Strive Community Publishing: Black Joy Literary Clubs

There are three literary groups currently meeting:
1. Women's Circle Book Talk - The facilitator, Angie Lamb-Onayiga, is the co-founder of the Sista Co-op, which is the retail space that the Strive Bookstore is located within. She saw the interview that Oprah recently did with Viola Davis about her new memoir, Finding Me, and she asked if I could order it for her. Since Strive Publishing is also a bookseller now, I ordered the book for Angie. She was so happy to receive the book and had been talking to friends about it, who also wanted the book. That is when I told Angie about the Black Joy Literary Groups and asked her if she wanted to facilitate a book club. She named it the Women's Circle Book Talk, posted it on social media and immediately got 14 Black women to sign up. The grant funds are used to purchase the books for the women (we had to limit the number of participants to 10). The Women's Circle Book Talk meets the 4th Saturday of the month (June and July to discuss Finding Me by Viola Davis; August and September to discuss Just as I Am by Cicely Tyson). The women in the Women's Circle Book Talk group range in ages from late-thirties to early-sixties.

2. Black Joy Book Club 1 - The facilitator, TeNaya Rhines, is younger (maybe mid-thirties) and communicates mostly by text, online, and social media. I met TeNaya at a community event at the North Regional Library. She seemed excited about books, so I struck up a conversation with her and mentioned the Black Joy Literary Clubs idea. TeNaya was overjoyed to begin planning a club because as she put it, "I never read a whole book before!" Here is what TeNaya posted on Facebook and Instagram (minus the cute emojies):

Excited about Black Joy Literary Groups... I AM!I will be hosting a small not your average book club for upto 5-7 black women who live in the minneapolis/st.paul surrounding area.
About Me: I'm new to reading for enjoyment and I love it. I enjoy reading self-help / self awareness books and I'm interested in reading, adventure, mystery, scifi, biography and poetry. I am open to reading and exploring black authors that are not local as well.
Let's get lost or found in a good book together while enjoying some good food, drinks and discussion!
Come join me in exploring local black authors in black spaces!
This book club will do fun activities like:
* create and/or choose a local artist to make a few images for our book club SWAG!
* have some of our meetings in Black Owned businesses!
*make snack menus and curate cocktails/beverages that match our book/chapter or theme.
* as your host I will do monthly giveaways/raffles within our group that match our book or theme.
* host a local author to do live readings/book signing and talk about their book and creative process!
* donate a couple of our book club meeting times to volunteer for a local black charity or cause.
* Any other activities, events, or travel will depend on the book(s) we are reading and willingness to participate.
Are you interested... know anyone would be..?
Inbox me!
--
Mrs.TeNaya N. Rhines

There are five women currently reading the book published by Strive Publishing, Blend In or Fade Out by local Black author Colnese Hendon. TeNaya kicked off the book club at For Real Coffee House in George Floyd Square, which is owned by the author, Colnese Hendon's son, and where she had the official book launch on May 25th. From then on, the meetings have been held over Zoom every Sunday at 2:00 when two to three women join as they are able. In between meetings, TeNaya sends encouraging texts to keep reading.

TeNaya is an artist and is working on creating a logo for the group or she may hire an artist to do it. The grant funds will pay for TeNaya's monthly stipend of $100, plus supplies, author honorarium, and artist fees. The author has been invited to join the group once the book is read and TeNaya is planning to make it a celebration for the author. So far, TeNaya has received $100 for facilitating the online meetings.

3. Author Read Aloud in the Garden - The Green Garden Bakery and Sumner Olson Library hosted this read aloud. We inquired with Sumner Library in north Minneapolis to see if they would be interested in hosting a Black Joy Literary Group. They hosted author, M'lina Mangal in the garden last summer when we had a local business sponsor a book giveaway, and the families enjoyed it so much they had been asking when they would have another reading. Everyone decided we should give the families what they've been asking for and give them another garden reading with a book giveaway. We collaborated in two planning meetings, and held the author read aloud on the evening of August 10, 2022.

; As a result of this funding we have provided the following free literary events for the Black community:
- The Women's Circle Book Club began in June 2022, focused on reading memoirs, and facilitator volunteered to keep meeting with 6 - 8 members.
- The Black Joy Book Club began in April 2022 and facilitator continued through June 2023 and she is now considered ways to keep the book club members reading.
- There were four local author visits: one memoir author, one romance author, one young adult author, and one children's book author.
- There was a family literary event with an author that was also a performance artists.
- The final offering is a writing workshop series for advanced writers.

The main goal was to engaged community members in the literary arts. I wanted to encourage community members to become ambassadors for increasing awareness of the barriers to literary arts and work to empower folks to plan for and facilitate Black literary clubs and workshops. I engaged with folks at community events, met with many colleagues from the literary community, and asked for ideas in implementing literary groups. There was always excitement and enthusiasm in discussions about organizing Black Joy Literary Clubs. I have spent countless hours sharing with others the history of Black literary societies, which inspired me to apply for this grant. Even though most of my discussions did not lead to organizing a club, I believe that by sharing and reminding folks of our rich history of Black literary societies, I have planted seeds that will grow in the years to come. Moreover, I have deepened relationships within the community and folks know that I am open to collaborating with them at any time to help elevate Black literary events.

The Black Joy Literary Clubs that grew out of connections and discussions have become a meaningful part of the community and they exemplify the "joy" in engaging with Black literature.

Consider the Women's Circle Book Club. This group of women are mostly middle-aged social workers who deal with trauma in the community in some form or another. When they come together to discuss the memoirs of inspiration Black women (Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Betty Shabazz, etc.) they are making connections and having discussions that validate them on a personal level. There is joy and power in coming together as Black women, self-led, in a beautiful Black-own space (The Sistah Co-eop).

The Black Joy Book Club also attracted Black women, a younger generation of women (mostly in their 30s) who were not in the habit of reading. The facilitator chose the first book and the members voted on the next books to read. The first two books were by local authors because the facilitator wanted to have the authors (Colnese Hendon, Devone Cosey) come in and discuss their books with the club after each reading. After that, the group chose to read Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, with the dream of some day getting to meet him. From there the group began to enjoy audio books, reading and discussing articles and mixing up how they communicated (in-person, online, text, GroupMe app).

Family engagement was another "joy" that came from meeting with folks in the local literary scene. Every time I'd meet a new author or have an opportunity to catch up with authors I knew, I would talk about the Black literary societies and how we could come together like days of old. Through those discussions I was able to schedule a few family author events. We hosted Maya Marchelle at the Sistah Co-op for a reading and musical performance of the song she wrote to go along with her children's book, which families enjoyed. We hosted two more family author readings at Strive Bookstore; one with children's book author M'lina Mangal and another with young adult author, Ari Tison. These events brought in families from the near north side along with downtown Minneapolis.

The one writing workshop that came out of all the meetings and discussions is Onyxsphere. I was finally able to connect with and organize with two well known folks in the Black literary scene. Pamela Fletcher and I had been planning a writing workshop for months that for various reasons did not work out. However, when I finally met and got to know Arleta Little, while discussing possibilities for collaborating on a Black Joy literary project, we discovered with both now Pamela. The outcome of the three of us discussing and planning is Onyxsphere, a writing workshop for Black women with advance writing skills. I had high hopes for offering writing clubs for all skill and ability levels, which did not pan out but I am amazed at what did come together with Pamela and Arleta.

With the exception of writing clubs for all skill and ability levels, I have achieved all of my goals:

* Intergenerational clubs and/or clubs for specific age groups
* Writing clubs for all skill and ability levels
* Options for clubs in-person and online
* Building more relationships with local Black authors, artists, and scholars