The inaugural Midwest Black Book Fair will take place this coming Saturday, August 22, in Minneapolis, Minn., MPR News reported. The book fair, which will honor stories of resistance and "uplift the modern-day intersectional narratives of Blackness, Black history, and Black futurity," will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center.
The schedule includes panels about contemporary Black storytelling, the history of Black literature in Minnesota, Black poetry, and more. There will be author signings, food options, and several Black-owned bookstores selling books. Attendance is free but tickets require pre-registration; so far about 800 have been reserved.
Event director Terresa Hardaway, who is also the owner of Black Garnet Books in St. Paul, Minn., said she was attending a Black Bookstore Coalition meeting when it occurred to her that Minnesota didn't have a book festival focused on Black authors and booksellers. She chose to hold the book fair this month in order to coincide with Black August, a month-long commemoration of Black abolitionists, freedom fighters, and political prisoners.
"I was just looking around at all these like really amazing Black women who are doing this really important work in the literary space, and I'm like, we need to," Hardaway told MPR News. "It's just been on my heart. We need to do something."