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  • IRL Author Talk: The Blood Gift with N.E Daveport & Ehigbor Okosun-April 19 @ 7PM CST
    Sold out
    Come celebrate the release of The Blood Gift, the follow up to The Blood Trials!

    EVENT DEETS: 

    When: Wednesday, April 19 at 7PM CST

    Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, Houston, Texas, 77004)

    How: RSVP ONLY for your free ticket or RSVP WITH BOOK to support our store programming and the author. 

    ABOUT THE BOOK

    In this stunning conclusion to N. E. Davenport’s fast-paced, action-packed sci-fantasy duology, elite warrior Ikenna and her rogue cohort must outrun bounty hunters, their former comrades, and a megalomaniacal demi-god, all in the hopes of saving their friends and enemies from the racist and misogynistic oppression that threatens the continents from all sides.

    After discovering the depth of betrayal, treachery, and violence perpetrated against her by Mareen’s Tribunal Council and exposing her illegal blood-gift to save her Praetorian squad, Ikenna becomes a fugitive with a colossal bounty on her head.

    Yet, somehow, that’s the least of her worries.

    Her grandfather’s longtime allies refuse to offer help, and the Blood Emperor’s Warlord is tracking her. She’s also struggling to control the enormous power she was granted by the Goddess of Blood Rites…and come to terms with the promises she made to get such power.

    Amidst all of this, the Blood Emperor wages a full-scale invasion against Mareen and leaves a trail of decimated cities, war crimes, and untold death in his wake. As the horrors increase, Ikenna and her team realize they must assassinate the Blood Emperor and quickly end the war. But the price to do so is steep and has planet-shattering consequences.

    The price to do nothing, though, is annihilation.

    War has erupted. Alliances are fracturing. And Ikenna is torn between her loyalties, her desires for revenge, and the power threatening to consume her. With the world aflame, only one thing is certain: blood will be spilled.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Nia "N. E." Davenport is the science fiction/fantasy author of The Blood Trials and its sequel. She attended the University of Southern California and studied biological sciences and theatre arts. She also has an M.A. in secondary education. She teaches English and biology to amazing students. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys vacationing with her family, skiing, and being a huge foodie. She’s an advocate for diverse perspectives and protagonists in literature. You can find her on Twitter or on Instagram, where she talks about bingeworthy TV, killer movies, and great books. She lives in Texas with her husband and kids.

    ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

    Ehigbor Okosun (Eh-hee-bor Oh-koh-soon), or just Ehi, is an Austin-based author who writes speculative fiction, mystery thrillers, and contemporary novels for adult and YA audiences. A British private school survivor turned Nigerian-American immigrant, she hopes to do justice to the myths and traditions she grew up steeped in, and to honor her large, multiracial and multiethnic family. She is a graduate of the University of Texas with degrees in Plan II Honors, Neurolinguistics, and English, as well as Chemistry and Pre-Medical studies and is a Cynthia Leitich Smith Mentorship Award finalist. When she’s not reading, you can catch her bullet journalling, gaming, baking, and spending time with her loved ones.
  • IRL AUTHOR TALK: Toni At Random with Dana A. Williams - October 13 @ 7PM
    Sold out

    Celebrate the release of Toni At Random with Dana A. Williams!

    EVENT DEETS

    When: Monday, October 13 @ 7PM

    Where: Kindred Stories ( 2310 Elgin St. , #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

    An insightful exploration that unveils the lesser-known dimensions of this legendary writer and her legacy, revealing the cultural icon’s profound impact as a visionary editor who helped define an important period in American publishing and literature.

    A multifaceted genius, Toni Morrison transcended her role as an author, helping to shape an important period in American publishing and literature as an editor at one of the nation’s most prestigious publishing houses. While Toni Morrison's literary achievements are widely celebrated, her editorial work is little known. Drawing on extensive research and firsthand accounts, this comprehensive study discusses Morrison's remarkable journey from her early days at Random House to her emergence as one of its most important editors. During her tenure in editorial, Morrison refashioned the literary landscape, working with important authors, including Toni Cade Bambara, Leon Forrest, and Lucille Clifton, and empowering cultural icons such as Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali to tell their stories on their own terms.

    Toni Morrison herself had great enthusiasm about Dana Williams's work on this story, generously sharing memories and thoughts with the author over the years, even giving her the book's title. From the manuscripts she molded, the authors she nurtured, and the readers she inspired, Toni at Random demonstrates how Toni Morrison has influenced American culture beyond the individual titles or authors she published. Morrison’s contribution as an editor transformed the broader literary landscape and deepened the cultural conversation. With unparalleled insight and sensitivity, Toni at Random charts this editorial odyssey.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Dana A. Williams is Professor of African American literature and Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University. She is former president of the College Language Association and the Modern Languages Association, and is the author of In the Light of Likeness—Transformed: The Literary Art of Leon Forrest. She is also the editor of several books. Her work has been published in prestigious journals, including PMLA, CLA Journal, African American Review, Early American Literature, American Literary History, and the Langston Hughes Review. Her research has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She co-directs the Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice, a Mellon Foundation-funded collaboration between Howard and Georgetown universities. Williams lives in Maryland.

    ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

    Dr. Tara T. Green is the CLASS Distinguished Professor and Chair of African American Studies at the a University of Houston. She also has a joint appointment in the English department. Dr. Green is a literature and interdisciplinary scholar with degrees in English. She is the award-winning author and editor of six books, including Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar Nelson and See Me Naked: Black Women Defining Pleasure During the Interwar Era as well as the co-curator of the Triad Black Lives Matter Collection housed at University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

  • Kindred Spirits: Tarot, Auras & Piercing - October 16 @ 6PM
    Sold out

    Join us for Kindred Spirits, a unique event where we celebrate the magic within us all. Come fellowship with ya kinfolk and take advantage of the full moon. Whether you're looking for spiritual guidance, self-discovery, or a fun way to express your individuality, Kindred Spirits is the perfect blend of mystical and modern.

    EVENT DEETS

    When: Wednesday, October 16, 2024 @ 6PM

    Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

    How: RSVP to let us know you're coming!

    WHAT TO EXPECT:

    Step into a night of magic and connection! Discover insights with tarot reading, get a luxury piercing by a professional, or explore the colors of your energy with an aura reading. Join us for an unforgettable evening of self-discovery, mystical vibes, and community.

    We hope you join us!

  • October Adult Book Club-Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
    Sold out

    Join us for our monthly book club meetings. Our October book club read is Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler. 

    Our meeting will be on Thursday, October 27 at 7:00 PM in the Kindred Stories Reading Garden. 

    About the Book


    Octavia Butler's last standalone novel is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified fifty-three-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted--and still wants--to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.

  • IRL AUTHOR TALK: Chichi and Didi Love Their Names with Peace Amadi - September 20 @ 12PM
    Sold out

    Celebrate the release of Chichi and Didi Love Their Names with Peace and Ndidi Amadi!

    EVENT DEETS

    When: Saturday, September 20 @ 12PM

    Where: 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.

    *Note that books not purchased from Kindred Stories are not allowed in the venue.*

    ABOUT THE BOOK

    Nigerian American sisters Chichi and Didi are ready for the first day of school! But after Chichi is teased for her “different” name, she comes home feeling discouraged.

    Daddy and Mama tell the sisters the stories behind their names, helping Chichi return to school with her head held high.

    Inspired by the childhood experiences of real-life sisters Peace Amadi and Ndidi Amadi, Chichi and Didi Love Their Names will teach readers:

    • to be curious about the origin and meanings of their own names
    • the importance of identity and saying names correctly
    • the beauty in celebrating difference and taking pride in uniqueness 

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Although most people now know Peace Amadi by her middle name, her first name is Chinyere and she is the real-life Chichi. Peace is a psychology professor, author, and speaker, and her work lies at the intersection of mental health, faith, and culture. 

  • Virtual Author Talk: Weightless with Evette Dionne & Morgan Jerkins-December 7 @ 7PM CST
    Sold out
    Join us on a screen near you to celebrate the release of Weightless with author, Evette Dionne and Morgan Jerkins.


    EVENT DEETS: 

    When: December 7 at 7 PM CST

    Where: Virtual via Crowdcast

    How: Grab a free ticket or support the author and the store by purchasing a ticket with book. You can self register here or we will send you a link before the event. 

    About the Book

    My body has not betrayed me; it has continued rebounding against all odds. It is a body that others map their expectations on, but it has never let me down.

    In this insightful, funny, and whip-smart book, acclaimed writer Evette Dionne explores the minefields fat Black woman are forced to navigate in the course of everyday life. From her early experiences of harassment to adolescent self-discovery in internet chatrooms to diagnosis with heart failure at age twenty-nine, Dionne tracks her relationships with friendship, sex, motherhood, agoraphobia, health, pop culture, and self-image.

    Along the way, she lifts back the curtain to reveal the subtle, insidious forms of surveillance and control levied at fat women: At the doctor’s office, where any health ailment is treated with a directive to lose weight. On dating sites, where larger bodies are rejected or fetishized. On TV, where fat characters are asexual comedic relief. But Dionne’s unflinching account of our deeply held prejudices is matched by her fierce belief in the power of self-love.

    An unmissable portrait of a woman on a journey toward understanding our society and herself, Weightless holds up a mirror to the world we live in and asks us to imagine the future we deserve.

    About Author

    Evette Dionne is a journalist, editor, and pop culture critic. She is the National Book Award–nominated author of Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box, a middle-grade nonfiction book about Black women suffragists, and the former editor in chief of Bitch Media. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Time, the New York Times, the Guardian, Teen Vogue, and elsewhere. A graduate of Bennett College, Dionne is based in Los Angeles, where she works at Netflix.

    About Conversation Partner 

    Morgan Jerkins is the author of Caul Baby, Wandering in Strange Lands and the New York Times bestseller This Will Be My Undoing and a Senior Culture Editor at ESPN’s The Undefeated. Jerkins is a visiting professor at Columbia University and a Forbes 30 Under 30 leader in media, and her short-form work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Elle, Esquire, and the Guardian, among many other outlets. She is based in Harlem. 

  • November 2024: Adult Fiction Book Club - November 26 @ 7PM
    Sold out

    BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

    When: Tuesday, November 26 @ 7PM 

    Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004) 

    How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you're coming and RSVP WITH BOOK to get your copy of James and support our store programming. 

    ABOUT JAMES

    When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

    While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

    Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

  • Virtual Author Talk: You Grow Gurl with Christopher Griffin - March 30 @ 7:00 PM CST
    Sold out

    Join us as we celebrate the release of You Grow Gurl by Christopher Griffin

    EVENT DEETS:

    When: Wednesday, March 30 at 7:00 PM CST

    Where: Virtual via Crowdcast.  You can register using this event page or directly through Crowdcast.

    How:  Registration is required.  You can RSVP with a book purchase or without a book purchase.  We appreciate your support of our store by purchasing the book with us.  This empowers us to continue bringing amazing author programming to Houston and beyond.

    About the Book

    This accessible and empowering guide to plant care as self-care is the perfect book for this Spring. Written by Black, queer, and non-binary plant influencer and expert Christopher Griffin aka @PlantKween, YOU GROW, GURL! (3/22) spills the juiciest tea on how to take care of yourself while taking care of your plants.

    About the Author

    Christopher Griffin (he/she/they) aka @PlantKween is the go-to source on plant-care as self-care. With tips, tricks, and stunning content filling their Instagram feed, what a better way to share their knowledge with the world than with YOU GROW GURL! (Harper Design / March 22, 2022)—a gorgeous, accessible guide to all things plants. Six years ago, Griffin was just beginning the plant parenthood journey with one small Marble Queen Pothos. Today, this Black Queer non-binary femme plant influencer tends to a family of more than 200 healthy green gurls in the Brooklyn apartment they call home. 

  • September Adult Book Club - Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
    Sold out

    Join us for our monthly book club. Our September pick is Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson 

    Book club will happen Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 PM in the Kindred Stories Reading Garden. RSVP required. See ya'll there!

    About the Book

    A stunning first novel about two young Black artists in London falling in and out of love by a new literary virtuoso, and finalist for the BBC Short Story Award, twenty-six-year old writer and photographer Caleb Azumah Nelson

     

    In a crowded London pub, two young people meet. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists—he a photographer, she a dancer—and both are trying to make their mark in a world that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence, and over the course of a year they find their relationship tested by forces beyond their control.

    Narrated with deep intimacy, Open Water is at once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity that asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body; to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength; to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, and blistering emotional intelligence, Caleb Azumah Nelson gives a profoundly sensitive portrait of romantic love in all its feverish waves and comforting beauty.

    This is one of the most essential debut novels of recent years, heralding the arrival of a stellar and prodigious young talent.


  • Kindred Stories Silent Reading Party - July 17 @ 6 PM
    Sold out

    Unwind at our Silent Reading Party — a cozy gathering where book lovers come together to read quietly in good company. Bring your favorite book, settle in, and enjoy a peaceful escape in a warm, relaxed setting. 

  • IRL AUTHOR TALK: Design Against Racism with Omari Souza - October 9 @ 7 PM
    Sold out

    Celebrate the release of  Design Against Racism : Creating Work That Transforms Communities with Omari Souza!

    EVENT DEETS

    When: Thursday, October 9 @ 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.

    *Copies of Design Against Racism that were not purchased at Kindred Stories will not be permitted at the event. 

    ABOUT THE BOOK

    A historical and philosophical exploration of the impact of design on underserved communities, examining the field’s shortcomings as well as its potential to create positive change. Through essays that delve into history and practice, and case studies that demonstrate practical strategies, Design Against Racism explores how designers of all disciplines can address, through their work, the legacies of racism and oppression.

    Design profoundly influences culture. The heart of this book is its powerful blend of essays on design history, illustrated case studies, and discussions of practical methods to approach design work, adapted from the restorative justice movement. It explores how design as a professional practice and academic discipline directly affects historically excluded communities, offering frameworks and examples that foster collective improvement.

    Topics from author Omari Souza, founder of the annual State of Black Design conference, and contributing design professionals include:

    • Unveiling the White Gaze: The Narrative of Whiteness and Colonial Nostalgia
    • Language as a Tool for Marginalization—and Resistance
    • Hip-Hop Architecture: Transforming Spaces through Culture and Innovation
    • Afrofuturism as a Design Strategy
    • Whose Knowledge Is It? Reclaiming Histories, Narratives, and the Plurality of Knowledge
    • Nonhierarchical Engagement with Communities—Anti-Racist Design Community Pop-Up

    This is a critique of design and a practical handbook that will teach designers and educators how a restorative justice approach can transform their design practice to counteract and fight racism.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Omari Souza is a first-generation American of Jamaican descent who was raised in the Bronx, NY. He is an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the University of North Texas and organizer of the State of Black Design conference. He received his BFA in Digital Media from the Cleveland Institute of Art and his MFA in Design from Kent State University.

    ABOUT THE MODERATOR

    Tracey L. Moore is an Associate Professor and Interim Director of the Digital Media Arts Program at Prairie View A&M University. She holds a BA in Advertising Art from Prairie View and an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Houston. Moore teaches upper-division courses, including Layout, Typography, and Branding, and has developed the DesignView Media Center, a student-run studio offering graphic design services and real-world experience for Digital Media Arts majors. One of her studio projects was featured in Anthology of Blackness: State of Black Design, and a second project won the Texas Association of Schools of Art 2024 Excellence in the Field Award.

     

  • MARCH 2025: Non Fiction Book Club - March 18 @ 7PM
    Sold out

    We're meeting to discuss Communion by bell hooks!

    BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

    When: Tuesday, March 18 @ 7PM CST

    Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004

    How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend and RSVP WITH BOOK to purchase your book and support Fiction Book Club!

    ABOUT COMMUNION

    Intimate, revealing, provocative, Communion challenges every female to courageously claim the search for love as the heroic journey she must choose to be truly free. Silencing our fears about becoming women who love too much, Communion answers all of our questions about the place of love in a woman’s life.

    bell hooks explores the ways ideas about women and love were changed by the feminist movement, by women’s full participation in the workforce, by the culture of self-help and by popular media forces such as television and movies. She celebrates the experiences of women over 30, shares collective wisdom, and the lessons learned as we practice the art of loving. Communion is the heart-to-heart talk every woman needs to hear.

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