Today we’d like to introduce you to Asadah Kirkland.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Asadah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am an avid Chicago Wannabe turned Gonnabe, born and raised in NYC. I lived a fun-filled life after graduating from Northwestern in the late 90’s and came back to Chicago as an author in 2014. A week after hitting Chicago soil, I was surprisingly met with an immediate demand of my book “Beating Black Kids,” I landed features on CNN and Al Jazeera, thinking that the move to Chicago was going to be about the growth and emergence of my own literary work. Little did I know that my being an author in this city would connect me to literary work that uplifted fellow authors, making my personal game in life about much more than just myself.
Being from NYC where celebrating Black authors and their work was common, I was surprised to see that a city like Chicago, with its own literary giants, did not have a comparable celebration for Black literary arts. Hhhmmm… time for a void to be filled. I did my due diligence in the summer of 2015 and visited the city’s largest literary festival in order to survey interest in my brewing idea. I stopped every Black person I saw, approached them with a mailing list, and told them there would be a Soulful Chicago Book Fair on the south side of Chicago featuring over one hundred books by Black writers the following summer. I came home with 15 pages of interested black book lovers. What was merely an idea, soon became concrete plans to breathe new literary life into Chicago’s south side.
July 16, 2016, was the inaugural Soulful Chicago Book Fair, occupying four city blocks on 61st Street, between Cottage Grove and King Drive. All books were vetted and authors from around the country submitted their books to be approved. Those 85 inaugural authors were organized by their genres, donning one block for fiction writers, one block for non-fiction writers and another block for children’s writers. The day opened with a celebratory float of elders and young drummers, honoring those who paved the way for our success. It took them east to west for the entire stretch of the event, and their permission was requested before we began the day’s activities. That procession ignited dancing and crying and authors who came from behind their tables to join in the signing and shouting of a chant of the event name… “The Sooooouuullffuul Chicagoooooo BOOK FAIR!” 61st Street had been electrified!
Literary workshops took place in a nearby community center and entertainment filled the air from the event’s two stages. The large Grammy-level stage featured Neo-Soul, Grammy-nominated artist Eric Roberson, Hip-hop/Jazz vocalist, Maggie Brown & Ballroom Rock group, BLAH, BLAH BLAH to name a few. The community stage further east featured puppet shows, author talks and open mic sessions for the community to share its innate talents. How did the community respond?
People who lived in adjacent streets walked slowly along the strip, shaking heads in awe saying words like, “No one has EVER done anything like this in our community.” I was warned by the city that we were about to have an event in one of the Chicago’s most gang-ridden areas. Well, we were met with open arms, and tremendous pride, massive book sales, and no violent incidents the entire day. Ooooo… so what happened next? The demand for that literary experience to be created over and over arose, and the Soulful Chicago Book Fair will make its 6th appearance since it began in 2016. There have been two SoulfulChicago Kwanzaa Book Fairs, a Soulful Chicago Black History Book Fair and its third main event taking place July 15, 2018. But wait! Talk about a literary ripple effect! Here’s what’s occurred in addition to the events.
We were asked by the Chicago Public Library to replicate the Soulful Chicago Book Fair inside 3500 square feet of space in the Harold Washington Library, in downtown Chicago, for Black History month of 2018. We filled the month with programming that featured the book fair’s authors every weekend, not only at the Harold Washington branch but at the Toman, Carter G. Woodsen, and Edgewater branches too. And before our programming even hit, approximately 5 of our featured authors were accepted into circulation throughout the Chicago Public Library system.
We’ve collaborated with community organizations all over the city, such as the AM FM Gallery, creating a literary show to mirror their “Old Black Magic” exhibit. In addition, we’ve been asked by several south side schools to bring books fairs to their students, as the mainstream company they deal with does not feature books their students can culturally identify with. Finally, we’ve placed a “Free Little Library” on the corner of 61st Street and Cottage Grove, where the community can drop off books and pick up books at their leisure, at no cost. We have had to fill the library at least 20 times, dispelling the myth that “Black people don’t read books.”
So the face of Black literary activity in Chicago is changing. We started from seeing only a handful of Black authors a the city’s largest book fair, to developing our own database of approximately 400 Black authors right here in Chicago. And regarding a race of people who don’t read… we attracted 3000 visitors our first year and approximately 4,500 Black book lovers the following year. This year we’ll aim for 7000 or more and continue to breathe literary life into the south side of Chicago, making it a book desert no more.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our largest challenge has been funding. We are still $10,000 in debt from the first year and about $5000 in debt from last year. I have almost-single-handedly raised $9000 from crowdsource funding, putting just a small dent in the events $50,000 budget. Maintaining a strong fiscal team of skilled, committed professionals has been a challenge, to say the least.
Soulful Chicago Book Fair – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
While we are in the business of organizing book fairs, the community calls on our assistance for galvanizing supporters and marketing to large groups of like-minded followers. We were recently called on to assist in the re-opening of one of Margan Park’s most revered cultural treasures, “Safari Marketplace.” We helped to create an efficient tracking system, as well as a new literary emphasis on their product offerings.
They are looking to make their lower level the “Soulful Chicago Book Fair Literary Lounge” for book sales and literary entertainment. What differentiates us from other organizations that network with Black writers is our larger scope. Our events and activities have become year-round, making us the “go-to” organization in Chicago for Black literary activity.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is about depth and longevity. The goal is to always have both authors and book lovers leave our events with experiences that inspire and keep them coming back for more. A major marker for us has to do with the amount of social media activity we see surrounding our promotion.
We watch how much our promo is shared and assess increasing numbers of visitors to our events as a result. In the future, we’d like to lend a closer eye to the number of book sales actually being made to ensure we improve our delivery for each event.
Pricing:
- books range from $10-$25 dollars
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.soulfulchicagobookfair.com
- Phone: 646-359-6605
- Email: soulfulchicagobookfair@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulfulchicagobookfair/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Soulful-Chicago-Book-Fair-
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/soulfulchicago
Image Credit:
Amandilo
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
