Tag Archives: Word Up Community Bookshop

Rising in the Heights: Music & Storytelling with Hip Hop Artist Randy Mason

Rising in the Heights: Music & Storytelling with Hip Hop Artist Randy Mason

Date: June 27, 2025, 5-6 p.m.

Location: Word Up Community Bookshop, 2113 Amsterdam Ave.

Presenter: Leadlights Ensemble

Website: https://leadlightsensemble.weebly.com/

 

Description: Hip hop artist Randy Mason and keyboardist Jamell Ogbanna join Leadlights Ensemble for an afternoon of hip hop, rhyme, and string music, featuring “My Block Looks Like” by Janelle Harper. Free copies of the book will be available.

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.

 

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Rising in the Heights es un festival de espectáculos artísticos públicos gratuitos al aire libre, organizado por Leadlights Ensemble en colaboración con Word Up Community Bookshop. El festival celebra las valiosas contribuciones artísticas de la cultura latina y afroamericana y promueve la alfabetización infantil a través de la música y la narración bilingüe. Habrá ejemplares gratuitos del libro presentado.

Este proyecto es posible en parte gracias a fondos de UMEZ Arts Engagement, con el apoyo del Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ); y Creative Engagement, con el apoyo del Departamento de Asuntos Culturales de la Ciudad de Nueva York (DCLA), en colaboración con el Consejo de la Ciudad de Nueva York y la Fundación Howard Gilman. UMEZ Arts Engagement y Creative Engagement son administrados por LMCC.

Rising in the Heights: Music & Storytelling with Carmen Cancél & Jainardo Batista with Leadlights Ensemble

Rising in the Heights: Music & Storytelling with Carmen Cancél & Jainardo Batista with Leadlights Ensemble

Date: June 14, 2025, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Location: Word Up Community Bookshop, 2113 Amsterdam Ave.

Presenter: Leadlights Ensemble

Website: https://leadlightsensemble.weebly.com/

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.

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Rising in the Heights es un festival de espectáculos artísticos públicos gratuitos al aire libre, organizado por Leadlights Ensemble en colaboración con Word Up Community Bookshop. El festival celebra las valiosas contribuciones artísticas de la cultura latina y afroamericana y promueve la alfabetización infantil a través de la música y la narración bilingüe. Habrá ejemplares gratuitos del libro presentado.

Este proyecto es posible en parte gracias a fondos de UMEZ Arts Engagement, con el apoyo del Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ); y Creative Engagement, con el apoyo del Departamento de Asuntos Culturales de la Ciudad de Nueva York (DCLA), en colaboración con el Consejo de la Ciudad de Nueva York y la Fundación Howard Gilman. UMEZ Arts Engagement y Creative Engagement son administrados por LMCC.

Word Up: Story time with Walter Feshold Rodríguez

Saturday, May 10, 2025 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Word Up Community Bookshop
2113 Amsterdam Ave. & 165th St.
New York , NY 10032

register

Word Up welcomes visiting author Walter Feshold Rodriguez for story time! 

The author of the Magical Cemí was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised in the town of Trujillo Alto. He attended the Colegio San Antonio in Río Piedras for twelve years and then completed a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in Río Piedras. Years later, he returned to the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and completed a second bachelor’s degree in Education. Since 2004, he has worked as a history teacher, and in 2015, he moved with his wife and two of his daughters to Indiana, where he works as a Spanish teacher. His idea for the Magical Cemí arose from his concern about seeing so many Puerto Rican families moving away from the island and the negative impact this could have on Puerto Rican cultural heritage.

This event has a suggested donation of $5, with a maximum of 30 attendees. Please register in advance.

In accordance with Word Up community safety guidelines, all attendees of this event are required to wear a mask in the store.

Word Up Community Bookshop is located at 2113 Amsterdam Ave. (and 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 Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center: Alejandro Heredia’s LOCA with Elizabeth Acevedo

Thursday, March 6, 2025 – 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center
530 W 166th St
New YorkNY 10032

 

register

Word Up Community Bookshop and Dominican Writers Association invite you to celebrate the debut release of Loca by Alejandro Heredia. In conversation with Heredia will be award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo. There will be a limited signing after the event.

“In a novel that is as tender as it is brilliant, Heredia writes with ferocity and warmth.”—Elizabeth Acevedo

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket.

Alianza Dominican Cultural Center is located at 530 West 166th Street New York, NY 10032. The event will take place on the second floor, which is accessible by an elevator.

ABOUT THE BOOK

If Junot Diaz’s critically acclaimed collection Drown and Janet Mock’s Emmy-winning series Pose produced offspring, Alejandro Heredia’s Loca would be their firstborn.

It’s 1999, and best friends Sal and Charo are striving to hold on to their dreams in a New York determined to grind them down. Sal is a book-loving science nerd trying to grow beyond his dead-end job in a new city, but he’s held back by tragic memories from his past in Santo Domingo. Free-spirited Charo is surprised to find herself a mother at twenty-five, partnered with a controlling man, working at the same supermarket for years, her world shrunk to the very domesticity she thought she’d escaped in her old country. When Sal finds love at a gay club one night, both his and Charo’s worlds unexpectedly open up to a vibrant social circle that pushes them to reckon with what they owe to their own selves, pasts, futures, and, always, each other.

Loca follows one daring year in the lives of young people living at the edge of their own patience and desires. With expansive grace, it reveals both the grueling conditions that force people to migrate and the possibility of friendship as home when family, nations, and identity groups fall short.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alejandro Heredia is a writer from the Bronx. He has received fellowships from LAMBDA Literary, Dominican Studies Institute, UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, and elsewhere. He received an MFA in fiction from Hunter College. Loca is his debut novel.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Elizabeth Acevedo is the current Young People’s Poet Laureate and the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High—which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal—and Clap When You Land, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist. She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC with her loves.

Word Up & Recirculation: Independent Bookstore Day! / ¡Día de la Librería Independiente!

Saturday, April 26, 2025 – 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Word Up Community Bookshop / Librería Comunitaria
2113 Amsterdam Ave. & 165th St.
New YorkNY 10032


Saturday, April 26, 2025 – 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Recirculation, a project of Word Up
876 Riverside Dr. & 160th St.
New York, NY 10032

Word Up Community Bookshop / Librería Comunitaria and Recirculation are celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with 30% off used books, free postcards with a purchase of $30+, and a Recirculation tote with a purchase of $100+.

We’ll also have events during the day:

  • 11am NYRP Earth Day at Highbridge Park
  • 1pm Spring Watercolor Workshop at Recirculation
  • 4pm Let’s Talk About Abortion: A Compassionate Kid-Friendly Conversation with Carly Kol & Emulsify at Word Up
  • 6pm Latino Film Market screening at Recirculation