, and International Director of Civic Art and Immersive Experiences at SEISMIQUE, where she pioneered multisensory storytelling in contemporary art.
As both artist and producer, Bond’s practice explores sacred geometry, sound, and the metaphysics of design, mapping the invisible relationships between form and human experience. Through her firms PUBLIC CANVAS, BOND CONTEMPORARY, and ART IS BOND, she continues to develop art-centered strategies and exhibitions that promote healing, equity, and cultural exchange. Her vision is defined by an enduring belief that art has the power to transform spaces, deepen understanding, and elevate the collective imagination. - IRL EVENT: Framing Fatherhood- Celebration and Book Signing - November 23 at 1PM
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IRL EVENT: Framing Fatherhood- Celebration and Book Signing - November 23 at 1PM
Sold outCelebrate the photography collection Framing Fatherhood!
EVENT DEETS
When: Sunday, November 23 at 1PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin Street, HTX, 77004)
RSVP to reserve your spot or RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve a copy of Framing Fatherhood.
ABOUT THE EVENT
Join us as we celebrate fatherhood through photography and community. Enjoy libations and light bites while viewing artwork from the book. The event will include a book signing and gallery walk.
- DECEMBER 2025: Romance Book Club - December 9 @ 7PM
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DECEMBER 2025: Romance Book Club - December 9 @ 7PM
$0.00We're meeting to discuss Naughty of Nice by Eric Jerome Dickey!
BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS
When: Tuesday, December 9 @ 7PM CST
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Romance Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!
ABOUT NAUGHTY OR NICE
With all the humor, passion, and soul his fans have come to expect, New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey has written a novel with enough spice to warm even the coldest winter nights....
“Just in time for the holidays...a very funny and engrossing novel...laugh-out-loud humor.”—Booklist
Each of the McBroom sisters has her own problems. Frankie, the oldest, is never satisfied. Can anyone give her what she wants? Middle sister Livvy, saddled with a cheating husband, has begun an affair of her own. But her being wronged doesn’t exactly make her sideline lover Mr. Right. Then there’s baby Tommie. She was treated badly by a man she trusted. Can an older man show her what love is all about? Frankie, Livvy, and Tommie are there for one another through all the drama—and in the process, they discover what family, sisterhood, and love are all about.... - SOFT LANDINGS: RESTORE, RELEASE, RENEW: Journaling and Meditation with Raveen Alexis-December 28 at 10AM
![SOFT LANDINGS: RESTORE, RELEASE, RENEW: Journaling and Meditation with Raveen Alexis-December 28 at 10AM]()
SOFT LANDINGS: RESTORE, RELEASE, RENEW: Journaling and Meditation with Raveen Alexis-December 28 at 10AM
$24.00A gentle, heart-centered space to restore your energy, release what's ready to go, and open yourself to what's next. Together, we'll reflect on the lessons of the past year, lovingly let go of what no longer serves us, and set intentions that invite renewal and possibility for the year ahead.Workshop DEETS
When: December 28, 2025 at 10 AMWhere: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, #2, Houston TX 77004).How: Be sure to purchase your ticket to guarantee your spot. Limited tickets available.
About the WorkshopRaveen Alexis will lead us through guided journaling and meditation. Be sure to bring yourself, a yoga mat or towel and a journal with a writing utensil.
Space is limited.Light refreshments will be provided.
*Tickets are non refundable* - IRL AUTHOR TALK: Cord Swell with brittny ray crowell - January 7 @ 7PM
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IRL AUTHOR TALK: Cord Swell with brittny ray crowell - January 7 @ 7PM
from $5.00Celebrate the release of CORD SWELL with brittny ray crowell!
EVENT DEETS
When: Wednesday, January 7 @ 7PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A pilgrimage of poems, stories, voices, and mixed-media collage through the lives of three generations of Black women.
How can we memorialize our dead? How can that memorialization rend the veil between the dead and the living? In her debut volume, brittny ray crowell sifts through decades of obituaries, journals, and other ephemera to exhume the generations of her family from her hometown of Texarkana, Texas. She preserves her relatives’ stories in writing and in works of collage, a style of archive that layers the past and the present literally and poetically.
This unique approach transforms Cord Swell into an altar, an artistically enshrined space where crowell communes with the past and looks to the future. The title poem, in which crowell speaks to an aunt who passed away, poignantly asks, “if there’s any such thing / as paradise . . . / better than the warmth / of your neck . . . / how close am i / to that context of space?” Her question acts as a provisional thesis statement for this collection, a poetic attempt to reveal, redress, and interpret those who came before her, especially in the absence of physical traces. Each poem imagines ways to access family members who have died and calls out to ancestors crowell never met.
In the process, crowell demonstrates capacious syntactical range, nimbly leaping from haibun to erasure poems, interviews to sonnets. She also invents forms she calls “grooves,” which are structured as album tracklists. These techniques marry form with meaning, echoing the voices of lost loved ones in indelible verse. Rhapsodic, inventive, and ambitious, Cord Swell establishes crowell as one of the most creative and dynamic new voices in poetry.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
brittny ray crowell is an assistant professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, where she teaches courses in poetry and composition. She is a recipient of the Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry and the Lucy Terry Prince Prize. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Aris Kian (she/her) is a Houston enthusiast and student of abolition. Her poems are published with Button Poetry, West Branch, Obsidian Lit, and elsewhere. As an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellow, she received her MFA from the University of Houston. Her team Smoke Slam coached by Ebony Stewart ranked #1 at the 2025 Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam and #1 at the 2024 Southern Fried Poetry Slam. She previously served as the 2023-2025 Houston Poet Laureate and was chosen as a 2025 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow.
- JANUARY 2026: Fiction Book Club - January 22 @ 7PM
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JANUARY 2026: Fiction Book Club - January 22 @ 7PM
$0.00We're meeting to discuss The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley!
BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS
When: Thursday, January 22 @ 7PM CST
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Romance Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!
ABOUT THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG
From the author of Oprah's Book Club pick and New York Times bestseller Nightcrawling, here is an astonishing new novel about the joys and entanglements of a fierce group of teenage mothers in a small town on the Florida panhandle.
Adela Woods is sixteen years old and pregnant. Her parents banish her from her comfortable upbringing in Indiana to her grandmother’s home in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida. When she arrives, Adela meets Emory, who brings her newborn to high school, determined to graduate despite the odds; Simone, mother of four-year-old twins, who weighs her options when she finds herself pregnant again; and the rest of the Girls, a group of outcast young moms who raise their growing brood in the back of Simone’s red truck.
The town thinks the Girls have lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, and navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood.
Full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of these friends’ secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big confirms Leila Mottley’s promise and offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman.
- JANUARY 2026: NO NAME BOOK CLUB - JANUARY 25 @ 1 PM CST
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JANUARY 2026: NO NAME BOOK CLUB - JANUARY 25 @ 1 PM CST
$0.00No Name is a Black-owned worker cooperative connecting community members both inside and outside carceral facilities with radical books. Each month, No Name uplifts two books written by Black, indigenous, and other people of color. No Name believes building community through political education is crucial for our liberation and should be accessible to everyone—which is why all programming is free.
MEETING DEETSWhen: Sunday, JANUARY 25 @ 1 PMWhere: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)How: RSVP to let us know you're coming!ABOUT NERVOUS CONDITIONS
A modern classic from the Booker-shortlisted author of This Mournable Body
The groundbreaking first novel in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s award-winning trilogy, Nervous Conditions, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and has been “hailed as one of the 20th century’s most significant works of African literature” (The New York Times). Two decades before Zimbabwe would win independence and ended white minority rule, thirteen-year-old Tambudzai Sigauke embarks on her education. On her shoulders rest the economic hopes of her parents, siblings, and extended family, and within her burns the desire for independence. She yearns to be free of the constraints of her rural village and thinks she’s found her way out when her wealthy uncle offers to sponsor her schooling. But she soon learns that the edu
- VIRTUAL AUTHOR TALK: Sisters In Suspense - Virtual Mystery Panel - January 26 @ 6:30 PM
![VIRTUAL AUTHOR TALK: Sisters In Suspense - Virtual Mystery Panel - January 26 @ 6:30 PM]()
VIRTUAL AUTHOR TALK: Sisters In Suspense - Virtual Mystery Panel - January 26 @ 6:30 PM
from $5.00Let's celebrate a few of the who's who of Black women mystery writers!
EVENT DEETS
When: Monday, January 26, 2026 @ 6:30 PM CT
Where: Virtual! Sign up and we'll send you the link to the Zoom.
How: RSVP ONLY to get the link to the Zoom! RSVP WITH BUNDLE to get a copy of each of the authors' book and support the bookstore!
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Valerie (V. M.) Burns is a mystery writer whose novels and short stories have been finalists for the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. Valerie is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and the Crime Writers' Association. She is also an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in the southeastern United States with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at VMBurns.com.Valerie Wilson Wesley writes mysteries, novels and children’s books. She is the author of the Odessa Jones Mysteries including A Glimmer of Death (2021), A Fatal Glow (2022) and A Shimmer of Red (2023). She has also written nine mysteries in the popular Tamara Hayle Mystery series, including When Death Comes Stealing, named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best mysteries and thrillers. She has written three stand-alone novels and two paranormal romances under the pen name Savanna Welles. Her books for children include seven titles in the Willimena Rules! series and the Afro-bets Book of Black Heroes co-written with Wade Hudson. Her novels and mysteries are published in Germany, France and the UK and her nonfiction has appeared in journals including Poe Studies History, Theory Interpretation 2023. She is a former executive editor of Essence magazine. Wesley is a proud member of Crime Writers of Color (CWoC), Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Carolyn Marie Wilkins is a practicing psychic medium, a Santeria priestess, and a professor at Berklee College of Music Online. An accomplished jazz pianist and vocalist, she has toured South America as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department. She is a member of Crime Writers of Color and Sisters in Crime New England. When she is not writing, performing, or offering Reiki to students at Berklee, Carolyn maintains a private practice in healing and mediumship. She lives in the Boston area and can be found online at CarolynWilkins.com.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Dr. Michelle Watts is a native Houstonian and humanities educator who is committed to using humanist literature to bring diverse groups of people together to find common ground. Over the years, Dr. Watts has taught a full range of students – from Kindergarten to graduate school- and delights in her students’ achievements and efforts to effect substantive change in the world around them.
Mount Holyoke College which was fertile ground for her interests and activism and while there, she began her lifelong journey with the theory and practice of Black feminism. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Michelle returned to Houston to study American Literature and Culture at Rice University, where she earned both a Master’s and Doctorate. She went on to teach at Miami University in Oxford, OH and the University of Cincinnati. While at Miami, she was recognized as an Honored Professor for her ‘remarkable commitment to students.’ She has extensive experience in the public sector where she has worked to advance educational equity and social justice causes in youth-serving organizations. She is currently at work on a research project on African American children’s and young adult literature, and is the New Member Coordinator for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Houston Chapter.
- IRL AUTHOR TALK: Where The Wildflowers Grow with Terah Shelton Harris - February 22 @ 5:30 PM
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IRL AUTHOR TALK: Where The Wildflowers Grow with Terah Shelton Harris - February 22 @ 5:30 PM
from $0.00Celebrate the release of Where The Wildflowers Grow with Terah Shelton Harris!
EVENT DEETS
When: Sunday, February 22 @ 5:30 PM
Where: Kindred Stories( 2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming
ABOUT THE BOOK
From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living.
Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die.
Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives.
While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm's owner, who sees through Leigh's defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she's not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.
But the past isn't so easily buried.
No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she's come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terah Shelton Harris is an author and former librarian, who now writes upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings. She is the author of One Summer in Savannah and Long After We Are Gone. Her books have been chosen as a Target Book Club pick, LibraryReads pick, Kobo Best Book, Together We Read pick, Publisher’s Marketplace Buzz Book, and a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Debut. Terah was also named Target’s first Author of the Year. She lives in Alabama with her husband.
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Wale Okerayi is a licensed mental health therapist and a passionate literary enthusiast, uniquely blending her professional insights with her profound love for literature. Her work as a book influencer, particularly through her platform @theehottgirlbooks, focuses on celebrating and sharing BIPOC stories. Wale’s dual role enriches her contributions to both fields, making her a valuable voice in discussions around mental health and literature. When she’s not reading or in the therapy room, you can find her building lego sets and watching the real housewives. - VIRTUAL AUTHOR TALK: Janae Sanders’ Second Time Around with LaQuette - January 14 @ 6:30 PM
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VIRTUAL AUTHOR TALK: Janae Sanders’ Second Time Around with LaQuette - January 14 @ 6:30 PM
from $0.00Celebrate the release of Janae Sanders’ Second Time Around with LaQuette!
EVENT DEETS
When: Wednesday, January 14 @ 6:30 PM
Where: Virtual! Sign up and we'll send you the link to the Zoom.
How: RSVP ONLY to get the link to the Zoom! RSVP WITH BOOK to get a copy of each of the authors' book and support the bookstore!
ABOUT THE BOOK
A single mom gets a second chance at love with her high school sweetheart.Wary of love after divorce, Janae Sanders focuses on the best things in her life: her son James and her besties in the Savvy, Sexy, and Single Club. As for romance? Not today, Satan. That is, until high school heartthrob Adam Henderson crashes back into her life at their 20-year reunion. Sparks fly, but just when Janae considers dating again, the new superintendent of James’ school district slashes his beloved arts program. Instead of getting her groove back, Janae gets her protest on.
Returning home after twenty years, Adam jumps at the chance to reacquaint himself with Janae, the one who got away. But he’s nearly reached his limit, juggling a meddling father, school politics, and—unbeknownst to him—Janae’s ire. If he can’t get the head of the PTA off his back after cutting programs that were costing the district money, his debut role as superintendent and his love life hang in the balance.
When a school board meeting is called and they both realize they’ve been dating the enemy, Janae gives Adam two choices: restore the program or lose her. Adam proposes a third option: one weekend at his cabin to talk it all out—funding the arts, and old feelings too. When her girls cheer her on, Janae must decide if she’s willing to risk it all. Armed with sass, sarcasm, and a suitcase full of emotional baggage, Janae and Adam discover that sometimes love shows up in the most infuriating and unexpectedly sexy ways.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LaQuette writes sexy, stylish, and sensational romance—the kind of sentimental-and-steamy stories that feel like Hallmark movies… if Hallmark suddenly ramped up the sexy and gave us the hawt love scenes we deserve. Expect big emotions, bold choices, and characters who strut through the pages like the book is their own personal runway.A proud Brooklyn native, she crafts unapologetically bold, character-driven Black and interracial romances where Black women are joy-filled, desired, and absolutely treasured. These women know they belong on the page—and dare you to try telling them otherwise.When this current Ph.D. student isn’t writing, reading, or studying, she’s probably trying on (or hunting down) her next must-have makeup find. And honestly? No one would be surprised if it’s yet another shade of red or pink lipstick. At this point, it’s basically a personality trait.
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Nikki Payne is a Civic anthropologist From Houston, Texas building accessible government services for vulnerable populations, by night she dreams of ways to subvert Canon literature. Hailed as "incandescent" by the Washington Post, Nikki Payne's debut novel Pride and Protest was a Phenomenal Book Club pick And was selected by the Library of Congress to represent the District of Columbia for the National Book Festival. featured in the New York Times, NPR, Elle, Oprah Daily and BuzzFeed, Nikki Payne is writing black women into their happily ever after.
- IRL AUTHOR TALK AND WORKSHOP: Dear Cycle Breaker with Dusah Wiseman - January 29 @ 7PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK AND WORKSHOP: Dear Cycle Breaker with Dusah Wiseman - January 29 @ 7PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK AND WORKSHOP: Dear Cycle Breaker with Dusah Wiseman - January 29 @ 7PM
from $10.00Celebrate the release of Dear Cycle Breaker with Dusah Wiseman! Join us to learn about Dusah’s new book and participate in a workshop featuring practices highlighted in the text.
EVENT DEETS
When: Thursday, January 29 @ 7PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St. Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat and participate in the workshop or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Transformational rituals and channeled messages for unlocking your true potential, healing through the divine feminine, and making the everyday sacred.
The practices and channeled messages within this book support you in going deep within your shadows to unlock the potent medicine of combining your light and dark, reclaiming your inner magic, and unmasking the true potential of your wild, wise, and whole self. When you reconnect with the divine feminine and tap into the ancient wisdom of the powerful women who came before you, you become a walking embodiment of love, magic, compassion, and power.
Writes Dusah, "My divine mission is to be a guiding light for those who are ready to unmask their true power and potential. This is the book that would have saved me from repetitive unwanted cycles. It is a beacon that will resurrect the Goddess who has been playing small for reasons that span previous lifetimes. It will empower the Queen who is finally ready to claim her legacy."
Peel back the layers covering up your true greatness: the lies, the past experiences, the trauma, the masks that your family or society has forced you to don. This is your initiation into a divine co-creation with Spirit—a pathway back to your highest self and a deep connection with Source.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dusah Wiseman, also known as Serpent Goddess, fell in love with shamanic practices as a child, and they have laid the foundation for her well-being. She has trained with indigenous elders and notable industry leaders, and her medicine bag includes yoga, pranayama, meditation, qigong, herbalism, music, and somatic healing through a trauma-informed lens. She believes in the art of inner alchemy and facilitates these tools to assist others who are looking to go deep within their shadows to unlock the potent medicine of combining both their light and dark to unmask their true power and potential. Sitting in ceremony is her favorite way to connect with the Divine.
- IRL POETRY READING: Praisesong For The People with Amanda Johnston & Friends - January 19 @ 6PM
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IRL POETRY READING: Praisesong For The People with Amanda Johnston & Friends - January 19 @ 6PM
from $5.00Celebrate the release of Praisesong for the People with Amanda Johnston! This event will feature poetry readings from several of the poets included in the book.
EVENT DEETS
When: Monday, January 19 @ 6PM
Where: Kindred Stories ( 2310 Elgin Street, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“We turn to poetry in our greatest moments of joy and sorrow to help us tune in to our emotions and connect with others,” writes Johnston. In Praisesong for the People, poetry brings us together to celebrate the people across the state who make this land feel like home.
Edited by Amanda Johnston, the 61st Texas Poet Laureate and first Black woman to receive this honor, this vibrant anthology collects the work of 70 emerging and established poets across the state. Commissioned to write original poems celebrating everyday people, the poets in Praisesong for the People: Poems from the Heart and Soul of Texas are as diverse as the landscapes they inhabit, and reflect the intersecting identities of Texas’s population across age, gender, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disability, and immigrant communities. In these poems, their voices gather in a heartfelt chorus to praise the people in their communities who offer small kindnesses, asking nothing in return.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Amanda Johnston is a writer, visual artist, the 61st Texas Poet Laureate, and founder of Torch Literary Arts. Johnston is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press, 2017). Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, including Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry (Northwestern University Press, 2019), edited by Lauren K. Alleyne. She is a former board president of the Cave Canem Foundation and the founder and executive director of Torch Literary Arts. In 2024, Johnston was appointed the poet laureate of Texas. In the same year, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.
- IRL AUTHOR TALK: This Ain't Our First Rodeo with Liara Tamani - February 6 @ 7 PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK: This Ain't Our First Rodeo with Liara Tamani - February 6 @ 7 PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK: This Ain't Our First Rodeo with Liara Tamani - February 6 @ 7 PM
from $5.00Celebrate the release of This Ain't Our First Rodeo with Liara Tamani!
EVENT DEETS
When: Friday, February 6 @ 7 PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX, 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming. Please note that only copies of This Ain't Our First Rodeo purchased at Kindred Stories will be permitted at the event.
*Western wear highly encouraged.
ABOUT THE BOOK
When life lassoes Josie and Shawn back together three years after their dreamy first date, their second chance at love is anything but easy. A big-hearted rodeo romance set in Houston, Texas, by the critically acclaimed Liara Tamani, author of What She Missed, All The Things We Never Knew, and Calling My Name. This bold first-love story is for fans of Nothing Like the Movies and Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute.
This ain’t Josie’s first rodeo. Her parents own several fancy restaurants in Houston, and they just opened a new one right outside the stadium. Josie is expected to stay inside the restaurant and help, and maybe take over their growing empire one day, but that isn’t what Josie wants. She’d rather be at the rodeo itself than in a high-end restaurant next to it. Or eating funnel cakes and Texas-sized corn dogs at the carnival on the grounds. Or better yet, riding her horse at her grandparents’ ranch, the very place her mom wants to sell.
It ain’t Shawn’s first rodeo either. He’s been riding bulls since his mom died, doing everything he can to live up to his rodeo-champion stepfather’s sky-high expectations. But as Shawn’s stardom rises, so do tensions in their relationship. His stepfather’s drinking and gambling problems sure don’t help.
After one unforgettable night leaves Josie and Shawn wanting nothing but each other, their lives become entwined in increasingly complex ways. Can they save Josie’s family land? Or will Shawn’s stepfather and his shady plan be the ranch’s ruin? Will one wrong move cost them everything? Rodeo after rodeo, year after year, can Josie and Shawn keep their hearts open through the secrets, twists, and turns?
This Ain’t Our First Rodeo is a contemporary western love story full of bulls, brawls, and horses. It’s a tender second chance cowboy romance about family, friendship, mistakes, and the blessings of choosing to love anyway. Black cowboys and cowgirls like Josie and Shawn have long helped shape the American West—a legacy that shines in Liara Tamani’s storytelling. Her writing is quick-witted, swoony, and authentic, with characters who are easy to love and hard to forget.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LIARA TAMANI grew up in Houston, Texas, where every spring meant one thing: rodeo season. She loved getting decked out in her best cowgirl gear and soaking up the music, food, and electric energy of the rodeo, a joy she now shares with her daughter and husband. Her deep Texas roots shine through her storytelling, capturing the spirit and rhythms of the state in all her acclaimed novels: Calling My Name, All the Things We Never Knew, and What She Missed. Before becoming a writer, she attended Harvard Law School and worked as a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Comets, television production assistant, home accessories designer, floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Duke University.
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Wale Okerayi is a licensed mental health therapist and a passionate literary enthusiast, uniquely blending her professional insights with her profound love for literature. Her work as a book influencer, particularly through her platform @theehottgirlbooks, focuses on celebrating and sharing BIPOC stories. Wale’s dual role enriches her contributions to both fields, making her a valuable voice in discussions around mental health and literature.
When she’s not reading or in the therapy room, you can find her building lego sets and watching the real housewives. - JANUARY 2026: Non-Fiction Book Club - January 20 @ 7PM
![JANUARY 2026: Non-Fiction Book Club - January 20 @ 7PM]()
JANUARY 2026: Non-Fiction Book Club - January 20 @ 7PM
$0.00We're meeting to discuss A Fighting Dream: The Political Writings of Claudia Jones by Claudia Jones!
BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS
When: Tuesday, January 20 @ 7PM CST
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Romance Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!
ABOUT A FIGHTING DREAM
Claudia Jones stood at many crossroads. Her world was one of heated battles for Black liberation, of anti-fascism in the build-up to World War II, of national liberation struggles across the Global South, of the US government persecuting her and her comrades for their activism and membership in the Communist Party. And as a Black woman, she was also determined to bring to light how race and gender are embedded in and essential to the struggles of the working class.
At a time when the hegemony of imperialism and capitalism remain strong while new contradictions and signs of struggle arise, Jones' political writings are a lesson in identifying the most urgent tasks for moving socialism, the political project of the working class, forward. From her poetry, to newspaper articles, to pamphlets, to speeches, A Fighting Dream: The Political Writings of Claudia Jones brings her to us as she was: unrelenting, fearless, and a Communist.
Claudia Jones challenges us all to stand with our principles, to build organization, and to clearly see how understanding the intersectional aspects of our struggle is crucial for the liberation of humanity and the planet.
- IRL EVENT: "The Writer's Table" - Writing Workshop - January 28 - 6PM
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IRL EVENT: "The Writer's Table" - Writing Workshop - January 28 - 6PM
Sold outJoin us for a community-centered writing workshop that blends craft, creativity, and conversation. Led by Dr. La-Toya Scott, professor and founder of In House Scholar, this series brings the structure and depth of a college-level writing class into an accessible and supportive public space. Each session includes a short craft lecture, guided discussion of a sample text, dedicated writing time, and space to share work with fellow writers. Whether you’re new to writing or returning to the page, The Writer’s Table offers tools, prompts, and encouragement to help you develop your voice, sharpen your craft, and write with intention.
Workshop 1: “Intro to Writing: Who Am I as a Writer?”
EVENT DEETS
When: Wednesday, January 28 @ 6 PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP reserve your spot
- IRL STORYTIME: Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining with Britt Hawthorne - January 31 @ 12 PM
![IRL STORYTIME: Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining with Britt Hawthorne - January 31 @ 12 PM]()
IRL STORYTIME: Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining with Britt Hawthorne - January 31 @ 12 PM
from $0.00Celebrate Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining with Britt Hawthorne!
EVENT DEETS
When: Saturday, January 31 @ 12 PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St #2, Houston, TX 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you're coming or RSVP WITH BOOK to secure your copy of Main Street: A Community Story About Redlining
Outside copies of Main Street will not be allowed into the bookstore.
ABOUT THE BOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Britt Hawthorne is an award-winning author and teacher. She grew up in Rockford, IL, where she gobbled up thin-crust pizza and Swedish pancakes. She now lives with her family in Houston, Texas, delighting in coffee, sweet treats, and naps.
Website: BrittHawthorne.comInstagram: @BrittHawthorne. - IRL AUTHOR TALK: Positive Obsession with Susana M. Morris - February 27 @ 7 PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK: Positive Obsession with Susana M. Morris - February 27 @ 7 PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK: Positive Obsession with Susana M. Morris - February 27 @ 7 PM
from $5.00Celebrate the release of Positive Obsession with Susana M. Morris!
EVENT DEETS
When: Friday, February 27 @ 7PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004).
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.
Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories or purchase the RSVP (BUT I HAVE THE BOOK) ticket.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work.
As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia Butler was a trailblazer. With her deft pen, she created stories speculating the devolution of the American empire, using it as an apt metaphor for the best and worst of humanity—our innovation and ingenuity, our naked greed and ambition, our propensity for violence and hierarchy. Her fiction charts the rise and fall of the American project—the nation’s transformation from a provincial backwater to a capitalist juggernaut—made possible by chattel slavery—to a bloated imperialist superpower on the verge of implosion.
In this outstanding work, Susana M. Morris places Butler’s story firmly within the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her life: the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, women’s liberation, queer rights, Reaganomics. Morris reveals how these influences profoundly impacted Butler’s personal and intellectual trajectory and shaped the ideas central to her writing. Her cautionary tales warn us about succumbing to fascism, gender-based violence, and climate chaos while offering alternate paradigms to religion, family, and understanding our relationships to ourselves. Butler envisioned futures with Black women at the center, raising our awareness of how those who are often dismissed have the knowledge to shift the landscape of our world. But her characters are no magical martyrs, they are tough, flawed, intelligent, and complicated, a reflection of Butler’s stories.
Morris explains what drove Butler: She wrote because she felt she must. “Who was I anyway? Why should anyone pay attention to what I had to say? Did I have anything to say? I was writing science fiction and fantasy, for God’s sake. At that time nearly all professional science-fiction writers were white men. As much as I loved science fiction and fantasy, what was I doing? Well, whatever it was, I couldn’t stop. Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you’re afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It’s about not being able to stop at all.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susana M. Morris is a Black feminist scholar and a cultural critic who has dedicated her career to studying the interior lives of Black women. She is an associate professor of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech and the co-founder of The Crunk Feminist Collective. A former Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University and Norman Freeling Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, she is the author of Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler. Her other works include Close Kin and Distant Relatives: The Paradox of Respectability in Black Women's Literature, the co-edited collection The Crunk Feminist Collection, and the co-authored young adult handbook Feminist AF: The Guide to Crushing Girlhood. Her writing has appeared in Gawker, Long Reads, Cosmopolitan, and Ebony, and she has been featured in venues such as NPR, the BBC, the New York Times, and Essence magazine.
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Melanye Price is the inaugural Director of The Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice at Prairie View A&M University. Dr. Price is an Endowed Professor of Political Science and served as the Principal Investigator for the African American Studies Initiative and the HBCU Student Voting Rights Lab. She has secured grants for the Simmons Center and her own research from various foundations including Mellon, Ford, LUMINA, and others. Price is the author of two books: The Race Whisperer: Barack Obama and the Political Uses of Race (NYU, 2016) and Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African American Public Opinion (NYU, 2009). She is currently working on her third book project on the five decade history of voting rights activism at Prairie View. She also served as a Special Assistant to Ruth J. Simmons in her last year as President of Prairie View.
Dr. Price completed her B.A. magna cum laude in geography at Prairie View A&M University and her MA and PhD in political science at The Ohio State University. Dr. Price was recently named the 2024 Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in the Effron Center for the Study of America at Princeton University. Price has been a Black History Month lecturer for the US Embassy in Germany where she lectured at universities and community organizations across the country. Professor Price was one of the contributors to Stanley Nelson’s documentary, Obama: Through the Fire, which aired on BET. She has been a regular contributor for The New York Times Opinion section and also done political commentary for various local and national outlets. Dr. Price has also served as a consultant and commenter for the audio tour of two major exhibits at the Museum Fine Arts Houston—Philip Guston Now and Kehinde Wiley’s Archaeology of Silence.
In her free time, Melanye is an avid watcher of television, supporter of all things Black and Houston, and intrepid gardener!
- IRL AUTHOR TALK: Slavery, Segregation, and the Second Founding of Rice University with Alexander X. Byrd and W. Caleb McDaniel - February 11 @ 7PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK: Slavery, Segregation, and the Second Founding of Rice University with Alexander X. Byrd and W. Caleb McDaniel - February 11 @ 7PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK: Slavery, Segregation, and the Second Founding of Rice University with Alexander X. Byrd and W. Caleb McDaniel - February 11 @ 7PM
from $5.00Celebrate the release of Slavery, Segregation, and the Second Founding of Rice University with Alexander X. Byrd and W. Caleb McDaniel!
EVENT DEETS
When: Wednesday, February 11 @ 7PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004).
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.
Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories or purchase the RSVP (BUT I HAVE THE BOOK) ticket.
ABOUT THE BOOK
During the first quarter of the twenty-first century, more than one hundred institutions of higher education in the United States launched projects to study and share their histories concerning slavery, segregation, and racial injustice. Slavery, Segregation, and the Second Founding of Rice University joins these wider efforts. Authored by award-winning historians Alexander X. Byrd and W. Caleb McDaniel, the book engages questions specific to Rice’s history as the last major private research university in the country to begin desegregation. Although Rice did not open its doors for classes until 1912, it was connected to the history of slavery through the life of its first founder and namesake, William Marsh Rice, whose fortune was deeply intertwined with the enslavement of Black people.
Byrd and McDaniel place the history of one of the nation’s most renowned universities within a longer and larger context, showing that desegregation required changes to Rice so fundamental that they amounted to a “second founding” of the school. Following the story from slavery through segregation to the second founding, they highlight pivotal points of intersection between the history of Black Houston and the history of Rice University, revealing the seldom acknowledged roles of Black students, Black communities, and HBCUs in creating change at and around Rice. Their study challenges readers to consider anew who counts as a university’s founder—a question relevant to ongoing discussions about statues, naming, and the history of higher education. They also reveal what higher education institutions do at their best: create new knowledge and forge solutions to trenchant social problems, thus providing guidance for those committed to doing the valuable work of the “second founding” at colleges and universities today.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexander X. Byrd is associate professor of history and Vice Provost at Rice University. He is the author of Captives and Voyagers: Black Migrants across the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic World, which won the Wesley-Logan Prize.
W. Caleb McDaniel is the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of the Humanities and professor of history at Rice University. He is the author of Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.
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