Celebrate Taylor Byas' new poetry collection, Resting Bitch Face! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, September 4 @ 7 PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin Street, Houston, Texas, 77004) 

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and the bookstore!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Resting Bitch Face is a book for women, for Black women, for lovers of art and film criticism, and for writers interested in work that finds a middle ground between poetry and prose. Taylor Byas uses some of our most common ways of “watching” throughout history (painting, films, sculpture, and photographs) to explore how these mediums shape Black female subjectivity.

From the examination of artwork by Picasso, Gauguin, Sally Mann, and Nan Goldin, Byas displays her mastery of the poetic form by engaging in intimate and inventive writing. Fluctuating between watcher and watched, the speaker of these poems uses mirrors and reflections to flip the script and talk back to histories of art, text, photography, relationships, and men. From Polaroids to gesso primer to sculpture, Byas creates a world in which the artist calls out and the muse responds. For not only does she enter the world of the long-revered classic artist, but she also infuses her poems with such iconic pop culture works as The Joker, WandaVision, and Last Tango in Paris.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

TAYLOR BYAS is an award-winning poet and a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her poetry collection I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times won the Maya Angelou Book Award, the Ohioana Book Award, the CHIRBy Award, and the BCALA Best Poetry Honor.

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Thursday, September 26 @ 7PM 

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 Adult Fiction Book Club 

ABOUT MARTYR

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Tuesday, September 10 @ 7PM 

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 Romance Book Club 

ABOUT ONLY FOR THE WEEK

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Amerie Cross and Arnold Hightower.

And now a toast from the maid of honor, Janelle Cross!

Hi everyone, thank you for being here.

Some of you may know me as the sister of the bride.

Some of you may know me as the ex-girlfriend of the groom.

But I'm willing to bet none of you know me as the woman secretly sleeping with the best man.

I am.

I know, I'm just as surprised as you.

It was only supposed to be for the week; but every kiss, adventure, and stolen moment with Rome Martin feels like it could last forever.

Oh well. What happens in Tulum stays in Tulum.

Right?

We're meeting to discuss Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Thursday, July 24 @ 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 HAPPY LAND

A woman learns the incredible story of a real-life American Kingdom—and her family’s ties to it—in this enthralling novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Take My Hand.

Nikki hasn’t seen her grandmother in years, due to a mysterious estrangement inherited from her mother. So when the elder calls out of the blue with an urgent request for Nikki to visit her in the hills of western North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her family, she’s determined to learn the truth while she still can.

But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who would become its queen. 

It sounds like the makings of a fairy tale—royalty among a community of freed people. But the more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Land, and the lives of those who dwelled in the ruins she discovers in the woods, the more she realizes how much of her identity and her family’s secrets are wrapped up in these hills. Because this land is their legacy, and it will be up to her to protect it before it, like so much else, is stolen away.

Inspired by true events, Happy Land is a transporting multi-generational novel about the stories that shape us and the dazzling courage it takes to dream.

We're meeting to discuss The Dating Prohibition by Taj Mccoy!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Tuesday, October 14 @ 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 DATING PROHIBITION

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.

Celebrate Love & Sportsball with author, Meka James! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, October 9 @ 7:30 PM CST

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

How: RSVP ONLY to save your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support our bookstore and the author!

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this steamy and sweet sapphic romance, set in the world of women's basketball, an uptight athletic trainer has one taboo night with a hot team member determined to play for her heart – and win.

Hard work has Khadijah Upton starting her dream job as an athletic trainer for the WNBA Atlanta Cannons. Then an evening of celebratory letting loose turns into a one-night-stand with a beautiful stranger. It’s a reckless, wildly sexy encounter that Khadijah intends to forget…until her first day on the job lands her face to face with Shae Harris again.

Shae is a major player in every sense of the word, and Khadijah doesn’t plan to be the latest in a long line of “Harris Honeys.” Personal and professional just don’t mix. But Shae, who’s all about living life to the fullest, keeps tempting Khadijah to blur the boundaries. And the more Shae reveals about herself, the harder it is for Khadijah to resist her.

In the bedroom, their tension sizzles. On the court, it’s a liability. But unless Khadijah’s willing to really let Shae in, it won’t be just the championship on the line, but a body-and-soul connection that rewrites all the rules.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meka James is a writer of adult contemporary and erotic romance. A born and raised Georgia Peach, she still resides in the southern state with her hubby of 16 years and counting. Mom to four kids of the two legged variety, she also has four fur-babies of the canine variety. Leo the turtle and Spade the snake rounds out her wacky household. When not writing or reading, Meka can be found playing The Sims 3, sometimes Sims 4, and making up fun stories to go with the pixelated people whose world she controls.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Chencia C. Higgins is just a girl from Texas who has made it her mission to create stories in which sassy, southern Black women are loved out loud. In 2019 she won a Romance Slam Jam Emma award for her debut paranormal romance, Janine: His True Alpha. When she isn't hunkered down in her writing cave, Chencia can be found with her nose in a book, saving recipes on Pinterest for things she'll never make, and dreaming about traveling even further south for the winter.

Celebrate the release of The Kiss Countdown with Etta Easton!

Event DEETS

When: Tuesday, April 9 @ 7PM CST

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

How: RSVP to reserve your seat and RSVP WITH BOOK to grab your copy and support our programming. 

About the Book 

A struggling event planner and a sinfully hot astronaut must decide if their fake relationship is worth a shot at happily-ever-after, in this starry debut.

Risk-averse event planner Amerie Price is jobless, newly single, and about to lose her apartment. With no choice but to gamble on her shaky start-up, the last thing she needed was to run into her smug ex and his new, less complicated girlfriend at Amerie's favorite coffee shop. Panicked, she pretends to be dating the annoyingly sexy man she met by spilling Americano all over his abs. He plays along—for a price.

Half the single men in Houston claim to be astronauts, but Vincent Rogers turns out to be the real deal. What started as a one-off lie morphs into a plan: for the three months leading up to his mission, Amerie will play Vincent's doting partner in front of his loving but overly invested family. In exchange, she gets a rent-free room in his house and can put every penny toward her struggling business.

What Amerie doesn't plan for is Vincent's gravitational pull. While her mind tells her a future with this astronaut is too unpredictable, her heart says he's exactly what she needs. As their time together counts down, Amerie must decide if she'll settle for the safe life—or shoot for the stars.

About the Author

Etta Easton is a certified hopeless romantic who now writes contemporary romance. Her stories are full of humor, relatable heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, and Black joy. She lives in Central Texas with her husband and two young kids.

About the Conversation Partner

Naina Kumar is a lawyer by day and a reader and writer of romance at night. She lives in Texas, close to her family whose antics provide endless inspiration. When she’s not writing, she enjoys taking her rowdy rescue dog on walks, rewatching Gilmore Girls on a loop, and shopping at HEB. Say You’ll Be Mine is her debut novel.

Join us as we continue discussing bell hooks' All About Love. This was our book club pick in June but the group truly believed that they needed more time with this text. 

This discussion will take place September 13, 2022 at 7:00 PM in the Kindred Stories' Reading Garden. RSVP Required. See ya'll there!

About the Book

With the warmth and intimacy of M. Scott Peck and in the intellectual tradition of Eric Fromm, bell hooks’ most popular and accessible work ever in which she shows us how to cultivate a love ethic that will heal us as individuals and as a nation

“The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet...we would all love better if we used it as a verb,” writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness.

As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explore the question “What is love?” her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for the individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the “100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life.” All About Love is a powerful affirmation of just how profoundly she can.

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, August 3, 2024 

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

How: RSVP for free with your school email

WHAT TO EXPECT:

With the beginning of the school year on the horizon, we wanted to take a moment to show our love and appreciation for the work of educators. We'll be serving light bites and drink (including mimosas). There will be a short meditation and intention setting workshop. We'll also be sharing the services that we offer to schools and school districts.

We hope you join us!

The Black Man Project in partnership with Kindred Stories invites you to move toward wholeness and healing. 

EVENT DEETS: 

WHEN: May 29, 2022 @ 9 AM

WHERE: Kindred Stories Reading Garden (2304 Stuart Street, HTX 77004)

HOW: Limited spaces are available. Be sure to reserve you spot today!

ABOUT THE EVENT

As Mental Health Awareness Month comes to an end, we invite you to slow down and tap into yourselves. While we strongly believe in seeking outside help in order to step into your wholeness, we are also advocates of self-care. We have invited Black wellness practitioners to come and share their healing practices with us. Our hope is that you find something to add to your wellness routine. 

Tentative Schedule 

ABOUT THE BLACK MAN PROJECT

The Black Man Project explores the origins of how misconceptions such as one dimensional expression and emotional inaccessibility have come to be. We specifically explore the complexity of African American masculinity for young boys and simultaneously create safe spaces for black young men to engage in dialogue that grants space that nurtures healing, wholeness, leadership, accountability, and brotherhood. 

To learn more visit: www.theblackmanproject.com