Meeting #2: The Future is Present – Building Worlds with The Free Black Women’s Library Facilitated by OlaRonke Akinmowo, founder of TFBWL

Join OlaRonke Akinmowo of The Free Black Women’s Library for a writing workshop that interrogates the possibility of how Afro-Futurism, daydreaming, and worldbuilding offer portals towards safety, community, and liberation. Participants of this workshop will read and discuss the implications of Octavia Butler's first published short story, Speech Sounds (1983), set in a post-pandemic Los Angeles dystopia. Picking up where Octavia left off, we will write and share our own stories, reading the story before the workshop is highly encouraged but not required. This workshop is for Black and POC women, femmes, and GNC folks no writing experience necessary.

Access Note: This workshop is only open to those who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and women (cis and trans), and gender non-conforming folks. Light refreshments will be served. All participants have the option to be photographed for Helina Metaferia’s collages before and after the workshop.

About the Facilitator:

OlaRonke Akinmowo is a multidisciplinary artist who works in the world of collage, printmaking, papermaking, stop-motion animation, and interactive installation. Her art praxis involves illustrating and exploring the constructs of beauty, safety, and sanity. Through her creative practice and library work she shapes space, builds worlds, and conjures moments that center the pleasure, liberation, and humanity of Black women and Black queer folks. In 2015 she created The Free Black Women’s Library, a Brooklyn-based social art project that features a collection of over 5000 books by Black women and Black non-binary folks, a wide array of free public programs, a free store, a period pantry, a backyard garden, a virtual Reading Club, and a weekly book swap. Follow them at @thefreeblackwomenslibrary to stay connected.