This year Community Book Center will manage the Essence Book Emporium at the annual Essence Music Festival. Beginning Friday, July 4th through Sunday July 6th, we will host book signings of authors and present a wide variety of literary related seminars by prominent authors. 

The Community Book Center, a vital seventh ward gathering spot, reopened in December along with several other businesses on the same block despite still having no front windows and a floor in major need of work. “Step carefully,” founder Vera Warren-Williams warned guests as they entered the store during the reopening celebration. After nearly a year and a half of shuttered storefronts, this street’s rebirth is a precious spot of hope in a city where 60% of the population remains displaced and many businesses still have not returned.

During the reopening, the owners of Community Book Center and other businesses on the block spoke of their dedication to their community and to the city. This is a theme echoed by other community spaces and small businesses. “We must have spaces that support all of us,” Sandra Berry of the Neighborhood Gallery explained. “We have to spread the art, support the culture. From prisons to church. Wherever there are people, we need to be.”