One of the goals of the Circle is to share a love of books and reading, especially in this wild world of AI trying to take over the humanities, particularly the publishing industry. With that in mind, even when we can’t to everything we would like to, we are happy to offer a call for our annual anthology and give out books each and every year. Currently, those donations happen in Northeastern and Central Ohio, but who knows what the future holds! As we are entirely donor-funded, we cannot do everything we hope to do yet, but more is on the way!
To start off the month of August the Women of Color Writers’ Circle set out to give out as many books as we can at an annual local back-to-school community day. There were tons of awesome tents and vendors (but everything was free, don’t worry!). Dentists handing out dental hygiene staples, barbers cutting hair, firefighters handing out job applications to parents who need stable work, toys being given out, faces painted, tons of food, drinks, snacks, and of course, backpacks filled with age-specific school supplies. We started off with a goal of giving out 300 books and I am proud to say we gave out 334! (As well as countless bookmarks and bookish pins.)
I will be 100% honest, it was a bit chaotic getting there. Some books were donated, but the Circle still went out and purchased 100 or so books prior to the event, but when I tried to track it, the tracking number “couldn’t be found.” Talk about stress upon stress. Then getting to the event with all those books wasn’t an easy thing either because as any fellow book dragon will tell you, our hoard is heavy. I definitely got a workout in.
But, it brought smiles to all the volunteers and vendors when families started lining up even before the event started.
A few other vendors asked if the Circle would be willing to give out more books at their respective events later in the year, and while we normally do something in the winter, I couldn’t get a firm answer simply because I have to be mindful of the Circle’s budget. But the fact that over so many kids wanted books to read was truly heartwarming. We had books for kids K-12, all from BIPOC authors, with loads of different subject matter from history to fantasy. We had books with lots of colors and coloring books to aid with stress. We had books geared toward neurodivergent readers and books for those who like to read piecemeal. There were even some high schoolers who said things like, “I’m not really a reader, but this looks interesting. I might actually read it.” I can’t say they will or not, but the interest is there and since this part of Ohio is considered a book desert, that’s a pretty big step.
So thank you to all who give and help support the Circle’s mission by sharing our posts on social media. We appreciate it!
Women of Color Writers Circle 