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!
Search results: 236 results for “mr. carlton houston”
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IRL AUTHOR TALK: Make Your Way Home with Carrie R. Moore - August 17 @ 5:30 PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK: Make Your Way Home with Carrie R. Moore - August 17 @ 5:30 PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK: Make Your Way Home with Carrie R. Moore - August 17 @ 5:30 PM
Sold outCelebrate the release of Make Your Way Home with Carrie R. Moore!
EVENT DEETS
When: Sunday, August 17 @ 5:30 PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin Street, HTX, 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming*
ABOUT THE BOOK
A debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories. How can you love where you come from, even when home doesn’t love you back?
In eleven stories that span Florida marshes, North Carolina mountains, and Southern metropolitan cities, Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life, despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess, who falls for a new church member, wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom, to promises of a more stable climate.
Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, Carrie R. Moore’s debut collection announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carrie R. Moore’s fiction has appeared in One Story, New England Review, The Sewanee Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and other publications. A recipient of the Keene Prize and the inaugural writer-in-residence at the Steinbeck Writers’ Retreat, she earned her MFA at the Michener Center for Writers. Born in Georgia, she currently resides in Texas with her husband.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Juan Fernando Villagómez is a writer from Houston, TX. His work can be found in Texas Monthly, American Short Fiction, The Cincinnati Review, Ghost City Press, and is forthcoming in The Masters Review. He is a graduate of the New Writers Project at The University of Texas. His writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received support from the James A. Michener Center for Writers, Willapa Bay Artist Residency, Community of Writers, and Sewanee Writers Conference. He lives with his dog, Abba and two cats, Brick and Ghost..
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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
Sold outCelebrate 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.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
April M. Frazier is a native Houstonian and a graduate of Prairie View A&M
University, and Rice University. She spent 15 years as an IT professional with Shell
Oil company and managed global implementations of enterprise systems. April is
the creator of research projects, exhibitions, and other visual presentations that use
photography and other art mediums as a vehicle to share history. Her dedication to
research and authentic storytelling was rewarded with a Texas Historical Marker and
designation in 2024 for her family’s land in Wharton, Texas.April regularly contributes to projects that broaden access and appreciation to
diverse historical narratives such as partnering with Getty Images to launch their
Black History and Culture Photography Collection, providing art and insight to the
SlaveVoyages website redesign project, and published texts including, “Frame of
Reference: A Socio-Economic View of the African American in Texas Through the
Lens of Photography, 20th Century to the Present”. April is the current Assistant
Director of the Community Artists’ Collective and is a member of several
organizations that support equitable access to artistic and educational opportunities. -
AUTHOR TALK: Bringing Wreck with Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley - October 18 @ 6 PM CST
![AUTHOR TALK: Bringing Wreck with Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley - October 18 @ 6 PM CST]()
AUTHOR TALK: Bringing Wreck with Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley - October 18 @ 6 PM CST
Sold outCelebrate the release of Bringing Wreck with Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley, in partnership with The Eldorado Ballroom!
EVENT DEETS
When: Sunday, October 18 @ 6 PM CST
Where: 2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004
How:
- RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat.
- RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy of Bringing Wreck, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.
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 or select the RSVP: I Already Have the Book ticket option, which allows you to bring a copy purchased elsewhere. 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
A whirling exploration of how Megan Thee Stallion inspires Black women and femmes like the late Monica Roberts, framed by the storm-making work of both.A whirling exploration of how Megan Thee Stallion inspires Black women and femmes like the late Monica Roberts, framed by the storm-making work of both.
While rap megastar Megan Thee Stallion needs no introduction, fewer will be familiar with Monica Roberts, a Houston journalist, community historian, and trans activist with the popular blog TransGriot. Though the two women never met, their work has inspired Black LGBTQ+ activists to love, resist violence, speak truth to power, and dance like life depends on it. With a written energy that’s infectious, Omise’eke Tinsley highlights just how intertwined these artists are.
An incisive look at the impactful sisterhood between Black women and femmes, Bringing Wreck is a book of empowerment. From Megan’s first performance on Saturday Night Live calling to “Protect Black Women,” to Roberts’s use of Hurricane Hanna to poke fun at Donald Trump’s border wall, Tinsley digs into the world-changing power of disruption and joyful expression in the face of racial injustice, anti-trans and queer violence, mental health crises, and community disparities. Reveling in both women’s love of Houston, calling-out of gendered violence, penchant for political humor, and staunch mental health advocacy, Bringing Wreck is an ode to the Bayou City, Black music, and the difference that one woman’s voice can make when we listen carefully.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley is Professor and Chair of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her books include The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival (2022), Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism (2018), Ezili’s Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders (2018), and Thiefing Sugar: Eroticism Between Women in Caribbean Literature (2010).
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Shelby Stewart is a Houston-based journalist, editor and cultural storyteller whose work centers Black culture, entertainment and community. As Manager of Content Operations at ESSENCE, she helps shape editorial storytelling across digital, print and live experiences. Her work has taken her from covering major cultural moments to hosting red carpets at the Golden Globes, GRAMMY Awards, Emmy Awards and BET Awards. A graduate of Dillard University with a master’s degree in communications from the University of Houston, Stewart is especially passionate about preserving Black stories and documenting the people, places and institutions shaping culture.” -
IRL AUTHOR TALK:The World Before Racism with Lisa Farrington - March 28 @ 2PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK:The World Before Racism with Lisa Farrington - March 28 @ 2PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK:The World Before Racism with Lisa Farrington - March 28 @ 2PM
Sold outCelebrate the release of The World Before Racism: An Art Story with Lisa Farrington! This special author talk is sponsored by Houston Museum of African American Culture.
EVENT DEETS
When: Saturday, March 28 @ 2PM
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 World Before Racism 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
he World Before Racism: An Art Story is a gripping history of anti-black racism, told through works of art as truth-sayers. Utilizing empirical evidence that is difficult, if not impossible to refute, (western art and literature from ancient Greece to the 21st century; and Darwin's original writings) this research conclusively answers the questions: Who invented racism? When? And why?The term racism is understood to mean that race is the principal determinant of specific human traits and capacities and that due to racial differences, one race is inherently superior to all others. Over time, racism has commonly referenced the notion that the White race is superior to all others, fostering prejudice and discrimination. In The Artist Book Foundation’s forthcoming publication, The World Before Racism: An Art Story, author and art historian Lisa Farrington meticulously examines the intersection of art, history, and race, using original works of art as primary source materials to support her premise that racism is a construct, invented in the mid-1700s, to support the financial, political, and religious structures of European colonialism.
Using art from ancient Egypt, classical Greece, and the Roman Empire, through Medieval Europe and the colonization of the New World, to the art of the present day—sources that cannot be easily altered, edited, or selectively trans¬lated—Farrington expertly examines the intricate interplay between the Black and White races, how they saw and understood each other over the centuries. The artworks serve as powerful voices, precisely conveying the artist’s intended messages. The goal of The World Before Racism is to present irrefutable evi¬dence that the ideology of racism is unfounded, unsupported, unjustified, and destined to fade away like so many other archaic and erroneous ideas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Farrington is an award-winning author and art historian. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita, City University of New York, past Associate Dean of Fine Arts, Howard University, and past Associate Professor of Art History, Parsons School of Design, New York and Paris. Her books include "Creating Their Own Image: The History of African American Women Artists," "African American Art: A Visual and Cultural History," both for Oxford University Press (2006 and 2016), "The World Before Racism: An Art Story" (Artist Book Foundation 2026), "Black Artists in Their Own Words" (University of California Press 2025), among many others, as well as dozens of scholarly articles. She has appeared in numerous documentary films in the U.S., the U.K., and France, and is featured on television and radio. Currently, Dr. Farrington offers riveting lectures in the U.S. and abroad.
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IRL AUTHOR TALK: Cord Swell with brittny ray crowell - January 7 @ 7PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK: Cord Swell with brittny ray crowell - January 7 @ 7PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK: Cord Swell with brittny ray crowell - January 7 @ 7PM
Sold outCelebrate 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.
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AUTHOR TALK: Don't Fall with B.B. Reid - October 15 @ 7 PM
![AUTHOR TALK: Don't Fall with B.B. Reid - October 15 @ 7 PM]()
AUTHOR TALK: Don't Fall with B.B. Reid - October 15 @ 7 PM
Sold outCelebrate the release of Don't Fall with B.B. Reid!
EVENT DEETS
When: Thursday, October 15 @ 7PM CST
Where: 2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004
How:
- RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat.
- RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your seat and purchase a copy Don't Fall, supporting both the author and our store programming. The book will be available for pickup at the event.
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 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
The first in a brand-new frontlist duet by bestselling author B.B. Reid - a dark romance Red Riding Hood retelling, perfect for fans of Rina Kent, Emily McIntire, and Elizabeth Helen.
While caring for her grandmother, a young woman is caught between a sly wolf hellbent on seducing her and an enigmatic stranger with a heart of tarnished gold.
ABOUT THE BOOK
From bestselling author B.B. Reid comes the first in a dark and steamy retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
The first book in a brand-new series from TikTok sensation B.B. Reid, a dark romantic retelling of Red Riding Hood.
"Guard your heart, foolish girl. The wolves will come to steal it."
In a quiet French town steeped in old folklore, Nyx has always believed in logic—not legends. So discovering she’s descended from a line of Red Hood witches feels more like a mistake than destiny. But some stories refuse to stay buried.
The Volkovs have been cursed for generations, and time is running out. The only way to break it? A Red Hood witch must fall in love with one of them. Mikhail Volkov is desperate to save someone he loves—and ending the curse is his last hope. Getting close to Nyx was supposed to be a means to an end… until it becomes something far more dangerous.
Gray, the watchful hunter who seems to linger on the edges of every secret, is thrust into Nyx's life next. Protective, intense, and impossible to ignore, he draws Nyx deeper into a world she doesn’t understand—and can’t escape.
Caught between wolf and hunter, instinct and reason, Nyx must decide who to trust—and what she’s willing to risk.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
B.B. Reid is a bestselling author of several romances, including Crucible, the imaginative retelling of Goldilocks. She’s most known for her dark and contemporary romances, but began her career writing new adult. B.B. currently resides in Atlanta with Ivan, her moody tuxedo cat. When she’s not being a nomad, she enjoys gaming, white chocolate mocha, home decor, and retail therapy.
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.
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AUTHOR TALK: Love Is a Contact Sport with Frederick Smith - July 9 @ 7 PM
![AUTHOR TALK: Love Is a Contact Sport with Frederick Smith - July 9 @ 7 PM]()
AUTHOR TALK: Love Is a Contact Sport with Frederick Smith - July 9 @ 7 PM
Sold outCelebrate the release of Love Is a Contact Sport with Frederick Smith!
EVENT DEETS
When: Thursday, July 9 @ 7PM
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 Love Is A Contact Sport, support the author, and our store programming.
Please note outside copies of the event 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
After a rough breakup, gay romance author Renny Ross heads to the Bay Area for a fresh start. His new gig writing the anniversary story for a local university is supposed to be a fresh chapter (thanks to university president Dr. Taylor James). But Renny didn't expect to run into a familiar face from his past.
After dropping off his youngest child at college, recently divorced Brent D. King DuPree is on a journey to freedom, liberation, and living the life he put on hold for over twenty years to raise his family. Figuring out life as a newly out and newly single man, Brent is hesitant about stepping into the Bay Area gay scene until a chance reunion with his first real crush, and the guy he never quite forgot, his peer mentor and tutor in college: Renny Ross.
Neither man expected a second chance. But working together at the same university stirs up feelings that never really faded. Their love doesn't have to be a secret anymore, but will they get it right this time?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frederick Smith writes Black, queer contemporary novels that discuss MM
romance, identity, and social justice with humor and heart. Originally from
Detroit, Frederick is the author of seven romance novels set in L.A. and San
Francisco that feature Black Queer characters. A higher education professional by
day, Frederick does Student Life and Diversity & Inclusion work at San Francisco
State University.ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Kevin Richard is an educator, reader, and writer who loves stories that blend emotion and imagination. He enjoys reading romance, fantasy, soft science fiction, and poetry, and considers Nikki Giovanni one of the GOATs. In his free time, he also enjoys writing poetry of his own. He is excited to moderate this conversation and engage with the author’s work alongside the audience. -
IRL AUTHOR TALK: Gather with Ashanté M. Reese - April 22 @ 7 PM
![IRL AUTHOR TALK: Gather with Ashanté M. Reese - April 22 @ 7 PM]()
IRL AUTHOR TALK: Gather with Ashanté M. Reese - April 22 @ 7 PM
Sold outCelebrate the release of Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness with Ashanté M. Reese!
EVENT DEETS
When: Wednesday, April 22 @ 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.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A vibrant new vision of food justice that celebrates Black food and recognizes the power of gathering to create sustainable, systemic change.Food justice is defined as the understanding that our food system is unequal and that something needs to be done about it. But how can we create a world where everyone has enough? What does it mean to truly nourish ourselves and our communities?
In Gather, anthropologist Ashanté M. Reese argues for a vibrant new vision of food justice that places Black communities at the center and offers us a visionary, delicious path forward. Reese reveals that to truly create equity in our food systems, we must embrace the abundance that already exists around us—and recognize that the social body is as important as our individual health
Gather presents rich, on-the-ground stories of gathering around food in four spaces—gardens, family reunions, repasts, and protests. Blending rich storytelling with analysis, these chapters argue for the political power of food and invite us to learn from the tactics Black communities have long used to create sustainable, systemic change.
There are no simple solutions to the problems of acute need. But by recognizing that food justice is already all around us, we can start working together to create a more nourishing, joyful world. Gather is an intimate and urgent invitation to embrace local power, build better food systems, and nourish ourselves, body and soul.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ashanté M. Reese is a writer, anthropologist, and associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Born in Cooper Settlement, Texas, she lives in Austin and is involved in food justice movements nationwide.
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Ivy Lawrence-Walls is a pioneering agriculturalist deeply ingrained in both community and culture, making significant strides in the farming sphere with an unwavering dedication to nurturing food-secure ecosystems. As a key figure in Houston, she spearheaded the establishment of a community farm in Sunnyside, one of the city's oldest predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Leveraging her rich third-generation farming legacy and an entrepreneurial spirit, Ivy stands at the forefront of advocating for food accessibility and equity. Her impactful portfolio comprises Ivy Leaf Farms, Fresh Houwse Grocery, Kuji Kitchen restaurant, and Black Farmer Box. Her revolutionary efforts have placed her at the center of a movement to transform the agricultural landscape, especially in Black communities.
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IRL Author Talk: The Kiss Countdown with Etta Easton - April 9 @ 7PM
![IRL Author Talk: The Kiss Countdown with Etta Easton - April 9 @ 7PM]()
IRL Author Talk: The Kiss Countdown with Etta Easton - April 9 @ 7PM
Sold outCelebrate 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.
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IRL Author Talk: Black Roses with Harold Green III & Sherhara- March 22 @ 7:00 PM CST
![IRL Author Talk: Black Roses with Harold Green III & Sherhara- March 22 @ 7:00 PM CST]()
IRL Author Talk: Black Roses with Harold Green III & Sherhara- March 22 @ 7:00 PM CST
Sold outJoin us as we celebrate the release of Black Roses by Harold Green III at the Houston Museum of African American Culture.
Event Deets:
When: Tuesday, March 22 at 7:00 pm CST
Where: Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC)-4807 Caroline Street, Houston, Texas, 77004
How: Limited in-person tickets are available. Book purchase required with entry.
About the Book
Black Roses is a love letter to the underrepresented women that inspire and uplift author and poet, Harold Green III. After going viral on Instagram for these beautiful poems, Green assembled BLACK ROSES, a stunning collection of his odes and artist Melissa Koby’s stunning, full-color illustrations.
With poems on figures such as Ava DuVernay, Janelle Monae, Issa Rae, Kamala Harris, Lizzo, Misty Copeland, Robin Roberts, Roxane Gay, and Simone Biles, BLACK ROSES reflects the diversity of Black female excellence. Divided into five sections—dedicated to advocates, curators, innovators, luminaries, and trailblazers—Green’s odes and Koby’s portraits highlight a range of women.
About the Author
Harold Green III is an ever-evolving and internationally admired artist. Using poetry as his central art form, he is a highly sought-after talent, bandleader, and event producer. He earned the prestigious Carl Sandburg Literary Award for his self-published debut poetry collection From Englewood, with Love. He has created commissioned work in partnership with major brands and organizations, including Nike, Lululemon, Jordan, and Go
About the Moderator
Sherhara Downing the CoFounder and Chief Visionary Officer of SpeakHaus, a training and professional development company dedicated to transforming business and thought leaders into confident and bold speakers. SpeakHaus is the first in the public speaking industry to provide mobile in-person group coaching that goes directly to the homes of leaders, jumpstarting speaking transformation in one workshop.
With over 16 years of coaching and corporate training experience, Sherhara has elevated the speaking skills of leaders from companies like Under Armour, Capital One, Toyota, AT&T and more.
She has a deep passion for facilitating human connection and cultivating community! She loves tacos and remains the world-leading subject matter expert of the cult classic, Coming to America!
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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
Sold outCelebrate 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 POETRY READING: Praisesong For The People with Amanda Johnston & Friends - January 19 @ 6PM
![IRL POETRY READING: Praisesong For The People with Amanda Johnston & Friends - January 19 @ 6PM]()
IRL POETRY READING: Praisesong For The People with Amanda Johnston & Friends - January 19 @ 6PM
Sold outCelebrate 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.
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