book fair Tag

Black Child Book Fair- Oakland Dec 15th, 12-5pm

Hey fam, I connected with the homie Darryl Harvey about this upcoming event in Oakland at the historic AAMLO library on 14th St. I hope to see you there. Darryl is from Chicago and started these events before th pandemic in the midwest first, then slowly building to other cities such as Cincinatti, Charlotte, Minneapolis and more. Not many folks in the Bay know this one since its brand new but I hope to connect our local Black author eco system to it. And I hope to make it out to the mother city-Chicago.

WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO

You can check out some photos and video from some of their previous event here.

7th Annual Social Justice Children’s Bk Holiday Fair

Man, I was so busy sharing about this event and planning and prepping that I forgot to psot about it on my own damn blog. Anyways, for those who came it was beautiful and hectic. For the first time we partnered with Emerson Elementary in Oakland.

Here is the livestream of interviews and performances from that day:

Interviews w/ Emerson PTA, Local authors, activists, and musicians

Here is the Facebook invite from this year

And here is the books new Instagram account. Please follow us!

Link to our IG

Ok, if you were not there but want to support the authors/organizations/musicians who tabled please go to our website.

Dig this? Check out some photos for the fair last year.

Photos from 6th Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair

 

Organizers of the fair: Me, Laura Atkins, Alejandra Domezain, Janine Macbeth, Peter Limata, Lydia Yamaguchi, Innosanto Nagara-not pictured) photo by Mark Rea
photo by Mark Rea
Breanna McDaniels w/ Hayley Diep , photo by Mark Rea
Me! photo by Mark Rea

If you missed the book fair but still want to buy books you can still purchase books from some of the vendors here
All the Fairs authors/illustrators , photo by Mark Rea

Screenshot from livestream Mr Limata w/ James Shields
photo by Janine Macbeth (Aida Salazar w/ Aya de Leon)
photo by Janine Macbeth (Mr Limata w/ Ko Kim)
For all those who missed the “6th annual “Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair” here are a few photos from the event. If you’d like to see more please go here.
Digging this? Check out the year we did it online during the pandemic or the Livestream Interviews W/ Mr Limata this year

Video: Interviews @ the “Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair”

 

This is some video footage featuring interviews from book creators, organizations, the organizers of the event, and the owner of Teance. Can we give it up for Peter Limata and Lydia Yamaguchi though? They just bring SO MUCH vibrancy, love, and care to what they capture and who they spoke to at the event!  Please watch and enjoy. If you did not get a chance to attend the fair in person you can still get books from the creators who were there and many others using our website 
Here is more interviews Peter did leading up to the fair that morning. In this he speaks to Jill Guerra (We are Yoga/Somos Yoga), Christina Newhard of Sari Sari Books (KaliPay, Melo the Umang Boy), Breanna McDaniels (Hands Up), and John Casselberry (Konscious Kids).
Dig this? Check out the virtual 2020 Social Justice Children’s Book Fair

6th Annual “Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair

 

Hey fam, it’s that time of year! The 6th annual “Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair” is upon us. As one of 5 organizers (Laura Atkins, Alejandra Domenzain, Peter Limata, Janine Macbeth, Innosanto Nagara, and me)  I’m excited to invite local kids book makers to share their latest and greatest books with local families, librarians, book sellers, teachers, organizers, and more. While some cringe at the title I know we’re proud to bring together authors and illustrators who are progressive minded to one spot so the folks who actually search for their kind of books can find them all in one event. Board books, picture books, middle grade, YA, comics, and more. Check out the flyer I did 🙂

For this fair we encourage Bipoc, Queer, and Social justice minded kids book creators to table, sometimes read, or perform., and meet their community. This year it will be held again outside in Berkeley Ca. Please invite your folks to this event and check out these links for more info.

FACEBOOK Invite
EVENTBRITE Invite

Dig this? If you’ve never been check out some photos from previous years or the online fair we did during the pandemic w/ the help of Lydia and Peter of “Storytime w/ Mr Limata”!

5th Annual Social Justice Children’s Bk Holiday Fair”

 

Hey fam, I’m excited to bring you the 5th annual “Social Justice Children’s Book Holiday Fair”. Every year a small team of volunteers get together and throw this event to connect you with kids book makers of many stripes. We focus on Bipoc, Lgbtq, and Social Justice minded creators and their books. Although covid is still real af, we will gather in B-Town (Berkeley, CA) masked and outdoors. So, come through, get some books, meet the creators, and spread love.
Date: Dec 5th
Time: 11am-2pm
Location: Teance
Who: Laura Atkins, Ann Berlak, Angela Dalton, Hayley Diep, Alejandra Domenzain, Girls Garage, Michael Genhart, Jill Guerra, Laneha House, Kamaria Lofton, NJ Mvondo/Multiculturalism Rocks, Innosanto Nagara, Christina Newhard, Meenal Patel, James Shields, Robert Liu-Trujillo, Justine Villanueva, PM Press, and more!
What: Not your average book fair 
Why? : Parents, kids, teachers, librarians, bk store owners, etc are hungry for these books and want to meet the people behind them.
Facebook LINK
Eventbrite LINK
If you’re in the Bay Area, come through. If not, tell a friend who is in the Bay!
Video: Here’s the link from last years virtual event w/ Mr Limata and Lydia Yamaguchi
Photos: Here are some photos from the past 5 years

M is For Movement post-Back to Fun Bk Fair

Yo, I just wrote a new post for the “M is for Movement” blog and its up. I was so juiced to hear about this event happening out in the DMV (?DC, Maryland, Virginia) area because it consists of mostly independent Black book creators and it reminded me of the Social Justice Holiday Book Fair. So, whether you’re in the DMV or not I think you’ll enjoy this short article. 
If you follow Dana Clark Colors you’ll hear more about the next one. And trust, this is a growing trend across the US where people of color are taking matters into their own hands and combating a lack of diversity by making the books and creating events where parents, teachers, librarians, and book lovers can get the stories they are not seeing. I’ve seen events like this popping up in Chicago, LA, ATL, and NYC. Plug innnn!

Check out this older article about an event the East Bay produced.

2nd annual Social Justice Book Fair – Oakland

Folks, for the 2nd year in a row I have been able to help produce this amazing book fair with Social Justice minded kids bk creators, authors of color, queer and local authors. We started off in the mighty Chapter 510 space last year and have moved to Destiny Arts, still in Oakland. If you are around, we have many great book makers confirmed and the Grammy nominated group ALPHABET ROCKERS will be in the house performing alongside the kids and doing interactive tings. I will be there as well selling my book, reading, and signing books for families.

Saturday Dec 8th, 10am-2pm
Destiny Arts in Oakland
Social Justice and Diverse Books
Alphabet Rockers and various performers for kids
 Event link

Multicultural Children’s Book Fair – DEC 9th Richmond, CA

If you are in the Bay Area and live near the Richmond area or are in Contra Costa County I invite you to bring your family to this event. Authors will be there reading their books, selling them, and signing them for folks who come. 
The Bay Area Black Authors Network is a newly formed group aimed at sharing resources and information about publishing stories by Black authors, illustrators, editors, etc.  We meet regularly at Hilltop mall the last tuesday of each month.
The event is also supported by the West County Reads new Multicultural Children’s Book Store at hilltop mall where you can find many children’s books about Latinx, Black, Asian, Native American, and queer stories. The bookstore has been open just under a year and is thriving getting visits from teachers, librarians, parents, and kids
Write up in the Richmond Standard