Tag Archives: Word Up Community Bookshop

Word Up Community Bookshop: New Date June 3rd – Leah Kim’s MOM, UNFILTERED with Frederick Joseph

Word Up welcomes mental health advocate and storyteller Leah 수진 Kim to discuss her new book, Mom, Unfiltered: Maternal Mental Health and Finding Freedom Through Motherhood, a deeply personal examination of the dire state of our maternal and postpartum care for mothers.

In conversation with Kim will be Frederick Joseph, author of This Thing of Ours and Patriarchy Blues: Reflections on Manhood.

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

ABOUT THE BOOK
For expecting and new parents, too often the care is so focused on a healthy baby that the mother’s physical and mental needs are overlooked. Mothers face intense pressure to have the perfect birth plan, breastfeed with ease, and immediately bond with their baby. Unfortunately, these expectations can lead to anxiety, depression, and overwhelm. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Mom, Unfiltered is profoundly personal and brutally honest, yet it is ultimately deeply hopeful. It is about survival and growth, an invitation to move beyond our current social, cultural, and familial realities to support mothers in a meaningful way-physically, mentally, and spiritually.

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: Story Time — Apolonia Valiente’s “The Words Will Come”

Word Up welcomes children’s book author Apolonia Valiente for an interactive weekend storytime featuring The Words Will Come, a picture book for ages 3–7 that celebrates all the ways children communicate.

Kids will engage through movement, observation, and choice, making the storytime welcoming for every communication style. Caregivers will leave with ideas to support and celebrate their children’s voices.

This storytime is especially meaningful during Autism Awareness Month (April) and Speech & Language Development Month, highlighting inclusion, empathy, and understanding for young learners.

Bring your curiosity, your questions, and your joy — this storytime is for every child and caregiver ready to explore connection, patience, and the power of listening.  Learn more at open_in_newwww.avstorytime.com and follow @av_storytime on Instagram.

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

Word Up: Book Signing with Jonnie Park: SPIT

Word Up welcomes Jonnie Park–better known by his rap moniker, Dumbfoundead– for a signing for his raw and electrifying memoir, SPIT. Jonnie Park rose from an unruly childhood in Los Angeles’s iconic Koreatown to international rap stardom is as unlikely as it is exhilarating, and tells it all in his memoir.

Attendees must preorder the featured book ahead of the signing at WordUpBooks.com. The signing ends at 1:30pm.

Born in Argentina to Korean parents and smuggled by a coyote across the US-Mexico border at age three, Park grew up in L.A. amid cultural dislocation, his father’s violent alcoholism, and the turbulent protests and riots of the early 1990s.

Searching for belonging, he found salvation in the highly competitive underground world of battle rap, where he was among the only successful Asian American battle rappers. He honed his freestyle superpowers at Project Blowed, the legendary South Central L.A. open-mic venue, amid a motley crew of characters who took him in as one of their own.

Told through the lens of his life’s greatest battles–his father’s rage, racist stereotypes, the “model minority” myth, the pressures of fame, and his own addictions–Park tells his story with his trademark humor, lyrical style, and unflinching honesty.

Like Eminem’s 8 Mile, SPIT charts the author’s course from high-school dropout to cultural pioneer, one verse at a time. Featuring a dozen vivid graphic novel-style illustrations that bring his journey to life, SPIT visualizes the inner demons and outer adversaries Park faced along the way. From open-mics in South Central to freestyle cyphers in Seoul to music festivals across the globe, Park’s memoir is a testament to creativity, grit, and the power of speaking your truth–even when the world isn’t ready to hear it.

More than just a chronicle of an artist’s path to success, SPIT is a groundbreaking story of identity, resilience, and reinvention. It is also the story of an American outsider who turned life’s challenges into his stage and battled his way to triumph.

 

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.