Uptown Kid Lit—Word Up’s book festival for kids—is back on Sunday, September 7, 2025 at Pat’s Lawn at Inwood Hill Park!

Join Word Up Community Bookshop in celebrating the magic of children’s literature and the back-to-school season at the premier Uptown children’s book festival. Young readers will have the opportunity to meet beloved local authors and illustrators as they present new books, lead story times and activities, readings and discussions, workshops, games, and more. Plus, FREE books and school supply giveaways to all registrants. Register today!

Featured authors & artists:
Selina Alko (C is for Camp)
Ethan T. Berlin (The Journal of Nonsense)
Hilda Eunice Burgos (Bodega Cats: Pawsome Pals)
Cynthia Carrión
CodeSpeak Labs
Rio Cortez (The Blue Velvet Chair)
Edwidge Danticat (Watch Out for Falling Iguanas)
tasha dougé
Olivier ThePlace (with Drag Artists For Expression NYC)
James Kwan (I Come from Another Galaxy: A Picture Book)
Allegra LeGrande
Jenan Matari (Everything Grows in Jiddo’s Garden)
Claribel Ortega (House of Elephants (Witchlings 3))
Jasminne Paulino (The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez)
Alyssa Reynoso-Morris (Bold, Brilliant, and Latine: Meet 52 Latine and Hispanic Heroes from Past and Present)
Neela Vaswani (This Is My Eye: A New York Story)
Jamia Wilson (Make Good Trouble: Discover Movements That Sparked Change)
Tanya Wright (The Great Birthday Surprise! (Hairiette of Harlem))
Ibi Zoboi (First Day Around the World)

COMMUNITY RESOURCE TABLES
New York Restoration Project
The Cat Collective Team
Uptown Stories
HOPE
Literary Freedom Project / Sak Pasé
Drag Artists for Expression NYC
Family Connectors
FACE
Sugar Hill Children’s Museum
Dominican Writers Association/Lil Dominican Readers
Parents Supporting Parents
Dyckman Farmhouse
Friends of Inwood Hill Park
LINC

SCHEDULE UPDATES ON WordUpBooks.com/UKL

Word Up launched Uptown Kid Lit in 2019 as a one-day festival for our communities in Washington Heights, Inwood, Harlem, and the Bronx. After two years of virtual/hybrid programming in 2020 and 2021, UKL returned in person in 2022 with a focus on comics as part of the three-day Uptown Comics Fest. Each year has garnered a unique and vibrant group of local authors, illustrators, educators, publishers, editors, craftspeople, artists, and community organizations—all to support and celebrate our neighborhood’s youngest readers and families. We hope you’ll join us in 2025 at Inwood Hill Park!

We are committed to keeping admission to the festival free. Producing a multi-faceted outdoor festival requires a lot of resources. We are grateful for the grant funding we have received, which helps offset Uptown Kid Lit expenses, but this funding doesn’t cover all our costs, especially during this year of budget cuts across nonprofits. In order to keep Uptown Kid Lit a yearly neighborhood event, please consider registering at one of the ticket levels, ranging from $5 to $50.

LOCATION: Pat’s Lawn is located at the northwest corner of Inwood Hill Park off of Indian Road and 218th Street in Inwood, NYC. You can take the A to 207 St., the Bx7 to 218th St., or the M100 to Broadway and W 220 St.

ACCESSIBILITY: The closest entrance to the venue at 218th Street and Indian Road is wheelchair accessible. The event is on a grass lawn.

SPONSORSHIPS: If you would like to be a sponsor of this event, please email us at UptownReads@WordUpBooks.com. Sponsors will be featured in our promotional materials.

Uptown Kid Lit 2025 is made possible in part with funds from UMEZ Arts Engagement, a regrant program supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), and administered by LMCC. Uptown Kid Lit is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Word Up Community Bookshop’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

ADDITIONAL THANKS TO:
Blick Art Materials
Penguin Random House
Simon & Schuster
Macmillan
Candlewick Press / Holiday House Publishing, Inc. / Peachtree Publishing, Inc.
Realengo Studios
Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation
Dominican Women’s Development Center