Kin Folk Archive x Public Library Quilts x The Salt Eaters Bookshop
A collaboration about books & Black women’s kinship culminating in a quilt raffle in Autumn 2023.
Exploring the ways in which Black women writers and quilters build networks of care, this collaboration between the Kin Folk Archive, Public Library Quilts, and The Salt Eaters Bookshop shares curated book bundles and culminates in a quilt raffle in autumn 2023.
Over the course of making the quilts, we are raising awareness for how the pivotal work of Black women and femme writers can be embedded in our families, libraries, and communities. A group of embroiderers are adding the names of these writers to the surface of our quilt in the long tradition of how signature quilts honor members of a community. Ashley’s curated book bundles are available to purchase from Asha’s bookstore: @TheSaltEaters (more on those below). Meanwhile, look for book recs and quilt updates from Jess & Ashley, @PublicLibraryQuilts & @KinFolkArchive.
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In autumn, our collaboration will raise funds for the Kin Folk Archive’s story circles for children and The Salt Eaters Bookshop’s community offerings for children and families. The Lil’ Free Bird Library orients Black children and their families toward the rich canon of children’s literature authored by Black women. Inspired by the Black women’s writers renaissance of the 1970’s and the informal networks of Black women writers that gathered in sisterhood, Ashley’s collection is composed of vintage books de-acquisitioned by public libraries authored by the writers and poets of this era.
Join us in autumn 2023 to see the finished Kin Folk Archive Quilt for Ashley’s traveling story circles and the chance to win your own quilt from Public Library Quilts! |
The Lil' Free Bird Bundle
A love note to the literary aunties who crafted this set of stories and poems that would usher the Lil’ Free Bird Library into this world. Through their words, Ringgold, Hamilton, and Angelou invite us to dream of another breeze, to dare to live, to fly, to name the sky our own.
The Around The Way Girlhood Bundle
A deep study of every day, around the way, Black girlhood, that feels like water kissing our skin, cousins coming to visit, and resting in the arms of our elders. Through poems, rich illustrations, and a moving memoir—this bundle lays out sacred space like a well loved quilt.
The In Our Own Worlds Bundle
Through poem, story, and song, Brooks, Clifton, and Jones remind us how the act of building a Black childhood literary canon requires more than just Black faces in print. It is to think of Black childhood with care, to bring our inherent creative genius to the fore so that we may carry them forward–building new worlds together.
The Kin Folk Archive Bundle
As a project of Black feminist study, the work of the Kin Folk Archive uncovers the ways in which Black women’s restorative kinship and interiority is made material. Here, we think with the anthology and the edited volume as form. Better said, we invite you to think with this bundle as a site of sisterhood, kinship, and care.
Grab yours below! You can also shop individual titles here.
A love note to the literary aunties who crafted this set of stories and poems that would usher the Lil’ Free Bird Library into this world. Through their words, Ringgold, Hamilton, and Angelou invite us to dream of another breeze, to dare to live, to fly, to name the sky our own.
The Around The Way Girlhood Bundle
A deep study of every day, around the way, Black girlhood, that feels like water kissing our skin, cousins coming to visit, and resting in the arms of our elders. Through poems, rich illustrations, and a moving memoir—this bundle lays out sacred space like a well loved quilt.
The In Our Own Worlds Bundle
Through poem, story, and song, Brooks, Clifton, and Jones remind us how the act of building a Black childhood literary canon requires more than just Black faces in print. It is to think of Black childhood with care, to bring our inherent creative genius to the fore so that we may carry them forward–building new worlds together.
The Kin Folk Archive Bundle
As a project of Black feminist study, the work of the Kin Folk Archive uncovers the ways in which Black women’s restorative kinship and interiority is made material. Here, we think with the anthology and the edited volume as form. Better said, we invite you to think with this bundle as a site of sisterhood, kinship, and care.
Grab yours below! You can also shop individual titles here.
