In the city of Houston - a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America - the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He’s working at his family’s restaurant, weathering his brother’s blows, resenting his older sister’s absence. And discovering he likes boys.

Around him, others live and thrive and die in Houston’s myriad neighborhoods: a young woman whose affair detonates across an apartment complex, a ragtag baseball team, a group of young hustlers, hurricane survivors, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, a reluctant chupacabra.

Bryan Washington’s brilliant, viscerally drawn world vibrates with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot explores trust and love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.

Celebrate the release of The Unhaunting with Micaiah Johnson!

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, October 1 @ 7 PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to grab your copy of the book, 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.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A house, itself, is nothing. It’s not a shelter until it is sheltering someone. A house is a housefire, waiting for its match. A house is a ghost story, waiting for its death.

At the end of the Civil War, a daughter of the Confederacy made what she thought was an innocent wish: to build a house where nothing bad could happen. But peace came at a price, and one hundred and seventy years later Shantell and her friends are about to discover where all that darkness ended up.

When Shantell’s best friend, Avery, tells her he has inherited a house big enough to make their dreams of a sanctuary come true, she’s too cautious to be optimistic. A lifetime of loss — her father to the Iraq war, her brother to police violence, and her mother to suicide — has taught her cynicism, and even though Avery swears the house has never experienced a tragedy, she goes along expecting everything from black mold to evil spirits.

But not only is the house in better shape than they’d expected, it makes them better too: Shantell’s anxiety stops flaring up; terminally shallow Avery is suddenly capable of deeper emotions; and Tobias, Avery’s older brother and the contractor for the job, even quits chain smoking.

There’s an eeriness to the calm, and it’s almost a relief when they realize they do not walk alone in Abernathy House. If nothing bad has ever happened here, where are all these ghosts coming from? As they dig into the house’s history, Shantell, Avery, and Tobias discover that there’s only one thing worse than a house that’s haunted: a house that desperately wants to be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Micaiah Johnson is a Carl Brandon and Compton Crook Award-winning author. Her debut novel, The Space Between Worlds, was a Sunday Times Bestseller, a Locus Award finalist, an Editors’ Choice at The New York Times and was named one of best books of 2020 and one of the best science fiction books of the last decade by NPR. Her follow-up novel, Those Beyond the Wall, a timely look at violence during apartheid, was released in March 2024 and has been named as a Best Books of 2024 by NPR, Reactor, Esquire and Lithub. She received her BA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside, and her MFA in fiction from Rutgers University-Camden, and her PhD from Vanderbilt University.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Celebrate the release of Nola and Baldwin with Donna Hill!

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, November 21 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St. Houston, TX 77004)

How: 

• RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat.

• RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy Nola and Baldwin, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.

Please Note: Copies of Nola and Baldwin purchased from other retailers are not permitted in the bookstore and are not eligible for the signing or photo line. To participate in the signing and photo opportunity, you must purchase a copy from Kindred Stories. If you already purchased your book from Kindred Stories, you may select the RSVP Only ticket option and bring your Kindred Stories copy to the event.

If you purchase a ticket and are unable to attend the event, your ticket is non-refundable. If your ticket includes a book, an email will be sent to all attendees before and after the event with instructions on how to receive your book. Books must be claimed within 14 days following the event. If your book is not retrieved it will be returned to the publisher and will not be available for pick up in the future.

ABOUT THE BOOK

If it wasn’t for Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Nola Denny didn’t know how she would have survived her father’s tragic death or her mother’s descent into mental illness. Inspired by Hurston’s main character, Janie Crawford, Nola sets out to find her own voice, silenced by the weight of being a caretaker and the pains of her past. On her journey to New York, Nola stops in Meridian—a detour that unexpectedly leads to a fresh start, a home, and her own Tea Cake, a Pullman Porter named Baldwin Carter.

Baldwin escaped a loveless childhood and found a caring stranger who invited him into her home and gave him a chance at a new life. A proud, hardworking Pullman Porter, Baldwin must endure bowing and scraping to passengers who barely see him as a man. When he encounters Nola, he instinctively knows he has met his anchor, a woman who makes every inch of him stand tall.

Experiencing loss, hardship, and months of separation, Nola and Baldwin must come to terms with their pasts to share a future together. The young couple know that time and distance cannot separate them, and that the sacrifices they must make are not only for themselves, but for all those who come after them, searching for a better life.

Set during the end of the Great Depression, and shaped by real-world events, crisscrossing the country from South to Midwest to North, Nola and Baldwin is an epic tale of a love powerful enough to overcome the dark forces of racism that threatens to tear it apart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donna Hill began hercareer in 1987 writing short stories for confession magazines and has since published more than 100 titles. She is considered one of the early pioneers of African American romance. 

She is considered one of the early pioneers of African American romance. Three of her novels, Intimate Betrayal, Masquerade and A Private Affair, have been adapted for television. Her work crosses romance, mystery and women's fiction, and her honors include the Career Achievement Award, the Trailblazer Award, the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award and the Gold Pen Award. Hill holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and serves as Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College. 

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

ReShonda Tate is the national bestselling author of more than 50 books, including her latest The Queen of Sugar Hill, based on the life of Hattie McDaniel. Her novel, Let the Church Say Amen, was made into a film directed by actress Regina King, and produced by TD Jakes and Queen Latifah. Her book, The Secret She Kept, was also made into a TV One movie starring Kyla Pratt. ReShonda made appearances in both movies. She wrote a movie, Christmas with my Ex, which will run on TV One this winter.

A well-respected journalist and former TV News Anchor, ReShonda is currently Managing Editor for the Defender Newspaper and also works as a professional editor, ghostwriter, and literary consultant.

A highly sought-after motivational speaker and award-winning poet, ReShonda is the recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature.

In Houston, as in the rest of the American South up until the 1950s, the police force reflected and enforced the segregation of the larger society. When the nation began to change in the 1950s and 1960s, this guardian of the status quo had to change, too. It was not designed to do so easily.

Dwight Watson traces how the Houston Police Department reacted to social, political, and institutional change over a fifty-year period—and specifically, how it responded to and in turn influenced racial change.

Using police records as well as contemporary accounts, Watson astutely analyzes the escalating strains between the police and segments of the city’s black population in the 1967 police riot at Texas Southern University and the 1971 violence that became known as the Dowling Street Shoot-Out. The police reacted to these events and to daily challenges by hardening its resolve to impose its will on the minority community.

By 1977, the events surrounding the beating and drowning of Jose Campos Torres while in police custody prompted one writer to label the HPD the “meanest police in America.” This event encouraged Houston’s growing Mexican American community to unite with blacks in seeking to curb police autonomy and brutality.

Watson’s study demonstrates vividly how race complicated the internal impulses for change and gave way through time to external pressures—including the Civil Rights Movement, modernization, annexations, and court-ordered redistricting—for institutional changes within the department. His work illuminates not only the role of a southern police department in racial change but also the internal dynamics of change in an organization designed to protect the status quo.

Join us in celebrating one of Houston's most beloved author, Bryan Washington's forthcoming book, Family Meal. 

EVENT DEETS

When: Monday, October 16, 2023 at 7:30 PM

Where: Hogan Brown Gallery in The Eldorado Ballroom at Project Row Houses

How: RSVP ONLY to make sure you get in the door. RSVP WITH BOOK to ensure you leave with a signed copy of Family Meal. You must purchase Family Meal in order to enter the signing line. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Cam is living in Los Angeles and falling apart after the love of his life has died. Kai's ghost won't leave Cam alone; his spectral visits wild, tender, and unexpected. When Cam returns to his hometown of Houston, he crashes back into the orbit of his former best friend, TJ, and TJ's family bakery. TJ's not sure how to navigate this changed Cam, impenetrably cool and self-destructing, or their charged estrangement. Can they find a way past all that has been said - and left unsaid - to save each other? Could they find a way back to being okay again, or maybe for the first time?

When secrets and wounds become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Spanning Los Angeles, Houston, and Osaka, Family Meal is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love. With his signature generosity and eye for food, sex, love, and the moments that make us the most human, Bryan Washington returns with a brilliant new novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bryan Washington is the author of the story collection Lot and the novel Memorial. He is also the winner of a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award, a New York Public Library Young Lions Award, an Ernest J. Gaines Award, an International Dylan Thomas Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and was a finalist for the James Tait Black Prize, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize finalist, a National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize finalist, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award. He is a columnist for the New York Times Magazine and his fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories. He divides his time between Houston and Osaka.

EVENT DEETS:

When: Thursday, January 9 at 7 PM CST

Where: Hogan Brown Community (2310 Elgin Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP WITH BOOK to support our programming and store or grab a free ticket. 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Irvin is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor from New Orleans. His writing has been featured in Esquire, The Atlantic, The Root, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from The New School, an MA from Morgan State University, a BA from Morehouse College and has received fellowships and awards from the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, the Research Foundation of CUNY, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNERS

Texas native Anthony Suber is an interdisciplinary artist working and living in SouthEast Texas. He received a BFA from the University of Houston and completed his MFA at Houston Christian University. Throughout his career, Suber has exhibited work and produced multi-tiered activations both nationally and abroad. Suber is a professor of art with the Katherine G. McGovern College at University Houston’s School of Art and an artist-in-residence with Project Row Houses in Houston’s historic Third Ward community. He also serves as the Creative Director for the arts and mental health nonprofit, The Blackman Project. 

Suber’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece, Project Row Houses, Houston, Tinney Contemporary in Nashville, University Museum at Texas Southern University, Houston, Art is Bond Gallery, Houston, John B. Coleman Gallery at Prairie View A&M University, Houston Museum of African American Culture, with solo exhibitions at Red Bud Arts Center in Houston, LRT Gallery, Houston and Cindy Lisica Gallery, Houston. His work has been featured in publications such as Arts and Culture Texas, Glass Tire, The Houston Chronicle, and Free Press Houston. Suber was the recipient of the Artadia Art Prize in 2022. 

Wale is a licensed mental health therapist and a passionate reader who uses her platform (@theehottgirlbooks) to dive deep into powerfully emotional stories written by BIPOC authors. Her love for reading and mental health fosters a passionate approach to her work both online and in the therapy room. When she is not immersed in the literary world, you can find her watching the real housewives or building an elaborate Lego set.

Celebrate the release of The Drakon King with Terry J. Benton-Walker!

EVENT DEETS

When: Wednesday, November 18 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St. Houston, TX 77004)

How:

• RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat
• RSVP WITH BOOK to reserv your seat, grab your copy of The Drakon King, and support the author and our store programming.

Please Note: Books purchased from other retailers are not permitted in the bookstore and are not eligible for the signing or photo line. To participate in the signing and photo opportunity, you must either purchase a copy from Kindred Stories. If you already purchased your book from Kindred Stories, you may select the RSVP Only ticket option and bring your Kindred Stories copy to the event.

If you purchase a ticket and are unable to attend the event, your ticket is non-refundable. If your ticket includes a book, an email will be sent to all attendees before and after the event with instructions on how to receive your book. Books must be claimed within 14 days following the event. If your book is not retrieved it will be returned to the publisher and will not be available for pick up in the future.

ABOUT THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Terry J. Benton-Walker is the best-selling and award-winning author of fantasy and horror, most notably the Blood Debts and Alex Wise series and The White Guy Dies First horror anthology. The Drakon King is Terry’s first romantic fantasy for the adult market.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

N.E. Davenport is the author of Our Vicious Oaths, the Blood Gift duology, and the YA novels Out of Body and Love Spells Trouble (as Nia Davenport). When she isn’t writing, she enjoys vacationing with her family, skiing, and being a huge foodie.

Join us to commemorate Phillip B. Williams's first novel, Ours: A Novel!

EVENT DEETS

When: Sunday, October 27 @ 3PM CST

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

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve you seat (and bring your own copy) or RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your copy. 

If you are student or in financial need, please reach out to inquire about a free ticket.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this ingenious, sweeping novel, Phillip B. Williams introduces us to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjuror who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there. She brings those she has freed to a haven of her own creation: a town just north of St. Louis, magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours.

It is in this miraculous place that Saint’s grand experiment—a truly secluded community where her people may flourish—takes root. But although Saint does her best to protect the inhabitants of Ours, over time, her conjuring and memories begin to betray her, leaving the town vulnerable to intrusions by newcomers with powers of their own. As the cracks in Saint’s creation are exposed, some begin to wonder whether the community’s safety might be yet another form of bondage.

Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, Ours is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom by a writer of capacious vision and talent.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phillip B. Williams is from Chicago, Illinois, and is the author of two collections of poetry: Thief in the Interior, which was the winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a Lambda Literary Award, and Mutiny, which was a finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection and the winner of a 2022 American Book Award. Williams is also the recipient of a Whiting Award and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Arts. He currently teaches in the MFA in creative writing program at New York University and the Randolph College low-residency MFA.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of “The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative,” a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

A moving picture book about the history of Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas—and the origins of Juneteenth.

When people visit me, they are free—to run, play, gather, and rejoice.

They built me to remember.

On June 19, 1865, the 250,000 enslaved people of Texas learned they were free, ending slavery in the United States. This day was soon to be memorialized with the dedication of a park in Houston. The park was called Emancipation Park, and the day it honored would come to be known as Juneteenth.  

In the voice and memory of the park itself—its fields and pools, its protests and cookouts, and, most of all, its people—the 150-year story of Emancipation Park is brought to life. Through lyrical text and vibrant artwork, Tonya Duncan Ellis and Jenin Mohammed have crafted an ode to the struggle, triumph, courage, and joy of Black America—and the promise of a people to remember.

Celebrate the release of Struck Speechless with Tati Richardson!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday, June 5 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat, RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming, or RSVP (BUT I ALREADY HAVE A BOOK) if you already have a copy and would like to get it signed. 

*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

Sports agent Jackie Miles is a petite powerhouse who has built her empire on killer instincts, designer stilettos, and tough skin. Her client roster is legendary, her temper is hotter than Georgia asphalt, and aside from her French bulldog PeeWee and her "boss chick village," she's perfectly content flying solo.

Then Antonio Steele walks back into her life, and all hell breaks loose.

The towering former football star turned rival agent has always known exactly which buttons to push. Just when Jackie thinks she can handle their explosive chemistry and complicated past, she mysteriously loses her voice. But this isn't ordinary laryngitis; a cryptic stranger's message implies that Jackie must "quiet her tongue and listen with her heart" to lift whatever spell she's under.

With a career-defining client trip to Mexico looming, and only the devastatingly handsome Antonio as backup, Jackie must learn to let go-if only she could trust him to catch her.

Struck Speechless is book two in the Boss Chicks Village Series, following the hit romcom Losing Sight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TATI RICHARDSON (she/her) is the author of Losing Sight, a romantic comedy which Kirkus called "playful" and "terrific" in a starred review; and The Build Up, named one of Amazon's Best Books of 2023 and a Booklist Top Romance of 2023. She is cofounder of the Romance in Colour podcast, and an Apple Books Writer to Watch.
Under the name T.M. Richardson, she writes extra-steamy works like the USA Today bestseller The Oath. A native of Atlanta, Tati lives with her husband and daughter.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Tiye is a USA Today Bestselling author known for her emotional and captivating novels. She has enchanted readers with stories that offer an escape into richly imagined worlds. Professionally, Tiye works in the mental health field, providing services through her private practice and teaching. A Southern girl currently residing in Houston finds inspiration from her travels and enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Celebrate Tarriona's latest poetry collection, The Thing About Falling!

EVENT DEETS

When: Sunday, November 22 @ 6 PM

Where: Kindred Stories: (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: 

• RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy The Thing About Falling, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.
• RSVP WITH POETRY BUNDLE to reserve your seat and purchase a copies of The Thing About Falling and Vulnerale AF, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.

This event will include a live book signing and photo opportunity. There will be no author reading or conversation. 

Event begins at 6 PM. Line forms at 5:30 PM. Please do not line up before 5:30 PM. You will be asked to get back in your vehicle before 5:30 PM.

If you purchase a ticket and are unable to attend the signing, your ticket is non-refundable. An email will be sent to all attendees before and after the event with instructions on how to receive your book. Books must be claimed within 14 days following the event. If your book is not retrieved it will be returned to the publisher and will not be available for pick up in the future.

ABOUT THE BOOK

From Grammy award-winning spoken word artist and poet Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball comes a powerful second collection of poetry about falling out of love and into a renewed sense of self.

After getting “vulnerable AF” on her 2021 book tour, Tank realized she was truly ready to move on from her first love. In The Thing About Falling, she writes about that experience as well as what followed—a period of shallow comfort, followed by a much deeper transformation.

Organized in sections that follow the author from heartbreak to rebound to new love, the poetry that flows is an honest, witty, and effortlessly charming account of one woman’s journey back to herself.

For the teenage reader facing their first heartbreak or the thirty-something looking for the strength to risk love again, The Thing About Falling is a heartfelt reminder that love is always worth the fall.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tarriona “Tank” Ball is a powerhouse of creative energy—a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and celebrated poet whose artistry defies the boundaries of genre. As the magnetic frontwoman of the New Orleans-based ensemble Tank and The Bangas, she has become a global ambassador for the city’s vibrant, soul-drenched musical heritage.

Born and raised in the heart of New Orleans, Ball’s foundation in the spoken-word scene is the heartbeat of her work. Her ability to weave poignant, cinematic lyrics with a vocal range that shifts effortlessly from a whisper to a roar has earned her a reputation as one of the most compelling performers of her generation. Under her leadership, the band catapulted to national stardom after winning the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest, a victory that showcased their eclectic fusion of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, and gospel to millions.

A true "artist’s artist," Ball has become a sought-after collaborator, working alongside icons and innovators such as Norah Jones, Robert Glasper, Jill Scott, Lalah Hathaway, Terence Blanchard, and Lucky Daye. Her influence extends far beyond the microphone; she is a 4-time Grammy nominee and a literary force, having released her debut poetry collection, Vulnerable AF, in 2021 to critical acclaim, with her highly anticipated follow-up, The Thing About Falling, which released in Fall 2025.

Expanding her reach into television, Ball earned an Emmy nomination for her role as the host of the PBS digital series Ritual, where she explores the intersections of culture and tradition. Whether through a microphone, a pen, or a camera lens, Tarriona “Tank” Ball remains a singular voice dedicated to the radical power of joy and the raw beauty of the human experience.

The Houston Chinatown’s dramatic transformation from a Chinese enclave decades ago to a continually expanding multiethnic boomtown today contrasts development stagnation in many other traditional American Chinatowns. This pioneer study delineates the evolution of Houston’s two Chinatowns, from the emergence and decline of Old Chinatown to the subsequent development and vibrant growth of New Chinatown – spanning nearly a century.

Zheng and Zou delve into the distinctive character of New Chinatown, underscoring its innovative progress that sets it apart from the nation’s oldest major Chinatowns, a quintessentially Houston story. They also probe the immigrant experience, political landscape, and socioeconomic dynamics that influenced the Chinatowns’ metamorphoses. Scanning the community’s collective response to the dire impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New Chinatown, the chapters examine the latest development trends in the New Chinatown areas, shedding light on the extent to which they are upholding, or deviating from, traditional practices. Furthermore, the book explores the significance of these trends to the local community and beyond, alongside their wider implications.

Amidst the growth challenges encountered by numerous Chinatowns across America, this timely work offers insightful perspectives on a sustainable model for urban and community development, as demonstrated by the transformative journey of Houston’s New Chinatown.