Two community advocacy organizations are joining to bring the Harlem Book Fair to Kansas City, Kan., to promote literacy and cross-cultural dialogue.
The Kansas City, Kan., NAACP and El Centro, which are African-American and Hispanic community advocacy organizations, are bringing the Harlem Book Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, to the Reardon Civic Center, 5th and Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kan.
The day-long event will feature nationally acclaimed writers and community-based Kansas City authors and artists in author readings, music, children’s storytelling, and art presentations.
It is a follow-up to an anticipated 500,000 free book distribution event scheduled in September in the Greater Kansas City area with First Book.
The Harlem Book Fair Midwest will open with a series of Spoken Word poetry competitions throughout the Greater Kansas City area on Sept. 5, 12, Oct. 3 for high school students, and Sept. 11, 18 and 26 for everyone else, with a semifinal on Oct. 16 and the final on Oct. 23 at the Vision Building, the former YWCA building, at 1017 N. 6th St., Kansas City, Kan.
“Reading is all-important for anything you do in life,” said Irene Caudillo, director of El Centro Inc. “To have an event showing how important and relevant reading is to every culture benefits both Kansas City, Kansas, and the diverse communities who live and learn here. This cross-cultural event shows how collaboration and harmony can bring communities together through the adventure of reading and the beauty of the arts.”
“We are constantly told that the many of the problems within our urban communities are due to a lack of education and opportunities,” said Richard Mabion, president of the KCK NAACP. “The Harlem Book Fair Midwest is the Kansas City, Kansas NAACP Branch and El Centro Inc.’s contribution towards that missing link.”
The Harlem Book Fair Midwest, in partnership with the KCK NAACP, El Centro Inc., and their community advocates, is a highly anticipated and inclusive cross-cultural literary event in the Midwest, a spokesman said.
The Harlem Book Fair Midwest is open to the public and all programs at the Reardon Civic Center are free.