Book Event - Prose To The People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores

The late Nikki Giovanni proclaimed, "PROSE TO THE PEOPLE reminds us that Black is beautiful, but knowledge is power." Black bookstores always have been and continue to be critical centers of community gathering, literary and artistic inspiration, and social and political unity and resistance. As writer and Black bookstore owner Katie Mitchell puts in her introduction, “our resistance fuels our renaissance.”

Black literature is perhaps the most powerful, polarizing force in the modern American zeitgeist. Today—as Black novels draw authoritarian ire, as Black memoirs shape public debates, as Black polemics inspire protest petitions—it’s more important than ever to highlight the places that center these stories: Black bookstores. Traversing teeming metropolises and tiny towns, PROSE TO THE PEOPLE explores these spaces, chronicling these Black bookstore's past and present lives. Combining narrative prose, eye-catching photography, one-on-one interviews, original essays, and specially curated poetry, PROSE TO THE PEOPLE is a reader’s road trip…