Tag Archives: UpTownNYC

Word Up Community Bookshop: EL VIAJE DE UNA BANDERA: Iris Morales with Angel Antonio Ruiz-Laboy

Word Up welcomes activist and author Iris Morales and translator Angel Antonio Ruiz-Laboy to share their book A Flag’s Journey, now available in Spanish! Based on true events, A Flag’s Journey is a powerful story about identity and standing up to injustice—told through the eyes of a young Puerto Rican boy in 1990s New York City.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 30 max attendees. Please register in advance.

Word Up Community Bookshop is located at 2113 Amsterdam Ave. (& 165th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 168th St and the A/C train to 163rd or 168th  St.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Based on true events, A Flag’s Journey is a powerful story about identity and standing up to injustice—told through the eyes of a young Puerto Rican boy in 1990s New York City.

Ten-year-old Andrés Rivera loves baseball and spending time with his best friend. After a championship win with his Little League team, he goes with his family and best friend to the Puerto Rican Day Parade. What begins as a joyful day of cultural pride and celebration takes a sudden turn when Andrés becomes the target of a racist incident involving the Puerto Rican flag—an act that makes newspaper headlines.

As he questions what happened, Andrés has eye-opening conversations with family, teachers, and classmates about Puerto Rican history, the impact of racism, and the role of media in shaping public opinion. Through these experiences, he gains a deeper appreciation for community, the strength of friendship, and—most of all—the power of young people to create change.

A Flag’s Journey is a meaningful and uplifting chapter book featuring relatable characters and vibrant illustrations. With a historical timeline and glossary included, it’s a valuable resource for classrooms, libraries, and family reading time—perfect for readers ages 9–12.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Iris Morales is an educator, activist, and author. A Flag’s Journey, her first chapter book (2025) was translated into Spanish this year. She is also the co-author of Vicki: A Summer of Change, a children’s picture book, and has written and edited many books, anthologies, and poetry collections for adults. Her work is dedicated to exploring social justice themes and sharing the rich history and culture of Puerto Rican and other communities of color.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Angel Antonio Ruiz-Laboy is a multidisciplinary cultural leader, curator, writer, and educator with almost two decades of experience working across government agencies, academic institutions, and nonprofit arts organizations in Puerto Rico and New York. Trained in comparative literature, creative writing, fine arts, and cultural administration, his practice is rooted in an interdisciplinary approach that bridges scholarship, artistic production, and public engagement.

Word Up Recirculation: Gallery Opening — Elizaveta Kozlova’s ANTE PERPETUUM

Word Up celebrates the gallery opening of visual artist Elizaveta Kozlova’s show ANTE PERPETUUM. Join us for drinks, snacks, and a discussion with the artist.

The show will be up for the month of May at Recirculation, a project of Word Up.

Ante Perpetuum (Before Forever) is a series of images created by Elizaveta Kozlova in July 2022. The monochrome photographs decontextualize fragments of driftwood. Discovering the extensive amount of driftwood on the banks of the Hudson River inspired Elizaveta to capture the striking expressivity of its shape and texture that will soon be destroyed by time, wind and water.​​

Elizaveta Kozlova is a NYC-based art and portrait photographer whose work has been presented at the Louvre Fifth Annual Exposure Award in 2015. She has been employed nationally and internationally as a fashion and portrait photographer. She has worked for such organizations as The Metropolitan Opera and The New School in New York, Branksome Hall School and Aprilage Inc. in Toronto. Her art photography work involves an exploration of nature through the prism of chiaroscuro technique as seen in the open_in_newANTE PERPETUUM series.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 80 max attendees. Please register in advance.

Bruce’s Garden: Summer Readings!

Welcome to the eleventh year of Bruce’s Garden Summer Readings!

All Readings are on Wednesdays and start at 7 P.M. with refreshments starting at 6:30.

MAY 20 ROBERT SNYDER will read from When the City Stopped Stories from New York’s Essential Workers (Cornell University Press, 2025)

A warm welcome back to Rob who read from Crossing Broadway (Cornell University Press, 2014) in 2015. His new book, When the City Stopped, preserves for future generations what it was like to be in New York when it was at the center of the COVID pandemic. The story is told through the words of health care workers, grocery clerks, transit workers, and community activists who recount their experiences in poems, first-person narratives, and interviews.

JUNE 24 WRITING NEW YORK STORIES From the Nineteenth through Twenty-First Centuries

Award-winning Gotham Center Blogger and Online Editor of the Urban History Journal, KATIE UVA https://www.katieuva.com/ will join editor GEOFF WISNER https://www.geoffwisner.com/ to discuss writing about life in the city. Geoff’s book George Templeton Strong: Civil War Diaries, (Library of America, 2026) and Katie’s blog posts should be the sources of a lively discussion.

JULY 22 LESLIE DAY River–A Hudson Memoir (Cornell University Press, 2025)

We are honored to have Leslie Day https://www.leslieday.nyc/ as this year’s Sid Horenstein Memorial Reader. Dr. Day is an accomplished and prolific writer about the natural world, particularly in New York City. She will read from and discuss her latest book, River–A Hudson Memoir, a unique look at life on and of the Hudson River. It is a love letter to New York City, its famous waterway, as well as the environment around us and the people who shape it.

Bruce’s Garden: Summer Readings!

Welcome to the eleventh year of Bruce’s Garden Summer Readings!

All Readings are on Wednesdays and start at 7 P.M. with refreshments starting at 6:30.

JUNE 24 WRITING NEW YORK STORIES From the Nineteenth through Twenty-First Centuries

Award-winning Gotham Center Blogger and Online Editor of the Urban History Journal, KATIE UVA https://www.katieuva.com/ will join editor GEOFF WISNER https://www.geoffwisner.com/ to discuss writing about life in the city. Geoff’s book George Templeton Strong: Civil War Diaries, (Library of America, 2026) and Katie’s blog posts should be the sources of a lively discussion.