There is a kinetic energy that binds drummer and producer Karriem Riggins and singer-songwriter, rapper, and producer Liv.e — the spark that happens when instinct meets flow and spirit finds rhythm. As GENA (God Energy, Naturally Amazing), their debut The Pleasure Is Yours is a playful, soulful conversation between two kindred improvisers, with Liv.e’s smoky, unpolished vocals gliding through Riggins’ warm, percussive universe. Rooted in jazz, soul, and hip-hop as living language, the Dallas-born Liv.e and Detroit native Riggins bridge eras without settling in one, creating something analog and ethereal, percussive and poetic.

Live at Eldorado Ballroom on Friday, April 3, 2026, as part of Continuum, presented by Project Row Houses, ushering in a new season at the historic Eldorado Ballroom.

Funded in part by Sis & Hasty Johnson, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

This is a 21+ event.
Presented by Project Row Houses

https://link.dice.fm/d90b1a1c8369

A joyful celebration of Black queer voices, stories, and creativity. This all-ages, community-centered event welcomes LGBTQIA+ community members, allies, and authors to gather in affirmation and connection. Attendees can explore books that uplift queer narratives and challenge censorship, and enjoy music honoring Black cultural heritage. Books will be available for purchase from Kindred Stories, along with exclusive The Mahogany Project Pride merchandise to kick off the pride season. Guests may register for raffle prizes; winners must be present at the time of the drawing to claim a prize. By attending this event, you consent to photography and videography. Any images or recordings that include your likeness become the property of The Mahogany Project and may be used for programming, storytelling, fundraising, and promotional purposes across all platforms. Attendance signifies agreement to this use without expectation of review, approval, or compensation.
 
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-black-queer-book-fair-day-party-tickets-1982157568646

Every spring, three Houston parks team up to celebrate the Houston musicians who keep the tradition of jazz alive. The immensely popular series, Jazzy Sundays in the Parks, brings free jazz concerts to Discovery Green in March and the Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park in April.  

Traditionally, the series opens at Emancipation Park, but due to the construction of a state-of-the-art performance stage and other park improvements, the series will be at Discovery Green and Buffalo Bayou Park. The series will return to Emancipation Park next year.  

Guests are encouraged to arrive early and bring a blanket or lawn chairs. Food and drink will be available for purchase. A pop-up market will be on site at each park with locally crafted items, food and wearables. All concerts are free and family friendly. 

MORE INFO HERE

Register for our 2026 John P. McGovern Endowed Lecture series in collaboration with Afircan American Studies will feature world renown psychologist, author and professor, Dr. Thema Bryant. During this lecture Dr. Bryant will be discussing how our mental health and wellbeing are not just individual aspects; our relationships, families and friends are core to emotional wellbeing. A short reception will follow the lecture.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Bryant’s influence extends far and wide. Her role as the former president of the American Psychological Association in 2023 underscores her commitment to advancing the field of psychology and advocating for mental health equity. Dr. Bryant has reported with CNN, made guest appearances on Oprah Winfrey's podcast, the Dr. Phil Show, and present multiple TedTalks.

Pre-registration is required.

On April 7, 2026, Dr. Thema Bryant will be discussing & signing her new book, Matters of the Heart. The discussion will take place in the SW building room 101. Appetizers will be provided at no cost. Doors will open at 5:30 pm and the event will start promptly at 6:00 pm. Paid parking is available in the Welcome Center Garage (4348 MLK Blvd.). Please complete this short form by March 25th, to help us prepare for our guests. Thank you 

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=vboLF_CikEytSw6PDwxCWUQi7sCbfBZPpuzON7tOoC5UNlFERTc0TEc3RUtNMU85TDMxRzc0VzZZVC4u

Join us for an interdisciplinary conversation with exhibiting artist Joan Fontcuberta. Internationally celebrated for his sharp, playful critiques of photography and authorship in the digital age, Fontcuberta has been awarded the Hasselblad Award, Spain’s National Photography Prize, and the Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal and has been exhibited at Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, and the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, among others. 

The hour-long conversation will be followed by a reception. 

MORE INFO HERE

Enjoy an exclusive evening outdoors at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens.

Sip mint julep cocktails under an elegant Southern garden tent, and listen to live music by the Paul Chester Quartet. Take a twilight stroll through the Bayou Bend estate’s beautiful springtime gardens, relax on the Diana Terrace, and enjoy private access to the first floor of Ima Hogg’s legendary home.

TICKETS & MORE INFO HERE

Tickets

• $35 per person
• $30 for MFAH members
• Admission includes one drink and entry to the house and gardens. Additional drinks may be purchased by credit card. Tickets are available in advance or at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Last admission at 7 pm

About the Performers
The Paul Chester Quartet consists of Paul Chester on guitar, David Craig on bass, Andrew Lienhard on piano, and Gavin Moolchan on drums.

Please join the Mitchell Center and Visiting Artist Lillian-Yvonne Bertram for a public reading and discussion hosted at Kindred Stories Bookstore, April 7th, 7-9pm.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is an Associate Professor of English, Africana Studies, and Art & Design at Northeastern University. Previously they directed the MFA in Creative Writing at UMASS Boston. They are the author of the forthcoming poetry collection Negative Money (Soft Skull, 2023), and the poetry collections Travesty Generator (Noemi Press, 2019), winner of the 2018 Noemi Press Poetry Prize and finalist for the National Poetry Series. Travesty Generator received the 2020 Poetry Society of America Anna Rabinowitz Prize for interdisciplinary and venturesome work." 
 
https://kindredstorieshtx.com/products/irl-poetry-reading-lillian-yvonne-bertram-april-7-7-pm-cst

This Food Festival will be held at TSU in Houston, TX. This awesome festival will be hosting minority owned businesses and Food Trucks.

The 2nd Annual HBCU Enlighten Tours Food Festival is here. We are bringing our exciting food festival to Texas Southern University as our first stop of our HBCU tour. We are partnering with the American Marketing Association Chapter at Texas Southern University. This festival will have minority owned businesses throughout the Houston area on campus selling their products and food. This Food Festival will also focus on celebrating HBCU Tradition and encourage the path to entrepreneurship. Proceeds from this food festival will be given in scholarship form to future and current students. Download our Black Enlightenment App to learn more.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual-enlighten-tours-food-festival-hbcu-edition-tickets-1983418412865

Brazos welcomes Emily Galvin Almanza on Wednesday, April 8 to discuss her book The Price of Mercy. Emily will be in conversation with Keri Blakinger.  This event is sponsored by the Harris County Public Defenders Office. 

A former public defender takes us behind the closed doors of America's criminal courts, revealing how the institutions that claim to protect us are doing the exact opposite--and offering a blueprint for finally fixing it.

As Americans, we are told a rose-tinted story about our criminal courts--that these are the hallowed halls of justice, that the purpose of our legal process is to find the truth, and that those who enforce the law are both equitable and heroic. But what if the reality is purposefully obscured to hide something rotten at the system's core?

In The Price of Mercy, attorney and former public defender Emily Galvin Almanza weaves hard data and unforgettable stories, dark humor and compelling evidence to tell us the truth about what's really going on behind the closed doors of America's criminal courts. She shows us how jails actually increase future crime, the dirty tricks police use to make millions in overtime pay, how a man could spend decades in prison because scientists mistook dog hair for his own, the perverse incentives that push prosecutors to seek convictions even when they themselves don't want to, and how judges may decide cases differently after lunch.

We'll learn what's working, too: how public defenders can improve public health and even economic mobility, and how planting more trees can reduce a neighborhood's murder rates. But a lone defender winning a case won't change the system. Galvin Almanza argues that we need an engaged public to confront the stark reality of our crime-generating, poverty-entrenching, health-destroying legal apparatus and rebuild it into something that can save our collective present and prevent our future from being torn apart.

Provocative and eye-opening, The Price of Mercy lifts the curtain on the way our laws really operate and presents a path forward for true transformation of the American criminal court system. Justice, and the law itself, is not some static thing. It is something enacted together, decision by decision, in acts of inhumanity or mercy.

"A searing, compassionate, and utterly necessary book that pulls back the curtain with the clarity of a lawyer and the heart of someone who's seen the criminal legal system's devastating consequences up close."--Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Emily Galvin Almanza is the co-founder and executive director of Partners for Justice, a nonprofit creating a new collaborative model of public defense designed to empower defenders nationwide. Prior to founding PFJ, Emily fought for clients inside the L.A. County Public Defender's Office, the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office, and the Bronx Defenders, and with the Stanford Three Strikes Project. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, and Time, among other publications.
 

Keri Blakinger was a senior investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle. She reported on issues in the criminal justice system, with a focus on state and federal prisons.

Keri joined the Chronicle from the Los Angeles Times, where she covered the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She was previously part of the Chronicle's 2018 Pulitzer finalist team covering Hurricane Harvey and was also a 2024 Pulitzer finalist in feature writing while with the Marshall Project for her story about the Dungeons & Dragons players of Texas Death Row.

In 2025, she produced an Oscar-nominated short documentary, "I Am Ready Warden." Her work has appeared everywhere from the BBC to the New York Daily News, and from Vice to the Washington Post Magazine, where her 2019 reporting on women in jail helped earn a National Magazine Award. 

She is also the author of Corrections in Ink, a 2022 memoir about her time in prison.

 
https://brazosbookstore.com/event/2026-04-08/emily-galvin-almanza-price-mercy

Join us for drinks and light bites as we feature local photographers to kick off our rotating exhibition series!

Celebrate the opening of this inaugural exhibition, which features photography by three Houston-based artists:

• Tomii Culmer
• Marc Furi
• Jakayla Monay

Join us to be the first to see these exciting works as you enjoy drinks and light bites.

This exhibition is organized by the Houston Community Land Trust in collaboration with Project Row Houses and the Third Ward Cultural District. Interested in participating in future exhibitions? Complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/h0JdCdQL3p.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/houston-community-land-trust-inaugural-exhibition-opening-reception-tickets-1985249360278

Celebrate the release of In A World of Sunrises with Cleo Wade!

RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

*Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

REGISTRATION & MORE INFO HERE

ABOUT THE BOOK

An entirely new collection of poetry, prose, and inspiring quotes designed to uplift and comfort readers over 365 days, from the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Cleo Wade.

Bestselling author of Heart Talk Cleo Wade returns with In a World of Sunrises, offering 365 ideas you will want to savor, mantras that motivate you to hold on to hope, and quotes from authors who inspire.

The entries remind us that change is always possible, not only within ourselves but also in the world around us. This book is about feeling good, and feeling like wherever you are in your life is okay and wherever you want to go is possible. It’s about smiling through our tears; it’s about miracles and joy. Befriending one another and ourselves, lightening up, and giving ourselves (and everyone else) grace because life rains its challenges on all of us.

Finally, as with all of Cleo’s books, it’s a hug. A friend who is always happy to see you.

While more and more people are looking to log off social media to find calm and encouragement, In a World of Sunrises is designed to fit simply into daily life. The pages are filled with loving, wise, and warm ways to start, end, or find pause. Life is so complicated—inspiration at its best and most helpful feels simple and full of ease. In a World of Sunrises gives readers that gift every day.

Experience New York–based choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener’s Open Machine, a cutting-edge project that imagines artificial intelligence through the lens of experimental dance. Technically precise dancers wearing sensory devices follow algorithmic rules that are simultaneously reflected on large LED screens in the Moody’s Lois Chiles Studio Theater. The performance is set to a score by electronic-music composer Mas Ysa and vocalist Charmaine Lee.

Open Machine will be performed on Friday, April 10, 6 – 7:30 pm, and Saturday, April 11, 6 – 7:30 pm

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Registration is appreciated. 

MORE INFO HERE

Coltrane 100: Joe Lovano, Melissa Aldana, Nduduzo Makhathini, Linda May Han Oh, Jeff “Tain” Watts
Both Directions at Once

2026 marks the centennial of iconic saxophonist John Coltrane’s birth. An all-star lineup — saxophonists Joe Lovano and Melissa Aldana; pianist Ndudzo Makhathini, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts — pays tribute to the jazz giant, whose creativity and spirituality has influenced generations of musicians.

Coltrane once explained his musical aspirations to fellow saxophonist Wayne Shorter as, “starting a sentence in the middle, and then going to the beginning and the end of it at the same time… both directions at once.” The Coltrane 100 band looks Both Directions at Once with modern interpretations of classic Coltrane repertoire from throughout his career, plus originals inspired by his legacy.

TICKETS & MORE INFO HERE

TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing is a biography of the influential writer Toni Cade Bambara, whose literary works and film collaborations were a catalyzing force in 20th century cultural and political movements. The documentary is made up of stories shared by friends and colleagues including Toni Morrison, Nikky Finney and Haile Gerima. 

https://hmaaccinemacafe.eventive.org/schedule/69c20d32896a051ca7eb0298

Celebrate the release of While We're Here with Anne Wynter!

RSVP ONLY to let us know you're coming or RSVP WITH BOOK to secure your copy of While We're Here.

Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories. 

REGISTRATION & MORE INFO HERE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Award-winning creators Anne Wynter and Micha Archer share a mother-daughter tale about delighting in small pleasures throughout the city. Perfect for fans of Oge Mora and Sophie Blackall. 

Anne Wynter perfectly captures the hurry and hustle of a busy day. But when plans change and a girl and her mother slow down to savor small pleasures, the real celebration begins. 

Dazzling, kaleidoscopic cut paper artwork from Caldecott Honor artist Micha Archer highlights each special moment in this sweet tribute to time spent together.

TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing is a biography of the influential writer Toni Cade Bambara, whose literary works and film collaborations were a catalyzing force in 20th century cultural and political movements. The documentary is made up of stories shared by friends and colleagues including Toni Morrison, Nikky Finney and Haile Gerima. 

https://hmaaccinemacafe.eventive.org/schedule/69c20d32896a051ca7eb0298

Since 1986, the Rothko Chapel has honored courageous grassroots advocacy through the Óscar Romero Award, named for Saint Óscar Romero and his enduring legacy of justice. The 2026 Award centers on health justice, recognizing organizations and leaders building ecosystems of physical and spiritual wellbeing amid economic and political pressure. The program features an awards ceremony followed by a moderated conversation with the honorees led by Rothko Chapel President Imam Abdullah Antepli.

Pay What You Can $5-20 | In-Person & Livestream Event 

MORE INFO HERE

Experience New York–based choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener’s Open Machine, a cutting-edge project that imagines artificial intelligence through the lens of experimental dance. Technically precise dancers wearing sensory devices follow algorithmic rules that are simultaneously reflected on large LED screens in the Moody’s Lois Chiles Studio Theater. The performance is set to a score by electronic-music composer Mas Ysa and vocalist Charmaine Lee.

Open Machine will be performed on Friday, April 10, 6 – 7:30 pm, and Saturday, April 11, 6 – 7:30 pm

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Registration is appreciated. 

MORE INFO HERE

Join us on April 11 at 7pm for an evening with Dr. Alice Rothchild, whose autobiography Inspired and Outraged: The Making of a Feminist Physician tells the story, entirely in free verse, of her journey from 1950's good girl to irreverent, feisty, feminist obstetrician-gynecologist forging her own direction in the contradictory, sexist world of medicine.

Alice Rothchild is a physician, author, and filmmaker with a longstanding interest in human rights and social justice. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1970 and Boston University School of Medicine in 1974. She practiced ob-gyn for almost 40 years. Until her retirement she served as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Medical School. Alice writes and lectures widely, blogs regularly, and is the author of several books on Israel/Palestine, three focused on health and human rights issues, and two award winning novels for children. Her memoir was named a must read for the month of November by ms, magazine. She received Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston’s Women Doctors Award, was named in Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, had her portrait painted for Robert Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth, and was named a Peace Pioneer by the American Jewish Peace Archive. Alice is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council, mentor liaison for We Are Not Numbers, on the board of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation and Americans for Middle East Understanding. She was last in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in August 2023.

For more info, including study guides and resources: www.alicerothchildbooks.com and http://www.alicerothchild.com

Suggestion for donations: https://www.rednationsrising.org/about

https://www.basket-books.com/events/4927820260411

Plan Your Visit

• Included with Museum admission
• This lecture takes place in Brown Auditorium Theater on the Lower Level of the Law Building. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map

About the Speakers
Danielle Burns Wilson is executive director of Project Row Houses. She has served as the curator and art director of PRH since July 2021. She has also held the position of adjunct professor at Lone Star College since 2010. Prior to her work at PRH, she served as the curator and manager of the African American Library at the Gregory School and curator of the Houston Museum of African American Culture. 

Brittany Webb is curator of modern and contemporary art at the MFAH.

Every spring, three Houston parks team up to celebrate the Houston musicians who keep the tradition of jazz alive. The immensely popular series, Jazzy Sundays in the Parks, brings free jazz concerts to Discovery Green in March and the Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park in April.  

Traditionally, the series opens at Emancipation Park, but due to the construction of a state-of-the-art performance stage and other park improvements, the series will be at Discovery Green and Buffalo Bayou Park. The series will return to Emancipation Park next year.  

Guests are encouraged to arrive early and bring a blanket or lawn chairs. Food and drink will be available for purchase. A pop-up market will be on site at each park with locally crafted items, food and wearables. All concerts are free and family friendly. 

MORE INFO HERE

In collaboration with the Core Residency Program at the MFAH Glassell Studio School, we are hosting a workshop on Monday, April 13 (11 am–1 pm) with members of the Houston community and Noah Simblist, editor of the newly published book Living to Learn: Art & Education for the Common Good. The goal of this workshop is to engage the ideas of this book with practitioners from a wide range of experiences with art and education in the Houston community.

"Living to Learn" is a workshop about a multi author volume about radical pedagogy edited by Noah Simblist. This workshop will include an overview of the publication as well as an opportunity for participants to engage some of its key questions: How can alternative organizations and traditional institutions learn from one another? How have exhibition platforms created space for artists to generate learning environments? How have these practices changed assumptions about art institutions and artistic practice? Finally, how can we think about the economic, ecological, and institutional sustainability of all of these practices?We will use a combination of discussion, close reading, and exercises pulled from Living to Learn contributors such as My Barbarian, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and The Department of Transformation.

Advance registration is required; space is limited. Refreshments will be provided. We hope you'll join us!

Living to Learn: Art & Education for the Common Good (ICA at VCU and Inventory Press) presents the work of artists, curators, collectives, and scholars who address contemporary art as a site of learning in the 21st century. Building on earlier histories of education as a civic service for the common good, it focuses on the last 25 years, as well as the question of the future of art education—as a practice that unfolds both in and beyond school. The book constructs an impressionistic constellation of global case studies to see how innovations in education have had a dynamic relationship with artistic practice, alternative arts organizations, universities, museums and biennials. It focuses on the Americas and the Middle East including Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Qatar, and elsewhere.

https://www.basket-books.com/events/4955320260413

We're meeting to discuss A Love Worth Forever by BriAnn Danae!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Tuesday, APRIL 14 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Romance Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!

*If the book is sold out on our website feel free to email us so we can order a copy for you.*

ABOUT A LOVE WORTH FOREVER

Grieving and starting over, a marketing research manager finds herself drawn to the one man she shouldn’t want in this soul-stirring, unconventional romance by BriAnn Danae.

Shyriq Hendrix is no stranger to success. As the heir to a legacy distillery and a man with wealth, status, and discipline, he’s built a life most would envy. But in the quiet moments when he’s not managing his multimillion-dollar empire, he’s aware that something is missing.

Then Nhuri Coleman steps into his life . . .

Nhuri has her reasons for keeping a low profile after relocating to Kansas City for a reset. After a chance encounter with Shyriq—the reserved but undeniably attractive owner of Great Hendrix Distillery—she accepts a job she hadn’t been pursuing, offered by a man who sees her worth before she’s ready to believe in it herself. She only expects a steady check and quiet routine, but instead, she experiences undeniable soul-stirring chemistry.

Their early exchanges are strictly professional. But how he watches, listens, and shows up without expectation catches her off guard. Just as their connection begins to deepen, the sudden appearance of her ex-boyfriend pulls Nhuri back into the past. Shyriq, not one to chase, finds himself wanting more than just her time—he wants her trust. And he learns quickly that loving someone who’s learned to survive alone isn’t about fixing them. It’s about staying when everything else says leave.

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/collections/book-clubs/products/april-2026-romance-book-club-april-14-7pm-copy

If you love food and drink, you won't want to miss this sell-out event featuring Houston's top culinary talent.

The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards return to celebrate Houston's top restaurant and bar talent for 2026. Our mission is to shine a spotlight on the people and places that make Houston a world-class culinary destination.

Join us April 16 at Silver Street Studios for our annual tasting event and awards ceremony. We’ll celebrate all of the nominees and unveil this year’s winners, and you’ll enjoy chef-prepared bites and specialty drinks all night.

Get to know the nominees in our special editorial series, then join us April 16 as we toast the Tastemakers.

This is a sell-out event. First Dibs and Early Bird tickets are available in limited quantities for a limited time. Get yours now before they're gone!

General Admission Tickets include bites by nominated restaurants and complimentary premium beverages.

• First Dibs: $65
• Early Bird: $75
• Full Price: $85

VIP Tickets include early admission (6 pm) for first access to bites by nominated restaurants and a dedicated VIP bar.

• First Dibs: $99 (SOLD OUT)
• Early Bird: $110
• Full Price: $135

Participating Restaurants: Delicious details coming soon!

Beneficiary: Southern Smoke Foundation

Sponsors:

The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards program is brought to you by Maker's Mark, Culinary Kahncepts, Shutto, NXT LVL EVENT, and more to be announced.

For information on sponsorship opportunities, email sales@culturemap.com.

Questions: Email events@culturemap.com

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-tastemaker-awards-culturemap-houston-tickets-1980726848323

Celebrate the release of Nasty Work with Ericka Hart!

RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

REGISTRATION & MORE INFO HERE

ABOUT THE BOOK

When you think about sex ed, your mind likely goes back to those uncomfortable school desks and the stifled laughs of your teenage years. But what we’ve been socialized to believe about sexuality actually hinders our own pleasure well into adulthood. Whether we know it or not, even the most progressive among us are often using 400-year-old inherited thoughts and belief systems in the twenty-first century. Why are we still carrying forth these ancient values that have never served the vast majority? 

As a Black, queer, non-binary, disabled femme, Ericka Hart believes that sex ed done right can actually be a tool for liberation. In Nasty Work, she breaks down the ways that social implications keep us from experiencing pleasure, particularly for marginalized communities across race, gender, sexuality, and ability, and how we can dismantle these oppressive myths. From examining what guides our attraction to others to the history of consent, Ericka Hart takes the blinders off and reveals a more empowering view of sex and sexuality.

Nasty Work blends eye-opening research with powerful, poignant personal narrative that disrupts everything you thought you knew about sex and society; offering a liberatory framework that makes pleasure accessible for all.

Celebrate the release of The Art of Loving You with Natasha Bishop!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday, April 17 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St. Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

*Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

From the buzzy, viral sensation Only For The Week, comes the next book in Natasha Bishop’s The Forever Falling series, featuring an intimate bucket list road trip, sexy banter, and a sweet and spicy second chance romance.

If you’re reading this, I’m dead.

Dani Jenkins is a boss. A model turned influencer, she doesn’t have time for taking a risk on romance. She prefers to keep things casual, but when her mentor Tanya dies, she is brought face-to-face with the man who broke her heart.

Dani and Micah had their chance at love...

Artist Micah Wright is a protector who loves fiercely. He’s known as the man everyone can count on, but he’s never forgiven himself for letting down the woman he loves. With Tanya’s dying wish forcing Dani and Micah back together to complete a scavenger hunt road trip, Micah sees a second chance for them to get things right.

Does time heal all wounds?

Tensions are high as their undeniable connection reignites, but Dani refuses to let her guard down. As they continue their journey, Micah is determined to prove to Dani that love is worth fighting for, but can she release her fears and relearn the art of loving?

Tropes: Friends to lovers / He falls first / Second chance romance / Black joy /Forced proximity / Right person, wrong time / Fling to forever

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Natasha Bishop is a contemporary romance author living in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family and fur baby. She likes to write about sweet and badass women and the men who love them down. When she′s not writing, she′s usually reading, playing with her adorable dog, or hunting down delicious gluten-free snacks.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Alexandra Warren is a contemporary romance author with over thirty works to date, all of which intentionally center Black love. She is also the co-founder of Girl, Have You Read…, a digital platform dedicated to Black romance written by Black authors.

When she’s not in front of her computer, she enjoys traveling, spending time with family, watching sports, and clearing her DVR. Alexandra is a proud native of Omaha, Nebraska, but she currently calls Houston, Texas home. 

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/products/irl-author-talk-the-art-of-loving-you-with-natasha-bishop-april-17-7-pm

Families are invited to a playful, hands-on art experience at Rothko Chapel, where a time-traveling Wassily Kandinsky leads an imaginative abstract art class for kids and adults alike. The afternoon also features live Islamic calligraphy and ebru (paper marbling) demonstrations with opportunities to create and learn. Part of Neighborhood Community Day, this free celebration brings together art, music, poetry, and family activities with cultural partners from across Houston.

1-2pm | “Art Class for Families with Wassily Kandinsky” by Express Children's Theatre (Chapel Sanctuary) 
2-4pm | Calligraphy & Ebru Demonstrations by Islamic Arts Society (Welcome House / Board Room) 
Pay What You Can Tickets $5 - 25 | General admission bench seating  

MORE INFO HERE (Registrations forthcoming)

Hear original scores inspired by works featured in Imaging After Photography. Composed and performed live in the galleries by students from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the series combines visual and aural innovation, offering new perspectives on the exhibition. Please join us after the concert for a reception including light bites and beverages. 

Please note that the performance runs from 3:00 to 4:00 pm.

MORE INFO HERE

Join the Ice Cold Brothers of the Alpha Eta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. for the 17th Annual Ice Cold SpringFest, one of Houston’s most anticipated spring events and an important fundraiser supporting our work and impact in the community.

We will be at the Bayou City Event Center Pavilion on Saturday, April 18 from 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM.

This is an event you don’t want to hear about after the fact — you want to be there when it happens. It features great food, entertainment, and a lively atmosphere.

Most importantly this event is FREE to attend. We only ask that you support our fundraising efforts by purchasing meals of your choice.

Note: Springfest is designed primarily for adults. While children attend each year, parents are encouraged to use discretion as there are no designated children’s activities

Vendor Opportunities: Springfest attracts over 1,000 attendees each year, providing a great opportunity for businesses to showcase their products. Vendor space is limited and businesses will be selected to help ensure a strong mix of offerings for attendees.

Businesses interested in becoming a vendor must complete the vendor interest form below and a member of our team will follow up with additional details.

Vendor Interest Form:
https://forms.gle/uJvsH9HGa4a6MgJk9

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alpha-ice-cold-springfest-2026-tickets-1983177302698

Celebrate the release of Revive Me with J.L. Seegars!

Grab your ticket to support the author and our store programming. You can also grab a special book bundle for the first two books in the series, which includes Restore Me and Revive Me (Book 1).

Please note outside copies of Revive Me will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

REGISTRATION & MORE INFO HERE

ABOUT THE BOOK

The next book in the New Haven series, interconnected standalones featuring second chances, fiery passion, and Black heroines who get their happily ever afters. This is part one of a trilogy.

Plant-based food, music, games, and community vibes for an outdoor, family-friendly experience for vegans and non-vegans alike.

This outdoor vegan experience is all about great food, great music, and real community. Designed to welcome both vegans and non-vegans, the event creates a relaxed, family-friendly space where culture, connection, and flavor come together.

Guests can enjoy a curated selection of local vegan food trucks and vendors, live DJ sets, interactive games for all ages. The atmosphere is casual, inclusive, and intentionally designed to feel like a neighborhood gathering with spaces to eat, play, and vibe, not a pop-up you rush through.

More than just an event, this experience is the beginning of a signature monthly series with a long-term growth vision. Each month highlights local vegan chefs, community-led small businesses, and culturally rooted brands, welcoming the whole city while building a consistent space for community, creativity, and culture in Houston.

Come hungry. Stay for the vibes. Everyone is welcome. Bring the family (children under age 6 enter free).

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vegan-eats-beats-tickets-1983731212457

In a near-future world addled by climate change and inhabited by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. Desperate to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance.

You will receive a 10% discount on your copy of HUM by Helen Phillips by purchasing online or in-store! Click here to purchase.

https://www.basket-books.com/events/4885320260419

Every spring, three Houston parks team up to celebrate the Houston musicians who keep the tradition of jazz alive. The immensely popular series, Jazzy Sundays in the Parks, brings free jazz concerts to Discovery Green in March and the Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park in April.  

Traditionally, the series opens at Emancipation Park, but due to the construction of a state-of-the-art performance stage and other park improvements, the series will be at Discovery Green and Buffalo Bayou Park. The series will return to Emancipation Park next year.  

Guests are encouraged to arrive early and bring a blanket or lawn chairs. Food and drink will be available for purchase. A pop-up market will be on site at each park with locally crafted items, food and wearables. All concerts are free and family friendly. 

MORE INFO HERE

Celebrate the release of Big Girl Blitz with Danielle Allen!

EVENT DEETS

When: Monday, April 20 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming

*Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Because life’s too short, and mean girls ain’t sh…
Jazmyn Payne fled her hometown―and the fatphobes who made her life hell– the minute she graduated high school. Growing up, her haven was her Aunt Addison, and when her health takes a drastic turn, she insists that Jazz should spice up her life. Emphasis on spice.

But dating is the last thing Jazz had on her mind.

Until Lamar Anderson sits next to her at the local sports bar. He is sexy, fun, and refreshingly drama free. With him she's able to pretend that everything is alright. But as real life intrudes, Jazz has to decide if she can leave the past where it belongs… for a love that she deserves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Danielle Allen is the USA Today bestseller of Curvy Girl Summer, in additon to being an educator, and life coach. Living authentically has been the key to her living her best life. With a background in social sciences, helping people better understand themselves so they can become the best version of themselves is one of her passions. Writing contemporary romance novels that aims to change the status quo of the genre is another.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNERS

Alexandra Warren

Alexandra Warren is a contemporary romance author with over thirty works to date, all of which intentionally center Black love. She is also the co-founder of Girl, Have You Read…, a digital platform dedicated to Black romance written by Black authors.

When she’s not in front of her computer, she enjoys traveling, spending time with family, watching sports, and clearing her DVR. Alexandra is a proud native of Omaha, Nebraska, but she currently calls Houston, Texas home.

Monica Walters

Romance author, Monica Walters, is best known as the queen of country hood love stories. As an Amazon best-selling author, Monica has always had a passion for creating different worlds with words. The first country hood love story, 8 Seconds to Love, led to a string of novels highlighting country living, from rodeos to ranches, but with the characters maintaining the urban dialect that readers love from her.
Monica has several awards under her belt, cementing her place in the romance genre, one of those being the 2023 AAMBC Romance Author of the Year. She was also awarded Best Series from Girlfriends Unfiltered in 2023 for The Berotte Family Series, earning her respect from her peers as a prominent series writer.

Monica was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, but she now resides in Nome, Texas where most of her country stories take place. Besides being a wife and mother, attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology has only helped her become a better writer, understanding characters and their complex personalities.
 
 https://kindredstorieshtx.com/products/irl-author-talk-big-girl-blitz-with-danielle-allen-april-20-7-pm

Program
SCHUBERT: from Moments Musicaux, Op. 94, D 780–No. 2 in A-flat major
FELDMAN: Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello


Musicians
SARAH ROTHENBERG, piano; GENEVA LEWIS, violin; KYLE ARMBRUST, viola; JAY CAMPBELL, cello

DACAMERA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of influential American composer Morton Feldman, whose music uniquely suspends time. Feldman broke new ground in musical expression in the 1970’s with his experimental works that strove for the stillness of paintings.
In a rare performance of Morton Feldman’s poignant final work, with his signature exquisite harmonies and sensitive instrumentation, Feldman champion Sarah Rothenberg is joined by a remarkable ensemble of standouts of the younger generation of chamber musicians. The program opens with a salute to Feldman’s love for the music of Franz Schubert. Leave behind the rhythms of daily life and be transported to an extraordinary world of celestial contemplation.

TICKETS & MORE INFO HERE

We're meeting to discuss The Will To Change by Bell Hooks!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Tuesday, April 21 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Non-Fiction Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!

ABOUT THE WILL TO CHANGE

Everyone needs to love and be loved - even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving.

In The Will to Change, bell hooks gets to the heart of the matter and shows men how to express the emotions that are a fundamental part of who they are—whatever their age, marital status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. But toxic masculinity punishes those fundamental emotions, and it’s so deeply ingrained in our society that it’s hard for men to not comply—but hooks wants to help change that.

With trademark candor and fierce intelligence, hooks addresses the most common concerns of men, such as fear of intimacy and loss of their patriarchal place in society, in new and challenging ways. She believes men can find the way to spiritual unity by getting back in touch with the emotionally open part of themselves—and lay claim to the rich and rewarding inner lives that have historically been the exclusive province of women. A brave and astonishing work, The Will to Change is designed to help men reclaim the best part of themselves.

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/collections/book-clubs/products/april-2026-non-fiction-book-club-april-21-7pm

Please join the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and the Houston Cinema Society for a special evening with filmmaker Boots Riley at the UH Student Center Theater.
 Boots Riley is a director, activist, screenwriter, producer, poet, rapper, and speaker. His directorial debut “Sorry to Bother You” premiered to strong critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival. He is also is the founding member and lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club featuring Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine on guitar.
A dedicated community based activist, Boots was deeply involved with the Occupy Oakland movement and was one of the leaders of the activist group The Young Comrades. He is the author of the critically acclaimed collection of essays “Tell Homeland Security-We Are the Bomb” (Haymarket Books)."  
 
https://www.uh.edu/calendar/#event-details/a88190f1-73d5-45a9-8bd5-ae2074f4cc35

Rothko Chapel hosts a timely conversation exploring Indigenous-led “rights of nature” movements that reimagine ecosystems as rights-bearing entities, challenging extractive legal frameworks that treat nature as a resource. Co-curated with environmental justice strategist Bryan Parras, the program centers frontline wisdom, environmental justice, and transformative approaches to protecting land and life.

Pay What You Can $5-25, general admission chair seating

REGISTER & MORE INFO HERE

Celebrate the release of Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness with Ashanté M. Reese!

EVENT DEETS

When: Wednesday, April 22 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

*Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A vibrant new vision of food justice that celebrates Black food and recognizes the power of gathering to create sustainable, systemic change.
Food justice is defined as the understanding that our food system is unequal and that something needs to be done about it. But how can we create a world where everyone has enough? What does it mean to truly nourish ourselves and our communities?

In Gather, anthropologist Ashanté M. Reese argues for a vibrant new vision of food justice that places Black communities at the center and offers us a visionary, delicious path forward. Reese reveals that to truly create equity in our food systems, we must embrace the abundance that already exists around us—and recognize that the social body is as important as our individual health

Gather presents rich, on-the-ground stories of gathering around food in four spaces—gardens, family reunions, repasts, and protests. Blending rich storytelling with analysis, these chapters argue for the political power of food and invite us to learn from the tactics Black communities have long used to create sustainable, systemic change.

There are no simple solutions to the problems of acute need. But by recognizing that food justice is already all around us, we can start working together to create a more nourishing, joyful world. Gather is an intimate and urgent invitation to embrace local power, build better food systems, and nourish ourselves, body and soul.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ashanté M. Reese is a writer, anthropologist, and associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Born in Cooper Settlement, Texas, she lives in Austin and is involved in food justice movements nationwide.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Ivy Lawrence-Walls is a pioneering agriculturalist deeply ingrained in both community and culture, making significant strides in the farming sphere with an unwavering dedication to nurturing food-secure ecosystems. As a key figure in Houston, she spearheaded the establishment of a community farm in Sunnyside, one of the city's oldest predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Leveraging her rich third-generation farming legacy and an entrepreneurial spirit, Ivy stands at the forefront of advocating for food accessibility and equity. Her impactful portfolio comprises Ivy Leaf Farms, Fresh Houwse Grocery, Kuji Kitchen restaurant, and Black Farmer Box. Her revolutionary efforts have placed her at the center of a movement to transform the agricultural landscape, especially in Black communities. 

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/products/irl-author-talk-gather-with-ashante-m-reese-april-22-7-pm

We're meeting to discuss Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Thursday, April 23 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Fiction Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!

ABOUT SMALL WORLDS

An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and Costa First Novel Award winning author Caleb Azumah Nelson

One of the most acclaimed and internationally bestselling "unforgettable" (New York Times) debuts of the 2021, Caleb Azumah Nelson's London-set love story Open Water took the US by storm and introduced the world to a salient and insightful new voice in fiction. Now, with his second novel Small Worlds, the prodigious Azumah Nelson brings another set of enduring characters to brilliant life in his signature rhythmic, melodic prose.

Set over the course of three summers, Small Worlds follows Stephen, a first-generation Londoner born to Ghanian immigrant parents, brother to Ray, and best friend to Adeline. On the cusp of big life changes, Stephen feels pressured to follow a certain path--a university degree, a move out of home--but when he decides instead to follow his first love, music, his world and family fractures in ways he didn't foresee. Now Stephen must find a path and peace for himself: a space he can feel beautiful, a space he can feel free.

Moving from London, England to Accra, Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exquisite and intimate new novel about the people and places we hold close, from one of the most "elegant, poetic" (CNN) and important voices of a generation.

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/collections/book-clubs/products/april-2026-fiction-book-club-april-23-7pm

Please join us for an afternoon conversation at Basket Books & Art with Felicia Zamora author of Interstitial Archeology. Felicia Zamora will also be at Lawndale Art Center for the Gulf Coast Reading Series beginning at 7pm.

Water permeates this stunning collection—ocean, lake, saliva, tears, sweat, blood—and the deeper Felicia Zamora excavates, the sheerer it becomes. Revisiting her childhood as a Latina living in poverty in the United States, Zamora explores racial trauma, estrangement from inherted culture and language, and the instinct to retreat into the body as a space of understanding. Grounded in the specificity of her history, her body, and her life, these poems find the universal threads that constellate hummingbirds to whales, Galapagos tortoises to Matt Groening cartoons, family photographs to joy and heartache, and an insistence on human connectivity.

Felicia Zamora is the author of six books of poetry, including Quotient; I Always Carry My Bones, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize and the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; Body of Render, Benjamin Saltman Award winner; and Of Form & Gather, Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize winner. She won the Loraine Williams Poetry Prize from the Georgia Review, a Tin House Next Book Residency, and an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. She is an associate professor of poetry at the University of Cincinnati and a poetry editor for the Colorado Review.

 
https://www.basket-books.com/events/4929920260424

Celebrate the release of Black. Single. Mother. with Jamilah Lemieux!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday, April 24 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St., Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

*Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A personal meditation on, examination of, and tribute to Black single motherhood, unapologetically told through poignant essays and candid interviews by a celebrated cultural critic

“Jamilah Lemieux is one of the most important feminist writers of the twenty-first century.”—Brittney Cooper

With her signature candid, humorous, and sometimes biting takes, Jamilah Lemieux suffers no fools while also courageously revealing the scars of her own parenting journey and search for self-acceptance in a world that hates “baby mamas.” With a particular verve and relatability—honed in her many years among Black Twitter’s most prominent voices—Lemieux centers the complex reality of Black single motherhood: uncertainty and fierceness alike.

Black. Single. Mother. combines riveting personal essays, infused with whip-smart cultural and historical analysis, with twenty-one intimate first-person testimonies from a spectrum of Black single mothers. A long-overdue offering in celebration of the American matriarch most often maligned, Black. Single. Mother. sets out to inspire a new cultural and community dialogue about this powerful figure as one profoundly deserving of love, support, and respect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamilah Lemieux is a cultural critic and writer with a focus on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. A leading feminist thinker, social influencer, and millennial media darling, Lemieux has written for a host of platforms, including the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Essence, Playboy, The Cut, The Guardian, Colorlines, The Washington Post, Wired, Self, Refinery29, and Vanity Fair. She was prominently featured in Lifetime’s docuseries Surviving R. Kelly and Surviving R. Kelly 2: The Reckoning. She also appeared in A&E’s Secrets of Playboy. Lemieux penned the foreword for the anniversary editions of Michele Wallace’s Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman and Ann Petry’s Miss Muriel and Other Stories. Currently, she writes a weekly advice column for Slate‘s “Care and Feeding” parenting section. She resides in Los Angeles with her daughter Naima.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Josie Pickens is a veteran writer, journalist, filmmaker, and storyteller whose work examines culture, politics, race, gender, and sexuality with clarity and depth. She has written for national outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, EBONY, Essence, The Root, Mic, Bitch, NewsOne, and MadameNoire, blending reporting, cultural critique, and narrative insight. As a filmmaker and producer, Pickens has shaped documentary and nonfiction projects that center Black, queer, and marginalized communities, with a focus on systems of power and community resilience. Her writing and visual work are grounded in rigorous research and a commitment to amplifying voices and stories often overlooked in mainstream discourse.
 
https://kindredstorieshtx.com/products/irl-author-talk-black-single-mother-with-jamilah-lemieux-april-24-7-pm

This year, 31 Houston-area indie bookshops (that's 6 more than last year!) are inviting you to visit as many of us as you can—not only on Indie Bookstore Day (Saturday, April 25), but all throughout April. Here's how the Bookstore Crawl works:

1. Pick up your Bookstore Crawl card at the first participating store you visit. Keep an eye out for the 2026 Bookstore Crawl tote bag, too—many shops will have them available for purchase.

2. Support each bookstore you visit! You can leave a great review, follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletter, post pictures online, tell your friends and family about your visit, and more. Your support makes a real difference, friends, and we appreciate you. Before you leave, be sure to get your card stamped or signed by a bookseller.

3. Visit as many participating bookstores as you can from April 1-30. Check out our digital map of brick-and-mortar stores to help you plan your visits; we have also created a Linktr.ee with everyone's websites! When you have visited 15, you can turn in your stamped card to enter the ✨RAFFLE!✨ For each store you visit after the first 15, you will receive a bonus entry.

4. Your card must be dropped off at a participating bookstore by the close of their business hours on Thursday, April 30, in order to enter the raffle!

5. Use the hashtag #HTXBookCrawl26 in your posts. We also encourage you to tag the bookshops you visit, as well as the @htxbookcrawl Instagram page. We love seeing your posts and book hauls!

Let's get the party started! We look forward to seeing you all month long, Houston. And be sure to mark your calendar for Saturday, April 25: Indie Bookstore Day!

Say hello to the 2026 Participating Indie Bookstores:

Basket Books & Art · Becker's Books · Blue Willow Bookshop · The Book Attic · Books Abound · Books by the Bay · Books & More Bookstore · The Book Readers Venue · Brazos Bookstore · Buy the Book · CLASS Bookstore · Copperfield's Books · Dreamers Books + Culture · Enchanted Chapters Bookstore (mobile) · Forgotten Lore Bookshop · Good Books in the Woods · Good on Paper Books and Stationery · Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics · Houston Book Warehouse · Kaboom Books · Katy Budget Books · Kindred Stories · LIT bookbar · LIT Java Coffee & Books · Mockingbird Books · Mossrose Bookshop · Murder By The Book · Plot Twist Books (mobile) · Then & Now Bookshop · Village Books · Wilson's Mobile Book Emporium (mobile)

Click here for a Linktr.ee of all 31 participating bookstores' websites.

Click here for a digital map of all 28 participating brick-and-mortar stores.

FREE!

This April you can power the Earth Day procession at Discovery Green! Houston’s downtown celebration features community artists and projects including a Magpies and Peacocks fashion show, University of Houston, Downtown art installation, Houston recycled goods artist Glee Ryan and a community art project by puppet-maker Dennis McNett of Wolfbat.  

Other community partners include Citizens’ Environmental Coalition and Magpies & Peacocks.

Discovery Green visitors are invited to participate in mask-making workshops inspiring them to creatively interpret the theme of Our Power, Our Planet. Using recycled materials, these masks will represent endangered animals, plants, ecosystems, natural elements or symbolic representations of the Earth. During the celebration on April 25, participants will wear their masks to join in on a public procession accompanied by 12-foot-tall puppets as part of Reclamation of the Earth created by Wolfbat.  

By coming together to create art together the community becomes the fuel for the procession. We are the power that can protect our planet.  

This will be a zero-waste event. Please plan on bringing your own refillable water bottles and utensils.

MORE INFO HERE

The newspaper archive is filled with curiosities, pigeonholes, mythologies of everyday life, and mysteries. Headlines, ads, classifieds, font types, illustrations, and photos can all inspire new creative conversations. The Houston Poetry Recovery Project welcomes work from writers, poets, and artists who take Houston and Gulf Coast historic newspapers as their source.

Bundle is a small, independent press based in Houston. We publish fiction, poetry, and hybrid, experimental works. We are not a single theme or genre publisher; we are interested in works that bundle concepts and incongruencies together to produce new thoughts, outcomes, and modes of relating.Bundle brings together feminist, anti-racist, environmental, and socially conscious writers and works. We question the prevailing values of capitalism and patriarchy. We are for the weird and wayward, the beautiful, the dumb, the capacious and generous, the obscure and inefficient, and the slovenly. We are against logics of scarcity and seek alternative imaginings of living and flourishing together. To this end, bundle is interested in supporting and sustaining the off-the-page life of projects.

 
https://www.basket-books.com/events/4930320260426

No Name is a Black-owned worker cooperative connecting community members both inside and outside carceral facilities with radical books. Each month, No Name uplifts two books written by Black, indigenous, and other people of color. No Name believes building community through political education is crucial for our liberation and should be accessible to everyone—which is why all programming is free. 

MEETING DEETS

When: Sunday, April 26 @ 1 PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP to let us know you're coming! Support the Fiction Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!

ABOUT THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH

First published in 1961, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is a masterful and timeless interrogation of race, colonialism, psychological trauma, and revolutionary struggle. In 2020, it found a new readership in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and the centering of narratives interrogating race by Black writers. Bearing singular insight into the rage and frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence in spurring historical change, the book incisively attacks the twin perils of post-independence colonial politics: the disenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, and intertribal and interfaith animosities on the other. A landmark text for revolutionaries and activists, The Wretched of the Earth is an eternal touchstone for civil rights, anti-colonialism, psychiatric studies, and Black consciousness movements around the world. Translated by Richard Philcox, and featuring now-classic critical essays by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha, as well as a new essay, this sixtieth anniversary edition of Fanon’s most famous text stands proudly alongside such pillars of anti-colonialism and anti-racism as Edward Said’s Orientalism and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/collections/book-clubs/products/april-2026-no-name-book-club-april-26-1-pm-cst

Every spring, three Houston parks team up to celebrate the Houston musicians who keep the tradition of jazz alive. The immensely popular series, Jazzy Sundays in the Parks, brings free jazz concerts to Discovery Green in March and the Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park in April.  

Traditionally, the series opens at Emancipation Park, but due to the construction of a state-of-the-art performance stage and other park improvements, the series will be at Discovery Green and Buffalo Bayou Park. The series will return to Emancipation Park next year.  

Guests are encouraged to arrive early and bring a blanket or lawn chairs. Food and drink will be available for purchase. A pop-up market will be on site at each park with locally crafted items, food and wearables. All concerts are free and family friendly. 

MORE INFO HERE

We're meeting to discuss Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Tuesday, April 28 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Mystery/Thriller Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!

ABOUT ARSENIC AND ADOBO

A RUSA Award-winning novel!

The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer....

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…

https://kindredstorieshtx.com/collections/book-clubs/products/april-2026-mystery-thriller-book-club-april-28-7pm

Join us on Tuesday, April 28 for a poetry reading featuring Samyak Shertok, francine j. harris, and Bo Hee Moon!

Samyak Shertok debut collection, No Rhododendron (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025), was selected by Kimiko Hahn for the 2024 AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry and shortlisted for the 2026 PEN Open Book Award. His poems appear in The Cincinnati Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, POETRY, Shenandoah, Waxwing, Best New Poets, and elsewhere. A finalist for the National Poetry Series, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, and the Jake Adam York Prize, he has received fellowships from Aspen Words, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. His work has been awarded the Robert and Adele Schiff Award for Poetry, the Gulf Coast Prize in Poetry, and the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize. Originally from Nepal, he is an Assistant Professor of English at Mississippi State University.

francine j. harris is a professor in the Department of English. Her third collection, Here is the Sweet Hand from Farrar, Straus & Giroux, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award. Her second collection, play dead, was the winner of the Lambda Literary and Audre Lorde Awards and finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Her first collection, allegiance, was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery and PEN Open Book Awards. Originally from Detroit, she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She also serves as Consulting Faculty Editor at Gulf Coast.

A South Korean adoptee, Bo Hee Moon is the author of Birthstones in the Province of Mercy published with Milkweed Editions, and Omma, Sea of Joy and Other Astrological Signs, which she published under another name with Tinderbox Editions in 2021. Her poems have appeared in Agni, Poetry, The Margins, swamp pink, and other journals. She is a PhD student in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Houston, where she has received the Inprint Brown Foundation Fellowship.

https://www.basket-books.com/events/4931720260428