Ujamaa Community Bookstore

We are getting ready for our Juneteenth Celebration and our 5 year anniversary, both on June 19th... BUT

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We are soliciting volunteers to help us for the day and we could use a few more helpful friends.

We have two shifts available: from 8 am - 2 pm and from 2 pm - 7 pm. We need help both inside and outside so let us know what suits you best.

Please send all inquiries to [email protected] if you are interested in helping us host this celebration!!!

https://forms.gle/YWSg8NETZf6PKN3F8

Join us for our new FREE summer reading program--for kids AND adults!

Local bookstores, The Whispering Shelf and Ujamaa Community Bookstore are teaming up to offer prizes to kids ages 18 and younger.

The bookstores will provide children with a free, interactive reading log. Kids can redeem mini-prizes as they reach each reading benchmark.

Youth who reach 700 minutes can win a small cheese pizza from HotBox Pizza.

They’ll also be offered either a book goodie bag or a $15 gift card to use at The Whispering Shelf or Ujamaa Community Bookstore.

The program, called Hop Into Reading, runs from May 15 to July 31.

Families can visit The Whispering Shelf, 414 N. College Ave., or Ujamaa Community Bookstore, 2424 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. St., to pick up a reading log and redeem prizes throughout the summer.

We are thrilled to invite you to the annual Flanner House Juneteenth Celebration on Friday, June 19th.

We are also celebrating the 5 year anniversary of our beloved Ujamaa Community Bookstore.

We have a lot more fun details to announce but we want you to go ahead and save the date!

We are excited to celebrate with you!

We have copies of We Refuse: a Forceful History of Black Resistance in the store.

It just so happens to be the May pick for the Circle City Book Bloc discussion, so grab it before it sells out!

Save the date for Friday, June 19th!

It's the 5th year anniversary of Ujamaa Community Bookstore AND the date of our an annual Juneteenth Block Party!

We had a great time last year so we are doubling the number of spots for vendors at the 2026 festival!Please tag a local Black-owned business who you want to see there!

This event is family friendly! All are welcome to attend and celebrate with us!! Just bring a little pocket $$ to support our vendors and the bookstore!

We have some more suprises to announce soon!
Stay tuned!




*Note: Vendors are responsible for bring their own tents, tables, fans, hotspot, etc.

Things don't seem to be slowing down for May! We are excited to see you in the store this month!

Panoramic shot of Dr Adam Henze and Asra Wasik's Poetry Games workshop during the first annual Ujamaa Poetry Festival, April 25th, 2026.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who attended our first annual Ujamaa Poetry Festival!

We have been kicking around the idea of hosting a day-long event for a few years now. Resources for creative arts programs are scarce this year, but this gave us greater resolve. We didn't want to let another National Poetry Month go by without hosting a proper celebration. We are all artists and scholars here so we decided to host a day-long festival all by ourselves.

Yes, it is cool to have features. This year poetry got to be the feature and that is just fine with us.

We are very humbled by all the people who came to each workshop. I wish we could have gotten more photos (as mentioned we were doing too much) but included here is a shot during LaVaja's "Lit for Littles" workshop and a group photo after 's writing workshop for teens and adults.

Looks like we're going to have to do it again in 2027!

We wanted to do something special for the littles this National Poetry Month!

This is why we are kicking off our first annual Ujamaa Poetry Festival with Lit for Littles with La La, an interactive writing workshop designed for elementary age kids and their families!

This is a free workshop for all ages but parental supervision is required. We also hope parents stick around for adult age workshops in the afternoon.

Lit for Littles with La La starts at 2:00 PM April 25th! We'll provide the supplies! Just bring some smiles!