2022 The Black Book Expo, A Conscious Literary Festival

THE BLACK BOOK EXPO, A CONSCIOUS LITERARY FESTIVAL February 26, 3p – 7p, and Sunday, February 27, 3p – 7p

Elegba Folklore Society will present the 2022 Black Book Expo, A Conscious Literary Festival February 15 – 27, 2022.  This hybrid event opens with Author Chats streaming on Elegba Folklore Society’s Facebook page on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7p, February 15, 16 and 22.  Then on Saturday  and Sunday, February 26 – 27, 3p – 7p, the 2022 Black Book Expo, A Conscious Literary

Festival will continue in Rhythm Hall at the Dominion Energy Center, 600 E Grace St.  The in-person aspect of the festival invites the public to browse and buy books, experience live entertainment and meet independent authors.

The Black Book Expo, A Conscious Literary Festival will showcase a vast display of literature featuring topics including black history, social justice, science, health, African Diasporic culture, African spirituality, personal development, novels and children’s books.

Authors will make presentations and sign their books.  Live streaming will occur from the in-person event as well via the Society’s Facebook page.  Books will also be available on the Society’s website.

Covid protocols include required face coverings, frequent hand sanitizing and social distancing.

The public may follow Elegba Folklore Society on Facebook and Instagram for updates and to enjoy the chats with selected authors.  They may also contact the Society at 804.644.3900, mailto:story1@efsinc.org and find more details at www.efsinc.org.

This program is made possible, in part, by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) initiative, the Richmond

Memorial Health Foundation and the City of Richmond.

The Black Book Expo, A Conscious Literary Conversation: LIVE CHAT SCHEDULE ***Streaming live Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM***

02/15 • Stephanie Rose Bird Stephanie Rose Bird is a visual artist and an author.  Her

newest book is The Healing Power of African American Spirituality: A Celebration of Ancestor Worship, Herbs and Hoodoo, Ritual and Conjure.  It is a fabulous resource for anyone who wants to understand African American spirituality, shamanism, and indigenous spiritual practices and beliefs.  A member of the American Botanical Council’s Herb Research Society, American Folklore Society, Society for Shamanic Practitioners, the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (Black Midwives and Healers), The Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetics Guild and the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy, Ms. Bird is also a part of the Authors Guild. She is a scholar, graduating from Temple University with honors, and she has been a member of the College Arts Association and the Fulbright Foundation.

02/16 • J. Plunky Branch SaxophonistJ. Plunky Branch is an experienced performer, songwriter, producer and musicologist.  He has released 30 albums and composed over 450 songs.  Juju Jazz Poetics is Plunky’s first volume of poetry.  About it he says, “I have taken to blowing my own horn, and maybe I have stetted the boundaries of ego and versatility by assuming to call myself a ‘poet.’  I will let you be the judge.”  His autobiography, Plunky: Juju Jazz Funk & Oneness – A Musical Memoir was published in 2015, and he has produced three documentary films, including Under the Radar – A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music shot in Cuba in 2001.  In 2018, J. Plunky Branch received the prestigious “50 For 50 Award” from the Virginia Commission for the Arts as one of the 50 outstanding arts persons in Virginia of the last 50 years.  In 2015 he was selected as one of the Strong Men & Women in Virginia History by the Library of Virginia.

02/22 • A Peter Bailey A native son of Tuskegee, Alabama, A. Peter Bailey attended Tuskegee Institute High School and Howard University.  His move to Harlem in 1962 changed his life forever.  This is where he met Malcolm X or El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, and by 1964 he was a founding member of Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) and an editor of the OAAU newsletter, Blacklash.  He has also been an editor at Ebony magazine, and he has contributed articles to Essence and The New York Times.  A. Peter Bailey has penned memoirs about Malcolm X and an autobiography of Alvin Ailey.  A lifelong “Malcolm-Ite,” his newest title isBrother Malcolm X’s Strategic Guide to Pan Africanism:  An Important Guide for People of African Decent.  Bailey tells us, “Anyone reading this book will increase their knowledge and guidance from Bro. Malcolm on why Pan Africanism is the best thing for people of African descent throughout the world to promote and protect the interests of African people.”