Literary Freedom Project

One Book One Bronx reads
Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome
http://jamesbaldwinat100.com/
A poetic and raw coming-of-age memoir in essays about blackness, masculinity, and addiction, Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys propel forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut.

Saturdays: Mar 16*, 23, Apr 6, 13, & 20
The Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse
*Free books available

Tuesdays: Mar 19, 26, Apr 2, & 9
on Zoom

One Book One Bronx Born on August 2, 1924, James Baldwin's extensive body of work, spanning essays, speeches, plays, poetry, short stories, and novels, fearlessly tackled racial and social issues, offering profound insights into the Black American experience in the 20th century.

❤️🤞🏽🌿 We can't wait!

💥💥💥Three of our favorite things in one post-- books, OneBookOneBronx, and Citizens Committee for NY!

We're happy to welcome the Bronx's best book club back for a second season! One Book One Bronx will meet most Saturdays starting May 4th with Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin.

Also, just a reminder that the Citizens Committee Application is due this Friday, March 1st! 😉😉
Good luck to all the applicants!
---
Respost - Step into the world where books ignite minds and where education empowers communities!

Led by Executive Director Ron Kavanaugh, the Literary Freedom Project is located in the heart of the Bronx and has created a hub for community, learning, and empowerment for more than two decades.

This year their “One Book One Bronx” is hosting thought-provoking discussions, panels, and screenings centering on the legacy of James Baldwin.

You can find more information and register at www.obob.info. The program runs on Tuesdays on Zoom and Saturdays at the Bronx Museum through March 2nd!

Our celebration of James Baldwin's centenary continues with discussions focused on a wide array of literary works and ideas. Each book by James Baldwin is paired with a writer whose work focuses on a similar subject matter. Join us. Link in bio

LOVE
Giovanni’s Room by
Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome

FAITH
Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
Temple Folk by

LIFE
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
Heads of the Colored People: Stories by

JUSTICE
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by

Apologies for the confusion but if you registered for tonight's Giovanni's Room Zoom conversation, please re-register. Visit www.obob.info.

Tuesday, 2/20, 7pm, our conversation continues on pgs 85-118. ’s controversial novel has brought forth complex discussions surrounding a multitude of issues, including representations of homosexuality, bisexuality, and struggles with internalized homophobia.

Join us today at noon, when continues our open discussion of Giovanni's Room by (pages 44-84) at the . Link in bio ⬆️

Shhh, (said in an unnecessarily whispery tone) there'll be a special LFP archival gift for attendees --we're not above bribes on a snowy day 🤭

h/t

SCHEDULE REMINDER: The first discussion of Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin will take place SUNDAY, FEB 11, 12pm at the and will focus on pages 1-43. We would return to Saturdays on 2/17.

If you did not receive a free copy, we encourage you to contact your local library for a physical or digital copy.

Baldwin’s controversial novel has brought forth complex discussions surrounding a multitude of issues, including representations of homosexuality, bisexuality, and struggles with internalized homophobia. Alongside these prevalent discourses, the novel also raises concepts of social alienation, identity, masculinity, and manhood in the public eye. This thereby fosters a broader public discourse of issues regarding same-sex desire.

ONE BOOK ONE BRONX READS GIOVANNI'S ROOM BY JAMES BALDWIN
Baldwin’s controversial novel has brought forth complex discussions surrounding a multitude of issues, including representations of homosexuality, bisexuality and struggles with internalized homophobia. Alongside these prevalent discourses, the novel also raises concepts of social alienation, identity, masculinity, and manhood into the public eye. This thereby fosters a broader public discourse of issues regarding same-sex desire.

Saturdays, 12-1:30p: Feb 3, 11*, 17, 24, & Mar 2
The Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse
Feb 3: Limited number of free books will be distributed
*Feb 11 (Sunday): Pgs 1-43 (Chap 1)
Feb 17: Pgs 44-84 (Chap 3)
Feb 24: Pgs 85-118 (Chap 2)
Mar 2: Pgs 119-169 (Chap 4)

Tuesdays, 7-8:30p: Feb 6, 13, 20, & 27
on Zoom
Feb 6: Pgs 1-43 (Chap 1)
Feb 13: Pgs 44-84 (Chap 3)
Feb 20: Pgs 85-118 (Chap 2)
Feb 27: Pgs 119-169 (Chap 4)

One Book One Bronx hosts weekly restorative conversations on topics such as gentrification, social justice, women's empowerment, criminal justice, and racial inequality. The discussions are reflective of the borough's racial, economic, and gender demographics, and aim to build bridges for engagement while reigniting a passion for reading.

"...I got a new tattoo: a couple of lines from Lucille Clifton’s “won’t you celebrate with me.” won’t you celebrate with me what I have made into a kind of life/I had no model was the stakes of "Black on Both Sides." So, I wanted to nuance what it means to think about models. So many of those figures, the tactics they used to survive: can we revive them? Can we revise them? How do we think expansively about the tools necessary to survive?" -C. Riley Snorton .rileysnorton interviewed by Noura mutima Brock-Jaber, Mosaic 43: Black/Queer/Lit. Guest edited by Sullivan. >>>link in bio

C. Riley Snorton is a professor of English and Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Chicago. He is a cultural theorist focusing on racial, sexual, and transgender histories and cultural productions. He is the author of "Nobody Is Supposed to Know: Black Sexuality on the Down Low" (University of Minnesota Press, 2014) and "Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity" (University of Minnesota Press, 2017), and co-editor of "Saturation: Race, Art, and the Circulation of Value" (New Museum/MIT Press, 2020). He is also the co-editor of the flagship journal in q***r studies, "GLQ: A Journal of Le***an and Gay Studies," published by Duke University Press. Snorton’s next monograph, tentatively titled "Mud: Ecologies of Racial Meaning," examines the constitutive presence of swamps to racial practices and formations in the Americas.

This year, James Baldwin would be turning 100 years old. To celebrate his centennial, Film Forum is hosting a screening series of Baldwin-related films. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is the first documentary to screen in the series.

'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' and Baldwin's Centennial at Film Forum | All Of It | WNYC To celebrate James Baldwin' centennial, Film Forum is hosting a screening series of Baldwin-related films.

Please make a year-end donation to the Literary Freedom Project. Link in bio or www.litfree.org

h\t Soulful Sundays
Taking it way back to June when I attended Bronx Book Festival (also worthy of your support)

The Man, The Myth, The Legend
Mr. .kavanaugh of

I joined his BookClub "One Book One Bronx" back in 2018 as a Way to practice SelfCare as a Single Mom who was Burnt out from Work, School, My Children, Their schools and just performing and Showing up for everyone else but Myself.

The after work gatherings allowed me to destress, engage in community, visit art spaces and ofcourse take a breather by reading ☺️ even if I showed up with my Son at times.

I attended his Event at The Bronx Museum for Mosaic Literary Conference.
I met so many Beautiful people.
Had my photo taken by a photographer. 😃 I even spoke out against what I went through at my Last college that deterred me from continuing and graduating. This segment was in light of the "Me Too Movement"
Back then I was Shy and Timid
You would Not know that by The Woman you see before you at these Community Events now 😆

Let's just say I am No longer Silenced and just to think it all started with doing something for ME and That's joining a BookClub.

You can Support him by donating to the cause in his Bio and/Or Purchasing the Mosaic Magazine.

You can Support me by Tapping on my linktree in my Bio.

Now let me carry on
Headed to his BookClub meeting today** it's been awhile ❤️

Peace Family

Question:
What did you take away from this post?

As closes out the year at this Saturday, we want to thank all the great partners who help build communities of readers throughout the Bronx. Please support us with a year-end donation. Link in bo.

Thank you, and , for inviting us into your Kingsbridge and West Farms community gardens to experience nature (and a little rain). We look forward to returning when the weather gets warm again. Thank you, , for allowing us to connect with the residents of Wakefield while you all expanded on what it means to promote health and wellness. Thanks, , for connecting us to your galleries while introducing the High Bridge/Morrisania community to the joy of reading and visual art. Thank you, , for hosting a virtual space that helped broaden our reach internationally, all the while serving your Hunts Point neighbors. And thank you, , for welcoming us back with open arms and reestablishing a foothold in a neighborhood needing artistic self-reflection.

We hope you joined us at one or all these locations and will continue to do so through 2024.

Check out Marci Blackman's interview of poet activist Cheryl Clarke featured in Mosaic #43: Black/Queer/Lit. Read the entire interview online -link in bio.

Cheryl Clarke: Yes, well, like a lot of le****ns, le***an writers, [laughs] I learned a lot from the Black Arts Movement, and I guess I would say the tradition of Black literature. Which…I think was always screaming to be out, you know, to be recognized. The culture to be recognized, for us to recognize the culture, which is what the Black Arts and the Black Power Movement did during that time. Not only do we have people like LeRoi Jones* and Sonia Sanchez and Don Lee** (I know they have different names now. Not Sonia, but those two), but they also said, look at the Harlem Renaissance. Look at Claude McKay (they didn’t talk about no women). Look at . Look at that history of Black publishing, which is something Black people struggled to do—to gain control of our literary production. So, I guess I have to say I learned from that. The historical Black literature. And I guess this is where I’ll say Baldwin and Alice Walker. I have to say, Alice Walker really influenced my first book, Narratives. As a Black le***an, I wanted to give voice. You know, you say moving people at the fringes to the center, but I say: Let’s join them at the fringes. That’s what this friend of mine said once. He said: “We can all come to the center, or we can join each other at the fringes.”

is a literary print and virtual magazine that showcases the work of writers of African and Latinx descent. Each issue is curated by a respected guest editor, who selects a variety of works that represent the diversity of the African diaspora and themes featured during the Mosaic Literary Conference. The result is a collection of literature that is both captivating and thought-provoking.

returns Saturday, 12/16, 12pm with a five-week discussion of Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture by Greg Tate. Free books available. Free and open to the public.

White kids from the ’burbs are throwing up gang signs. The 2001 Grammy winner for Best Rap Artist was as white as rice. And blond-haired sorority sisters are sporting FUBU gear. What is going on in American culture that’s giving our nation a racial-identity crisis?

Saturdays, 12-1:30pm, December 16, 23, 30, January 6, & 13
BronxArtSpace, 700 Manida St.
(The gallery entrance is around the corner on Spofford Ave.)

This Saturday, 12/16, 2pm, join children's book author Natasha Tarpley at The Free Black Women's Library in BK. Natasha will celebrate the release of her new book Keyana Loves Her Friend. Free and open to the public.

The Literary Freedom Project is honored to receive a substantive grant from . It will allow LFP to continue to offer free public programs throughout the Boogie Down.

Governor Kathy Hochul, "Research confirms what we've always known here in New York: arts and culture are a powerhouse, with a staggering return on investment for our economy and our communities." New York's unparalleled arts and culture sector is leading the way to benefit our residents and neighbors.