Kindred Stories is a New Black Woman-Owned Bookshop in Houston
Kindred Stories, a new Black woman-owned bookshop, has just opened up in Houston, TX. Terri, the store owner says, “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.” Kindred Stories is located at 2304 Stuart St, HTX, 77004. You can sign up for their newsletter and follow them on social media for updates and details on events and store happenings. Find out more about their story and follow them here.
School Librarians Fed Up With Book Bans Are Fighting Back
Texas librarians have been working towards making their collections more reflective of their increasingly diverse communities. With new bans on hundreds of books about race, equality or sexuality in Texas school libraries, their work is now being threatened, and so librarians are fighting back. Retired Austin, Texas librarian Carolyn Foote, along with three other library professionals, are spearheading a grassroots effort known as #FReadom. The goal of the project is to fight back against the wave of book challenges in the state and create a space for school librarians to help each other. Foote said in an interview with CNN, “We wanted to make a statement that we are out here and that we are willing to speak up for our students, for authors and for the books that our students deserve to have access to.” How can you help? Check out their website for a growing list of opportunities to participate and support the movement. And they have merch!
Here’s a First Look at Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ Memoir About Ghosts and Family Secrets
Ingrid Rojas Contreras, author of the critically acclaimed 2019 novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree, is back with a new memoir about ghosts and family secrets entitled The Man Who Could Move Clouds. The novel will hit shelves in summer of 2022, but in the meantime, here’s a first look at the memoir’s cover and an excerpt from the first chapter.
The Most Popular Books in US Libraries in 2021
A Quartz survey reached out to U.S. public libraries for their most checked out titles of the year. 14 responded from across the country, including Seattle, Portland, Denver, San Antonio, Nashville, New York, and Baltimore. Here are the most popular books in US libraries in 2021.