The BIPOC Book Fest was borne of shared nostalgia and a pandemic summer chat. Jaundréa Clay had long wished to open a bookstore centered on Black and brown writers, and when she told her friend Brittany Britto Garley of her plans in the dog days of August, she may not have realized that in less than a year’s time, her dream would be coming to fruition — it would just look a little different.

A bookstore is a full-time endeavor, and the pair have their hands full working as journalists. But Britto Garley seized on the idea, and after recruiting their friend and fellow journalist Brooke Lewis to the cause, the trio started developing plans for what would become the BIPOC Book Fest, a two-day festival celebrating literature by writers of color in all its forms.

In crafting the lineup for the festival, its creators wanted to recapture the magic of entering their school’s book fairs as children, when they were just beginning to explore the many worlds literature could open for them. As young Black girls, though, they didn’t always feel like the books on hand were written with them in mind.

“BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color, and the fest will highlight authors from all of those diasporas,” Clay said.

A New York Times analysis of 7,000 fiction books published between 1950 and 2018 showed that about 95 percent were written by white authors, and a survey of books received by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center in 2020 showed that children’s books were similarly skewed toward white audiences.

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“I remember my parents giving me money for the book fair and being excited for what books I would buy, but there weren’t as many books with authors of color or characters that looked like us, so that’s something with BIPOC Book Fest we’re trying to re-create but also establish something new, and especially in Houston, which is so diverse and there are so many communities represented here,” Lewis said.

The festival, April 23-24, will be split between teen and adult programming on the first day and children’s programming on the second. Local bookstores will have tables with a selection of books written by authors of color at both days of the festival.

The first day, “A Lit Vibe,” will feature panel discussions on topics ranging from comics to cookbooks, along with artist talks, workshops and a “Lit Lounge” with drinks for those over 21, among other things. It will be held at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum and cost $10 to attend.

The second day, the “Little” BIPOC Book Fest at Smither Park will be free and feature children’s book readings from local authors, including Jasminne Mendez and Alda Dobbs, along with slam poetry performances from students in the Writers in the Schools creative writing program.

Clay, Britto Garley and Lewis met while working at the Houston Chronicle — Britto is now editor at Eater Houston and Lewis is a freelance writer working on her first book, while Clay is a senior copy editor and editor forHouWeAre, the Chronicle’s newsletter on identity, race and culture.

他们的工作覆盖城市的边缘化communities left them with no shortage of connections in the city’s creative circles — a perfect network from which to create a roster for a book festival celebrating the city’s diverse literary talent. They reached out to local bookstores, writers, chefs and institutions, such as the Houston and Harris County public libraries, while learning on the fly how to establish their book fest as an LLC — Lewis took a small business class while they prepared for the festival.

“We’re not all experts, we’re learning through this process as well, and … these local authors and bookstores are teaching us, too,” Britto Garley said. “Our friendship started because we’d talk about what books we were reading, sitting right across from each other at work, and when you realize the connection that brings, you see there are other people in the community who are yearning for that.”

In Houston, the need for the BIPOC Book Fest goes deeper than seeing people of color represented on the page, the organizers say. A third of Harris County adults are functionally illiterate, according to a city of Houston and Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation study, meaning they don’t have the necessary reading, writing, language, speaking or computer skills to work or study, with Black and brown residents being the most likely to have low literacy skills.

The organizers hope that the BIPOC Book Fest can be one step toward changing that.

“We want to show people different forms of how we can express ourselves and the joy of reading, how diverse it can be, and how seeing someone who looks like you or speaks to you can motivate you to be in this space,” Britto Garley said.