About Barbara “Babs” Larson and her work

For over sixty years, Larson has lived with epilepsy-unseen, misunderstood, and often silenced. In this powerful collection of poetry, she breaks that silence. With grace, grit, and unflinching honesty, Howling To Be Heard chronicles a life shaped by seizures, stigma, and the search for understanding.

A practicing epileptic for over half a century, I speak with the voice of experience. It has encouraged me to share my journey and unveil the emotional, socia, and often traumatic lives of those who suffer the effects.

Step inside the journey. Hear the howl. Witness the Strength.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

Come by to connect and receive a journal at no cost to you.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

Join us in celebrating and connecting across cultures through the joy of this wonderful new children’s picture book by local author and illustrator, Ngân Huýnh

"My book, When We’re Under the Same Roof, is a heartfelt story about childhood, memory, and what it means to find your way back to the places—and people—that shaped you. This project came to life through the local community’s belief that more immigrant children in this country deserve to see their stories represented in books like this.” - Ngân Huýnh

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

Bring your 2026 Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport to get stamped or just come in to enjoy the vibe and shop.

Join us for bookstore fun!

• Meet our new children’s book author, Derek Francis and have him sign your copy of “Our First Bus Ride”

• Enjoy the ChuckChunk Ice Cream pop-up

• Search for the Libro Golden Ticket for a chance to win a year’s supply of audiobooks from Libro.fm!

• Enter a raffle for a free tote

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

We’re inviting you to join us for something simple, intentional, and needed—Thursday evenings at Strive. Each week, we’re opening our doors for a quiet, welcoming space to read, write, reflect, and gently connect with others. No agenda, no pressure—just time to immerse yourself in books and creativity. Bring a book, a journal, or just yourself. Whether you come to sit in stillness, spark a conversation, or reconnect with your love of reading and writing, there’s a place for you here. Let’s make Thursdays a new tradition—a steady space for community, creativity, and care.

MAYOR FREY WILL PRESENT US WITH THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION, DECLARING TODAY AS NATIONAL BLACK BOOKSTORE DAY IN MINNEAPOLIS

The rich cultural heritage of the United States has been profoundly shaped by Black storytellers, scholars, publishers, and entrepreneurs who have preserved and shared knowledge through literature and community spaces. Celebrating the first annual National Black Bookstore Day on April 7 is an opportunity to honor the legacy, resilience, and ongoing contributions of Black-owned bookstores—both locally and across the country.

About the Book

With care and no-holds-barred insight, My America removes the veneer of respectability often placed on Hughes's work and life to reveal his political adeptness. In a world threatened by fascism, Hughes's writing wasn't afforded the luxury of subtlety. He made a spiritual and political decision to stand on the side of the oppressed. He believed art should be practiced for the sake of justice. And democracy can be practiced with joy.

Langston Hughes is one of the few American writers who consistently wrote about democracy from a joyous perspective, and My America explores how his works speak to the political anxieties and crises we face today. Jelks deftly examines the themes in Hughes's work, including creative expression, communal dignity, class struggle, and human suffering and what they mean for our inner well-being as democratic persons and political participants.

About the Author

Randal Maurice Jelks is a professor, documentary producer, and award-winning author. His writings have appeared in the Boston Review and the Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as blogs, journals, newspapers, and other periodicals. He is the coeditor of the academic journal American Studies.

Website: randalmauricejelks.com

Substack: Notes from the Black Bottom

Instagram: @drjelks

About Angela Ajayi

Angela Ajoyi’s story “Galina” appeared in Fifth Wednesday Journal and won the 2017 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Her essays, short stories, and book reviews have appeared in Literary Hub, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Pleiades, and the Minnesota Star Tribune, where she was a contributing book critic. Everything is Freedom, her debut novel-in-stories, is forthcoming from Forest Avenue Press in 2027. She live in Minneapolis.

NOTE: ENTER THE MEDICAL ARTS BUILDING AT THE 9TH STREET DOOR (74 S. 9TH ST. IS ABOVE THE DOOR)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lonely Graduation: The Journey After the Milestone by Christopher S. Dennis, PhD, is a powerful meditation on what comes after success. Blending memoir, research, and the lived experiences of high-achieving individuals, the book gives voice to an ordinary but under-discussed emotional reality: the profound loneliness that can follow significant accomplishments, especially among first-generation graduates, leaders of color, and others navigating transitions without inherited roadmaps. (Excerpt from the Lonely Graduation website: https://www.campusculturegroup.com/lonelygraduation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Christopher S. Dennis is an author, educator, and leadership consultant whose work sits at the intersection of ambition, belonging, and the emotional cost of achievement. A national expert in human-centered governance and leadership transitions, he helps individuals and institutions navigate what he calls "Lonely Graduation", the quiet, disorienting moment after success when purpose must be redefined.

​

Please join us when author, Ralph Remington returns to Minneapolis to discuss his debut book, Penetrating Whiteness.

Learn more about Ralph Remington at @RemingtonRalph on Instagram, @ralphRemington on Facebook.

Note: PLEASE ENTER THE BUILDING ON THE 9TH STREET SIDE - WE ARE ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF THE MEDICAL ARTS BUILDING

Bring the children to the bookstore and enjoy storytime with us. The children will receive a free copy of the picture book, Together, United. We love reading and sharing books!