Books of Hope is no stranger to the Harlem Book Fair. Thanks to Program Director, L. Soul Brown’s determination to expose BOH to good learning opportunities, this is the third time BOH has traveled to New York City to represent themselves and their writing.
Eaaaaaarly last Saturday morning, ten BOH student authors (Claude, Keisha, Anthony, Zanterius, JMasse, Jessica, Ilda, Anathalie, Manisha, Rose) met for the 4-hour van ride down to NYC. They had all the gear: the canapé, tablecloths, bookmarks, and BOH literature to distribute. When we were all set up, many of them had the courage to stand out in front of the booth, in the gauntlet of pedestrians, to win the attention of curious fair-goers with a few words. “Young people speak out! Young people in action!” they shouted to entice book lovers. Penguin books was right across the way, but they were no competition!
It was a long hot day, but the atmosphere was festive and positive. There were shaved ice vendors with colorful flavors like cherry, mango, and lemon-lime to cool us off. It reminded me of being younger and going to the Franklin Park Kite Festival or Canobie Lake amusement park. Live drumming and other music boomed from the main stage. A young girl got up to sing “Lift Every Voice.” Five of the authors from Books of Hope also got up on stage to read their newly published poetry in the Big Apple. It was an impromptu performance, but several of them rose to the occasion to be heard and to share their brilliance with the crowd: Anthony Cimea, Claude Simon, Zanterius Broadus, Anathalie Jean Louis, and Ilda Joseph. It was a triumphant day—we sold many books. I watched BOH perform and was also musically inspired by the students singing a Haitian gospel tune in the van. In the wee hours of the night on our return drive to Boston, we listened to amazing producer remixes of Nina Simone (thanks Soul). Overall a positive (but extremely long and grueling) day of book vending that ended way past midnight. Much praise to the Books of Hope family for representing the voice and power of young authors.
Titilayo Ngwenya
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