An Indie bookstore owner finds herself in a love triangle when she meets the author she's had a crush on for years...and his best friend.

Zora has committed every inch of her life to establishing her thriving DC bookstore, making it into a pillar of the community, and she just hasn’t had time for romance. But when a mystery author she’s been crushing on for years agrees to have an event at her store, she starts to rethink her priorities. Lawrence is every bit as charming as she imagined, even if his understanding of his own books seems just a bit shallow. When he asks her out after his reading, she’s almost elated enough to forget about the grumpy guy who sat next to her making snide comments all evening. Apparently the grouch is Lawrence’s best friend, Reid, but she can’t imagine what kind of friendship that must be. They couldn’t be more different.

But as she starts seeing Lawrence, and spending more and more time with Reid, Zora finds first impressions can be deceiving. Reid is smart and thoughtful. And interested. After years of avoiding dating, she suddenly has two handsome men competing for her affection. But even as she struggles to choose between them, she can’t shake the feeling that they’re both hiding something. A mystery she’s determined to solve before she can find her HEA.

*Ships in 7-10 business days*

From the esteemed President of Hampton University, an insider account that reveals the secret to HBCU graduates’ remarkable success—a distinguished honor roll which includes Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Ruth Carter, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and many others.

In his more-than-four-decade tenure as the President of Hampton University—one of 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America—Dr. William R. Harvey has been a champion of the cultural impact and value of HBCUs, demonstrated by the achievements of their numerous notable alumni. Their success is no coincidence. It is the result of a faultless formula that sets HBCUs apart and helps their students thrive—a formula built on core tenets, including displaying moral and wholesome values at all times, continuously pursuing character growth, and embracing communal responsibilities whenever possible.

The mission of Dr. Harvey is to represent Blackness to its highest degree at every opportunity. He is a passionate believer in the remarkability of the Black diaspora in all its complexity and beauty. That conviction drives the timeless lessons he’s adhered to and has instilled in his students: the power of dress to establish respect; the importance of integrity; financial accountability; reverence for elders. It is these tried-and-true lessons and others that have uniquely prepared and propelled HBCU students to success for generations. 

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities' Guide to Excellence is a thoughtful and knowledgeable account of what it truly takes to successfully navigate a white world as a Black person while retaining one’s core Blackness. Practical and proven, it lays the groundwork for individual and communal Black prosperity. 

EVENT DEETS: 

When: December 5 at 630 PM

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

How: RSVP for your time with Glory. Please purchase On Girlhood if you have not to support our programming. 

About The Book

Proudly introducing the Well-Read Black Girl Library Series, On Girlhood is a lovingly curated anthology celebrating short fiction from such luminaries as Rita Dove, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and more.

Featuring stories by: Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, Dorothy West, Rita Dove, Camille Acker, Toni Cade Bambara, Amina Gautier, Alexia Arthurs, Dana Johnson, Alice Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Edwidge Danticat, Shay Youngblood, Paule Marshall, and Zora Neale Hurston.

“When you look over your own library, who do you see?” asks Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim in this lovingly curated anthology. Bringing together an array of “unforgettable, and resonant coming-of-age stories” (Nicole Dennis-Benn), Edim continues her life’s work to brighten and enrich American reading lives through the work of both canonical and contemporary Black authors—from Jamaica Kincaid and Toni Morrison to Dana Johnson and Alexia Arthurs. Divided into four themes—Innocence, Belonging, Love, and Self-Discovery—On Girlhood features fierce young protagonists who contend with trials that shape who they are and what they will become. At times heartbreaking and hilarious, the stories within push past flat stereotypes and powerfully convey the beauty of Black girlhood, resulting in an indispensable compendium for every home library.

About The Author

Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma, and resilience from the celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Black Is King, award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire.

Cuban American Camila Núñez has always been afraid of the future. She’s been working hard to keep her anxieties in check, but with so many new experiences―her first queer love, trouble with her dog walking job, her mother’s judgments about her body, learning to drive, her father being too busy with work―there’s just so much to worry about.

So when Camila’s best friend gives her a tarot card reading for her sixteenth birthday, she believes it when the cards predict terrible things to come. As the year unfolds, the cards seem to be spot-on―is her papi having an affair? Will her best friend’s love life ruin their friendship? Are all her relationships doomed to fail?

Whether she’s ready or not, Camila will have to reckon with all the ways her fear about the future is ruining her life and learn to find peace amidst it all.

EVENT DEETS

When: October 20 at 7:00PM CST

Where: Project Row House Community Gallery (2521 Holman Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP with book to support our programming and store or grab a free ticket. 

About the Book 

As a little boy grows into a bigger boy, ready to take on the world, he first must have that very difficult conversation far too familiar to so many Black Americans on how to live in a world where racism is ready to take on YOU....

Most Black and Brown children are given some form of The Talk, but it's not the easiest subject to broach. This book, gently and with unexpected humor, offers parents a way into this all too necessary conversation. The Talk isn't all gloom and worry. It shows Black children enjoying life, and that they are deserve to gather in big groups, laugh too loudly, run as fast as they can, and to live freely like the kids that they are.

It's just as vital that kids who aren't given The Talk, or aren't aware of it, BECOME aware of it, become aware of what others have to contend with, because you can't make a change without knowing what needs changing.

About the Author

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received the Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris prize finalist, and won the Coretta Scott King--John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Alicia D also debuted a picture book biography, Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston. And followed up with Shirley Chisholm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress and The Talk.  

Alicia shares a passion for storytelling which stems from conducting school residencies as a Master Teaching Artist of arts-integration. Alicia D infuses her love for drama, movement, and storytelling to inspire students to write. She resides in Charlotte, NC.

About the Illustrator

Briana Mukodiri Uchendu is an illustrator, visual development artist, and a first-generation Nigerian-American. Her work is inspired by her interests in folklore, film, and animation and her passion to highlight voices that usually go unheard. Briana is a graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design where she majored in Illustration. In her illustration debut, her work for The Talk by Newbery Honor-winner Alicia D. Williams (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, October 2022) was juried into The Original Art 2022 by the Society of Illustrators and was awarded the Silver Medal. Her forthcoming projects include We Could Fly by Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell (Candlewick, Fall 2023), Soul Step by New York Times-bestseller Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams (Little Brown, Summer 2024), and Night Market by Seina Wedlick (Random House Studio, Fall 2024). She currently lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas.  

Join us along with ACLU Texas and the Houston Public Library in celebrating Barracoon: Adapted for Young Readers: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"!

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, February 3 at 1 PM CST

Where: 500 McKinney Street, HTX, 77002

How: To get your free ticket, please use the following link on the Houston Public Library website. If you would like to donate to support our programming, check out by adding this product to your cart!

ABOUT THE BOOK 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Ibram X. Kendi is a National Book Award–winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. His books include Antiracist Baby; Goodnight Racism; How to Be an Antiracist; and How to Raise an Antiracist. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. In 2020, Time magazine named Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He has also been awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship.

Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.

We’ve all read breathtaking memoirs by Black luminaries such as Zora Neale Hurston, Angela Davis, and Michelle Obama. How can personal essays and memoirs empower us to write about our own extraordinary ordinary lives?

In conversation with contemporary Black writers who have explored their lived experiences through personal essays and memoirs, we will develop our own voices and, hopefully, cultivate a deeper interest in writing these forms ourselves.

Each class will feature readings, discussions, and in-class writing exercises. Over the course of our four weeks together, every student will have the opportunity to submit one essay for individualized feedback.

EVENT DEETS

When: Wednesdays July 1, 8, 15, & 29 @ 6:30 PM

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

How: RSVP to reserve your place in this four-part workshop series. Space is limited, and registration is intended for participants who are able to attend all four sessions, ensuring a consistent and collaborative experience for the group.

Supplies: All materials will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring a laptop.