Tag Archives: Word Up Community Bookshop

Word Up at Inwood Hill Park: Uptown Kid Lit

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

Word Up: Online Event – Elaine Castillo Virtual Book Launch hosted by Kapwa Bookstores Collective

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Virtual, via Zoom
New York, NY 10032

register

Bel Canto Books & Kapwa Bookstores Collective are delighted to host a Virtual Book Launch with Elaine Castillo, author of MODERATION: A NOVEL.

This is a virtual event, hosted via Zoom. Please kindly RSVP to receive the meeting link.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A bold and inventive novel about real romance in the virtual workplace—​bringing Castillo’s trademark wit and sharp cultural criticism to an irresistible story about the possible future of love.Girlie Delmundo is the greatest content moderator in the world, and despite the setbacks of financial crises, climate catastrophe, and a global pandemic, she’s going places: she’s getting a promotion. Now thanks to her parent company Paragon’s purchase of Fairground—the world’s preeminent virtual reality content provider—she’s on the way to becoming an elite VR moderator, playing in the big leagues and, if her enthusiastic bosses are to be believed, moderating the next stage of human interaction.Despite the isolation that virtual reality requires from colleagues, friends, and family, the unbelievable perks of her new job mean she can solve a lot of her family’s problems with money and mobility. She doesn’t have to think about the childhood home they lost back in the Bay Area, or history at all—she can just pay any debts that come due. But when she meets William Cheung, Playground’s wry, reticent co-founder (now Chief Product Officer) and slowly unearths some of his secrets, and finds herself somehow falling in love, she’ll learn that history might be impossible to moderate and the future utterly impossible to control.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Named one of “30 of the planet’s most exciting young people” by the Financial Times, Elaine Castillo was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of the award-winning novel America is Not the Heart and the acclaimed book of literary criticism How to Read Now. Her upcoming novel Moderation will be out July 3, 2025 (UK/Commonwealth) and August 5, 2025 (USA).

ABOUT BEL CANTO BOOKS

Founded by Jhoanna Belfer, a Filipina-American poet and former hospitality executive, Bel Canto Books offers a curated selection of fiction, nonfiction and children’s books, organized around a theme of the month, in particular celebrating books by women and people of color. Learn more at belcantobooks.net.

ABOUT FEMME FIRE BOOKS

Femme Fire Books is a feminist bookstore based in Jacksonville, FL with a mission to celebrate diversity and encourage reading for all. We curate our collection of books written by women and underrepresented voices. Learn more at femmefiresbooks.com.

ABOUT WORD UP

Word Up is a collectively run, multilingual, general-interest, nonprofit bookshop and community space in Washington Heights NYC. Learn more at wordupbooks.com.

Moderation: A Novel By Elaine Castillo Cover Image

Moderation: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Elaine Castillo
$29.00
ISBN: 9780593489666
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking – August 5th, 2025

No Name Super Storyteller Party (September 2025)

No Name @ Word Up Super Story Party In Washington Heights On Tuesday, September 2 at  7pm
 
 
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 2025 — On Tuesday, September 2, 2025 No Name Comedy/Variety Show producer Eric Vetter and host Jeff Rose bring New York’s best established and emerging authors and storytellers including: Adrianne Frost to the Word Up Community Bookshop in Washington Heights @ 7pm. for its monthly series “No Name at Word Up Super Story Party. The show will also include a “Magic Hat Open-Mic” where audience members can signup for a chance at four minutes of stage time to share their own stories. Admission is FREE, donations welcomed. Masks and proof of vaccination may be required. Word Up Community Bookshop/Libreria Communitaria is located at 2113 Amsterdam Avenue (corner of 165th Street) in Manhattan. Subways: A, C or #1 train to 168th Street (walk south to 165th St, turn left, then walk east to Amsterdam Avenue). For additional information, go to [wordupbooks.com].

Rising in the Heights – Live Music with Carmen Cancél & Jainardo Batista

Puerto Rican musicians singer/ percussionist Jainardo Batista of “Buena Vista Social Club” and soprano Carmen Cancél join forces with Leadlights Ensemble for an unforgettable event of music and storytelling, featuring “One Sweet Song” by Jyoti Gapal, ill. by Sonia Sanchez.

Rising in the Heights is a festival of free outdoor public arts performances curated by Leadlights Ensemble in partnership with Word Up Community Bookshop. The festival celebrates the rich artistic contributions of Latinx and Black cultures and promotes children’s literacy through music and bilingual storytelling. Free copies of the featured book will be available.

This project is made possible in part with funds from UMEZ Arts Engagement, supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ); and Creative Engagement, supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council and the Howard Gilman Foundation. UMEZ Arts Engagement and Creative Engagement are administered by LMCC.

Word Up: Rising in the Heights with Carmen Cancél & Jainardo Batista

Saturday, June 14, 2025 – 11:00am to 12:00pm
Word Up Community Bookshop / Librería Comunitaria
2113 Amsterdam Ave. & 165th St.
New York, NY 10032

Puerto Rican musicians soprano Carmen Cancél and singer/ percussionist Jainardo Batista of “Buena Vista Social Club” join forces with Leadlights Ensemble for an unforgettable event of music and storytelling, featuring One Sweet Song by Jyoti Gapal, ill. by Sonia Sanchez. **Please note the time of this event is 11 a.m.**

Rising in the Heights is a festival of free outdoor public arts performances curated by Leadlights Ensemble in partnership with Word Up Community Bookshop. The festival celebrates the rich artistic contributions of Latinx and Black cultures and promotes children’s literacy through music and bilingual storytelling. Free copies of the featured book will be available.

This project is made possible in part with funds from UMEZ Arts Engagement, supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ); and Creative Engagement, supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council and the Howard Gilman Foundation. UMEZ Arts Engagement and Creative Engagement are administered by LMCC.