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  • Houston Reads Alice Walker! Presented by Project Row Houses, Kindred Stories, and Chanecka Williams
    $0.00

    A message from Chanecka Williams:

    "Alice Walker has been a force in the world for over forty years. As a writer, poet and activist, she is relentless in her pursuit of a free(er) world for all. In this social, political, time-space reality, Walker’s work feels essential to be explored with new eyes. Join us as we read her novels, short story collections, and a few of her nonfiction works. It would be remiss to not mention that this journey is as spiritual as literary being that Alice Walker has always given credit to the spirits that accompany her. "
    This gathering will be held on the online video conferencing platform Zoom. Please join us by registering for this month only or the entire meet-up series here.

    Kindred Stories is proud to partner with Project Row Houses and Chanecka to present Houston Reads Alice Walker.

    Alice Walker Meeting Schedule:

    September 18 - The Temple of My Familiar
    October 16 - Possessing the Secret of Joy
    November 20 - The Third Life of Grange Copeland
    December 18 - In Love & Trouble
    January 15 - Meridian
    February 19 - You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down
    March 19 - By the Light of My Father's Smile
    April 16 - The Way Forward With a Broken Heart: Stories
    May 21 - Now is the Time to Open Your Heart
    June 11 - In Search of Our Mother's Garden Pt. I & Pt. II
    July 16 - In Search of Our Mother's Garden Pt. III & Pt. IV
    August 20 - Alike Walker Poetry Reading
    September 17 - Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
    About Alice Walker

    Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated writer, poet and activist whose books include seven novels, four collections of short stories, four children’s books, and volumes of essays and poetry.  She won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 1983 and the National Book Award.

    About Chanecka Williams

    In May 2020, after realizing books were talking over her personal Instagram account, Chanecka started a new account with the handle @headwrpreader centering literature. As a book influencer, she is extremely passionate about book discovery. She is always ahead of the curve on new and lesser known book releases. Currently, she works as a team member at Kindred Stories in addition to pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science. She hopes to work as a research librarian and archivist.

    About Project Row Houses

    Project Row Houses is a community platform that enriches lives through art with an emphasis on cultural identity and its impact on the urban landscape. We engage neighbors, artists, and enterprises in collective creative action to help materialize sustainable opportunities in marginalized communities.

    Project Row Houses occupies a significant footprint in Houston’s Historic Third Ward, one of the city’s oldest African-American neighborhoods. The site encompasses five city blocks and houses 39 structures that serve as home base to a variety of community-enriching initiatives, art programs, and neighborhood development activities. PRH programs touch the lives of under-resourced neighbors, young single mothers with the ambition of a better life for themselves and their children, small enterprises with the drive to take their businesses to the next level, and artists interested in using their talents to understand and enrich the lives of others. Although PRH’s African-American roots are planted deeply in Third Ward, the work of PRH extends far beyond the borders of a neighborhood in transition. The Project Row Houses model for art and social engagement applies not only to Houston, but also to diverse communities around the world.

    ABOUT KINDRED STORIES

    Kindred Stories was born of a love for reading and a passion for community.

    Kindred Stories is here to give kids and adults alike a space to explore the wide open world of literary content and creative works fashioned by black and brown hands. We are a bookstore committed to amplifying Black voices and bringing diverse stories from throughout the African diaspora to our local community in Houston, TX. We will be located in the Third Ward neighborhood, where we'll provide a well curated offering to edify the swelling appetites for authentic stories as told by those who have lived them.

    We are beyond thrilled to serve Houston and the world at large through our website offerings. Stay tuned for what’s in store with the opening of our physical space later this year.  Thank you for being a part of our tribe!

  • Virtual Author Talk: Who Are Your People? with Bakari Sellers - Jan 19 @ 6:00 PM CST
    Sold out

    Order copies of Who Are Your People an exclusive signed book plate here!

    WHO ARE YOUR PEOPLE? is a tribute to community—it takes a village to raise a child, and we stand on the shoulders of those who came before. Sellers, New York Times bestselling author of My Vanishing Country, takes readers on a journey from cotton fields to sit-ins to the present day through the eyes of a young father and his children in this powerful picture book with illustrations from Reggie Brown.

    This event is presented in partnership with the Emancipation Park Conservancy.

    Event Deets:

    When: Wednesday, January 19 at 6 pm CT/ 7 pm ET

    Where: Virtual (watch link will be sent no more than 24 hours prior to the start of the event)

    How:  Registration is required.  You have the option to get a free ticket or a ticket that includes one signed copy of the book.  

    We hope you can join us!

    About the Author:

    ABOUT BAKARI SELLERS:

    Bakari Sellers made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent state representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. In 2010 he was named to TIME’s 40 Under 40 list. In 2014 and 2015 he was named to The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans list. Sellers is the author of the New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country and recently expanded his audience with the Bakari Sellers Podcast in collaboration with The Ringer and Spotify. He practices law with the Strom Law Firm, LLC, in Columbia, SC, and is a political commentator at CNN.

    About The Emancipation Park Conservancy:

    Emancipation Park Conservancy is a non-profit 501 c3 charitable corporation established in 2014 to restore, manage, and enhance Emancipation Park. Its purpose is to create an open space of environmental and community excellence while continuing to preserve the integrity and historical roots of the park. Its goal is to transform the park into one of the nation's premier landmark parks and international destinations through capital initiatives, operational improvements, strategic partnerships, programming and events.

  • Virtual Author Talk: South to America with Imani Perry - Feb 1 @ 6:30 PM CST
    Sold out

    Registration is closed via our website, but please register directly via Crowdcast

    ORDER South to America here for an exclusive signed copy!

    We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan, plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In SOUTH TO AMERICA: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, one of our most important thinkers and critics, acclaimed author Imani Perry tackles her most ambitious project yet, moving across the color line to grapple with the mix of intimacy and racial violence in Southern and American history, showing that what it means to be American is inextricably linked with the South.  

    Imani Perry will be in conversation with Dr. Melanye Price of Prairie View University

    Event Details

    When: Tuesday, February 1 @ 6:30 PM CST

    Where: Virtual via Crowdcast

    How:  Register here or on Crowdcast.  Although the event is free, we encourage you to support our store and future programming by purchasing the book here.

    About the Author: 

    Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University where she also teaches in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Law and Public Affairs and Jazz Studies. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D in the history of American civilization from Harvard University. Perry is the author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, winner of the Bograd-Weld Biography Prize of 2019 from the Pen America Foundation. She is also the author of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation, and May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem, which was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Nonfiction. Perry, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Chicago, lives outside of Philadelphia with her two sons.

    About the Moderator:

    Dr. Melanye Price is Endowed Professor of Political Science at Prairie View A&M University and principle investigator for their African American Studies Initiative, which is funded by grants and gifts from the Mellon Foundation. Her research/teaching interests include black politics, public opinion, political rhetoric, and social movements. Her most recent book, The Race Whisperer: Barack Obama and the Political Uses of Race (NYU, 2016) examines the multiple and strategic ways that President Obama uses race to deflect negative racial attitudes and engage with a large cross-section of voters. Her first book, Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African American Public Opinion (NYU, 2009) examined contemporary support for Black Nationalism. Her new project is called “Mountaintop Removal: Martin Luther King, Trump and the Racial Mountain,” which uses MLK’s “Mountaintop Speech” as a lens for understanding the rise of Trump and the 2016 election.

     

  • Get LIT with Natasha - Feb 5 @ 1:00 PM CST
    Sold out

    Join Kindred Stories as we launch our At Home Lit Workshop in partnership with Lit-Life!  During the workshop parents will learn highly engaging strategies to use with their children to support reading out loud, comprehension, and more!  

    In this workshop, Natasha, a former preschool teacher, will provide one-on-one literacy coaching and take-home reading resources. Natasha will be working from Another by Christian Robinson.

    A Little About Natasha: 

    Natasha McDaniel is a passionate educator from Houston, TX. Her 11 years in education include roles as classroom teacher, district literacy specialist, and classroom management coach. While serving in schools, Natasha’s greatest joy became nurturing children into resourceful learners and independent thinkers. 

    Natasha launched Lit for Life fueled with the mission of empowering families and children through literacy and learning. Her vision is to take the frustration out of at home literacy learning to build skilled, engaged learners and confident, equipped families. Natasha offers relevant, engaging, and effective family literacy coaching and hands-on learning materials to improve children’s reading, writing, and phonics growth and engagement.


  • An Evening with Zora Neale Hurston moderated by Morgan Jerkins - Jan 12 @ 7:30 PM CT
    Sold out

    Register at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/an-evening-with-zora

    We're celebrating the release of the boxed set of Zora Neale Hurston's collection of works, all with reimagined covers illustrated by incredible Black artists, and her newest release of essays, You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays.

    NYT bestselling author, Morgan Jerkins, will moderate a conversation with Lucy Ann Hurston (scholar and niece of Zora Neale Hurston), Patrick Dougher (cover artist for Their Eyes Were Watching God), and Genevieve West (co-editor of You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays).

    About the Boxed Set:

    Available for the first time, this amazing boxed set includes 10 repackaged Zora Neale Hurston classics--each with a newly imagined cover by a popular contemporary Black artist. It's a beautifully-imaged package at a very affordable price point.

    Cover artists are: Charly Palmer    , Toyin Ojih Odutola, Jerome Lagarrigue, Patrick Dougher, Diana Ejaita, Jeff Manning, Samira Addo, Terry Lynn, Jamilla Okubo, and Tizta Berhanu.

    Books included in the set:

    • Dust Tracks on a Road
    • Jonah's Gourd Vine
    • Mules and Men
    • Tell My Horse
    • The Complete Stories
    • Every Tongue Got to Confess
    • Moses, Man of the Mountain
    • Seraph on the Suwanee
    • Mule Bone
    • Their Eyes Were Watching God

    About You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays:

    Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.

    “One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison

    One of the most acclaimed artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston was a gifted novelist, playwright, and essayist. Drawn from three decades of her work, this anthology showcases her development as a writer, from her early pieces expounding on the beauty and precision of African American art to some of her final published works, covering the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing a white doctor. Among the selections are Hurston’s well-known works such as “How It Feels to be Colored Me” and “My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience.” 

    The essays in this essential collection are grouped thematically and cover a panoply of topics, including politics, race and gender, and folkloric study from the height of the Harlem Renaissance to the early years of the Civil Rights movement. Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer’s work, You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer’s development and a window into her world and time.

  • Virtual Launch: J Elle in Conversation with Ayana Gray - January 11 at 6:30 PM CST
    Sold out

    NOW VIRTUAL

    Join us virtually for an evening of girl empowerment with a little magic mixed in as we celebrate the launch of Ashes of Gold with New York Times bestselling author, J Elle.   Ashes of Gold is the heart-pounding conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Wings of Ebony duology.  This conversation will be moderated by Ayana Gray, author of Beasts of Prey, and will be planned and executed in partnership with the students at Young Women's College Prep.

    Event Deets:

    When: Tuesday, January 11 at 6:30 pm CST

    Where: Crowdcst https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ashes-of-gold-virtual

    How:  Grab a ticket for free or purchase the book and ticket together.  All books will be shipped on Friday, January 14 after the author has had an opportunity to sign them.

    We hope to see you there!

    About the book:

    In the heart-pounding conclusion to the Wings of Ebony duology, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicole Yoon calls “bold, inventive, big-hearted and deeply perceptive,” Rue makes her final stand to reclaim her people’s stolen magic.

    Rue has no memory of how she ended up locked in a basement prison without her magic or her allies. But she’s a girl from the East Row. And girls from the East Row don’t give up. Girls from the East Row pick themselves back up when they fall. Girls from the East Row break themselves out.

    But reuniting with her friends is only half the battle. When she finds them again, Rue makes a vow: she will find a way to return the magic that the Chancellor has stolen from her father’s people. Yet even on Yiyo Peak, Rue is a misfit—with half a foot back in Houston and half a heart that is human as well as god, she’s not sure she’s the right person to lead the fight to reclaim a glorious past.

    When a betrayal sends her into a tailspin, Rue must decide who to trust and how to be the leader that her people deserve…because if she doesn’t, it isn’t just Yiyo that will be destroyed—it will be Rue herself.

    About the Author: 

    J Elle is a prolific Black author and advocate for marginalized voices in both publishing and her community.  She is a New York Times bestselling author of young adult and middle-grade fantasy fiction. She is best known for her debut novel, Wings of Ebony, and her work has been translated into three languages. The former educator and first-generation college student credits her nomadic lifestyle and humble inner-city beginnings as inspiration for her novels. When she’s not writing, Elle can be found mentoring aspiring authors, binging reality TV, loving on her three

    About the Moderator:

    Ayana Gray is a New York Times bestselling young adult fantasy author and a lover of all things monsters, mythos, and magic. Originally from Atlanta, she now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas where she reads avidly, follows Formula One racing, and worries over the varying moods of her adopted baby black rhino, Apollo, and her mini goldendoodle, Dolly.

    Her debut novel, BEASTS OF PREY, is being translated in 10 languages across five continents and is being adapted for film by Netflix.

    Pronouns: She/Her

  • Virtual Author Talk: Stacey's Extraordinary Words by Stacey Abrams - Dec 28 at 6 PM CST
    Sold out

    Join us for a virtual author talk in celebration of Stacey Abrams' debut children's picture book, Stacey's Extraordinary Words! This event will be moderated by Cleo Wade.

    *SIGNED COPIES available while supplies last*

    Event Deets:

    When: Tuesday, December 28 at 6pm CT/7pm ET

    Where: Virtual (watch link will be sent no more than 24 hours prior to the start of the event)

    How:  Registration is required.  You have the option to get a free ticket or a ticket that includes one signed copy of the book.  Books will ship on December 28, the book's release date.

    We hope you can join us!

    About the Book:

    Iconic voting rights advocate and former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams is adding children’s book author to her résumé with the publication of her debut picture book, Stacey’s Extraordinary Words. The story, which addresses themes of perseverance and bravery, is based on Abrams’s experience participating in several spelling bees while in elementary school.

    “Words have always been important to me,” says Abrams. “I loved competing in spelling bees as a young girl. With this book, I want to inspire children to speak up for themselves and for others—and to keep trying if they don’t succeed the first time around.”

    The young Stacey in the book, who loves words and spelling, is asked by her teacher to compete in a spelling bee. Her excitement quickly evaporates when she discovers that she’ll be competing against Jake, the class bully. Abrams recalls of her childhood, “Like Jake, some kids picked on me and others who were different. Over the years, I learned how to use my words to do good, even when I am most afraid.”

    About the Author:

    Stacey Abrams is the three-time New York Times bestselling author of While Justice Sleeps, Our Time Is Now, and Lead from the Outside; an entrepreneur; and a political leader. A tax attorney by training, she served eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Minority Leader, and became the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, where she won, at the time, more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history. She has launched multiple organizations devoted to voting rights, training and hiring young people of color, and tackling social issues at the state, national, and international levels. She is the founder of Fair Fight, Fair Count, and the Southern Economic Advancement Project. Abrams is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the boards of Climate Power 2020, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, the Center for American Progress, and the Marguerite Casey Foundation. She has received degrees from Spelman College, the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and Yale Law School.

    About the moderator:

    Cleo Wade is a writer, poet, and the New York Times Best-selling author of What The Road Said, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life, and Where To Begin: A Small Book about Your Power to Create Big Change. Her work is dedicated to exploring love, freedom, self-care and the power of community. She has been called the poet of her generation by Time Magazine, one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company and sits on the board of The Lower East Side Girls Club, the National Black Theater in Harlem, and the Women’s Prison Association. Cleo is from New Orleans, Louisiana and currently lives in California with her family.

    Click below to purchase books by Cleo Wade:

    Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life

    Where to Begin:  A Small Book about Your Power to Create Big Change

    What the Road Said

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