Patrick “Rico” Williams will be facilitating Live readings, interactive dialogue and reflections on fiction and poetry by Black, Indigenous and BIPOC authors. We are discussing Jacqueline Woodson’s “Red at The Bone” and Grace Byers’ “I Am Enough.”

The Book Club was inspired Black Lives Matter activists and by Black author Jasmine Guillory, who writes “…when we say Black Lives Matter, we mean the whole of Black lives—not just when we die at the hands of the police and not just when our lives intersect with white lives to our detriment. Racism is not the only thing to know about what it means to be Black. Our joys, our sorrows, our love, our grief, our struggles to fit in, our families, our accomplishments and our triumphs—these things also matter.”

Together we will honor BIPOC stories of joy, grief, healing, sorrow, and love. In this spirit, the book club will live by a shared set of values, including committing to the practice of anti-racism in its gatherings.

For more information about the library, visit hplct.org

For more information about Hartford Stage, visit hartfordstage.org.