Last weekend, I attended my third Blk Book Swap at Brooklyn’s popular and Black-owned, plant-based restaurant Aunts et Uncles, and baby, a time was had! That’s me (in the pink, obvi) pictured above with Blk Book Swap founder and hostess with the mostest, Trae Higgs who created the “independent book-lending initiative and inclusive pop-up event” to “get books off of shelves and into readers’ hands.”
My First Blk Book Swap! Oh, And Trae Is Not Sitting Outside On A NYC Stoop In January Without A Coat. She’s Inside Doing That.
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First things first though, gratitude must be paid to my niece and fellow book lover, Adia Turner who introduced me to the “even exchange community book swap prioritizing BIPOC books.” We met up on a chilly January afternoon last year at WORTHLESSSTUDIOS in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn where we observed the heartbreaking and moving 1-800 Happy Birthday art exhibit “honoring Black and Brown victims of police violence.” Afterwards, we exchanged hardcovers and paperbacks and chatted with fellow book enthusiasts.
After Swapping Books At Blk Book Swap Last Spring, My Niece Adia and My Son Kaari—Fellow Bibliophiles— Enjoyed Company And Conversation At Somewhere Good In Bed-Stuy.
My second Blk Book Swap was live from Bedford-Stuyvesant at the now-closed community space, Somewhere Good. This time, my son joined my niece and me on our quest to build our ever-growing library. Woodsy incense faintly cologned the safe space as some folks perused and selected books while others simply relaxed on cozy couches. I got my pretty, chubby, I mean youthful, hands on a paperback edition of Octavia Butler’s classic ☛PARABLE OF THE SOWER [pub: Grand Central Publishing] and left behind the hardcover edition of our Forever First Lady, Michelle Obama’s ☛BECOMING. Rest in Power Somewhere Good. The neighborhood misses you.✨
Food To My Soul: Blk Book Swap At Aunts et Uncles In Flatbush, Brooklyn On Sunday, February 18, 2024
Blk Book Swap is always a vibe thanks to Trae’s magnetic energy drawing in the warmest eager readers. Storytelling As Resistance was the theme, and is always the mood. Tuh! Penguin Books coming through as a sponsor was chef’s kiss. The lovely Carolina Meurkens of Penguin Publishing Group greeted me immediately and handed me a Storytelling Is Resistance flyer explaining how I could win “twelve brilliant titles that celebrate rich, diverse perspectives of the Black experience and challenge the status quo.” You can too! Click this link by February 29th for your chance to win new releases and classic titles by Black authors.
Good Energy Greeters: Trae and Carolina
Beautiful people. Marvelous Feels. Splendid time.
Trae side-eyes my love of romance while fellow genre-supporter, Faiza agrees with me.
Trae finally concedes that love stories with “some mess in them” are so worth reading.
Met the lovely @Tashatalks_alot at Aunts et Uncles’ Black Book Swap. Check out her mug!
UPDATE: The LIT(ERATURE) Sips: Where Every Sip Tells a Story! Mug Is Available For Sale – $27. Sold in clear as pictured below and white.
A Closer Look @Tashatalks_alot‘s adorable mug with Black book spines. Yes! Please. 🙏🏾 And thank you!
My one and only regret about the latest Blk Book Swap is that I didn’t arrive early enough to snag Penguin’s donated new releases like Kiley Reid’s ☛COME & GET IT [pub: G.P. Putnam’s Sons] and Dr. Uché Blackstock’s ☛LEGACY: A BLACK PHYSICIAN RECKONS WITH RACISM IN MEDICINE [pub: Viking] Oh, and that Trae got her hands on Carol Taylor’s sexy classic ☛BROWN SUGAR 2: GREAT ONE NIGHT STANDS – A COLLECTION OF EROTIC BLACK FICTION (ORIGINAL). [pub: Atria]. For the record, I and my new book bestie, Shelby Renee think we should always get first dibs. Stay tuned.
Follow @blkbookswap on Instagram for the next book event. And for the love of everything Black, female, fabulous and fly, don’t be like me. Get there on time. ✌🏾❤️
The Moment: Blk Book Swap At Aunts Et Uncles. A Time Was Had!
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