Tag Archives: Word Up Community Bookshop

Word Up: Howard Steinberg discussion of his memoir “Confessions of a Problem Seeker”

Word Up welcomes author Howard Steinberg to read and discuss his memoir, Confessions of a Problem Seeker: My Lifetime Journey From Busy Brain To Loving Heart.

Confessions of a Problem Seeker is a raw and unflinchingly honest memoir of one man’s midlife reckoning and search to find his soul. As a childhood shaped by trauma and illness gave way to an illusion of adult success and purpose-marriage, fatherhood, entrepreneurial achievement-the author finds himself grappling with the unshakable feeling that he has lived a life shaped more by fear and survival instincts than by inner truth. Triggered by divorce, professional loss, and a deep inner emptiness, his search for peace leads him to psychedelics and a spiritual awakening as he begins to heal old wounds, including the lingering shadows of his Holocaust-survivor parents. He offers a compassionate invitation for others, particularly those in the second half of life, to question who they really are beneath their busy identities and to reclaim the joy and stillness of an authentic, present life.

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

Word Up: L’heure du conte en français / French Story Time

Word Up Community Bookshop & the French American Academy presents a special story time in French, led by a FAA teacher.

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

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees for this event must wear a mask inside.

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.

Word Up: Small Business Saturday

Saturday, November 29, 2025 – 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Word Up 2113 Amsterdam Ave.

Saturday, November 29, 2025 – 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Recirculation 876 Riverside Dr.
New York, NY 10032

 

Shop local the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Word Up and other community shops! Get your holiday gifts and celebration needs with 30% off used books, a free postcard with a purchase of $30 or more, and a Recirculation tote with a purchase of $100 or more (In-store only).

Local nonprofit organizations, like Word Up, depend on contributions during this holiday season. Your purchases directly support our programs (and keep the lights on).

Word Up: Screening: EARTH SEED (People’s Kitchen Collective)

Sunday, October 19, 2025 – 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Word Up Community Bookshop / Librería Comunitaria
2113 Amsterdam Ave. & 165th St.
New York, NY 10032

REGISTER

Word Up presents a screening of EARTH SEED. Led by People’s Kitchen Collective, EARTH SEED centers a pilgrimage through California from present-day Los Angeles to Mendocino Woodlands that happened from March – June 2023, where they visited with people and places, discussing building models for survival and our collective future.

Rooted in Octavia Butler’s Parables series, the legacy of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and the diaspora of the global south, EARTH SEED enacts radical hospitality as a survival practice.  It does so by deepening our relationships with BIPOC activists, artists, educators, farmers, youth, and elders.

More about the film and project: https://peopleskitchencollective.com/earth-seed

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

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees for this event must wear a mask inside.

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.

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