Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati on the African American Children’s Book Fair
Saturday, February 1, 2014, 1-3 p.m.
Community College of Philadelphia (Gymnasium)
17th Spring Garden Street
Free and open to the public
Literary consultant and multicultural children’s literature advocate Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati will host the 22nd African American Children’s Book Fair at the Community College of Philadelphia. It’s a stand-out event that attracts thousands of readers who want to celebrate black children’s book creators and purchase books for their schools, libraries and homes. We are honored that four on our Brown Bookshelf team will be there — Don Tate, Crystal Allen, Tameka Fryer Brown and Kelly Starling Lyons. Big thanks to Vanesse for including us in this amazing celebration.
Vanesse, founder of the African American Children’s Book Project, talk about the Children’s Book Fair.
Please talk about how the book fair has grown. What challenges did you face in the beginning? What obstacles do you face now?
Founder, Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati
The African American Children’s Book Project, which serves to promote and preserve children’s books, hosts the largest and oldest single day literary event for African American children in the world. The event is held the first Saturday in February in Philadelphia, PA. We’d like to think it kicks off the cultural national Black history calendar.
Our first event was held in a reception room at a local department store. The public relations representative reached out to me for an activity that would drive traffic into the store during Black History Month.
I’m a literary consultant and have extensive experience in doing
book-driven events. My company, The Literary Media and Publishing
Consultants, has produced events all around the country under the banner of
The Literary Café™ for adult authors. I looked around
the community and saw wonderful book-driven events for adults, but nothing
for our children. I asked around town and kept hearing that Black people
don’t buy books for their children. I was horrified because I knew that in
my circle, people bought books for their kids. This simply wasn't true. I
was on a mission…
So on a cold, frosty morning we produced the first event and they came — I
counted them — 250 strong.
Marie Brown, a literary agent, helped me put
together my line-up of authors and illustrators. Most came from her client
list. People brought books, not one but numerous copies. On the way out,
they kept asking me when the next event was. So here we are twenty-two years
later and still going strong. On average over 3,500 people pass through our
doors at Community College of Philadelphia.
Today many of those same people attend the event with their
grandchildren. Children who developed a love of reading at our event are now
adults bringing their own children.
We quickly outgrew our original space and thanks to Lynette Brown Sow, Vice
President of Marketing and Government Relations, opened the doors of our
program into Community College of Philadelphia. Her team led by Erica
Harrison takes away some of the stress of finding a location to host the
event. We also now partner with the school’s Early Childhood Education
Department who are training the next generation of educators.
Coverage of the 21st (2013) Annual African-American Children's Book Fair
From the start of this journey, we found an eager audience who loved books
and demonstrated that love by buying. Our mantra is: “Preserve A Legacy, And
Buy A Book.”
However, my biggest challenge from the beginning and even today is making
publishers understand that there is an audience who will buy books. The
number of African-American children’s books is shrinking. In 1985, the
Cooperative Children's Book Center, School of Education at the University of
Wisconsin - Madison began to document the number of books published in the
United States for children which were written and/or illustrated by African
Americans. In 1992, the year our organization was founded, out of 4500 books
published, only 94 were African American. The center’s most recent published
study indicated that while they received 3,600 children’s books in 2012 only
119 “had significant African or African American” content. Of that number,
only 68 were written or illustrated by African Americans. (Keep in mind that
these numbers do not factor in self-published or smaller publishers which
has had a mega boom in the African American community).
But there is a need. Anyone who has attended the African American Children’s
Book Fair is surprised at the audience who comes with the purpose of
spending money on books. Not music, but books.
Funding is always taxing. We make this event happen on a wing and prayer.
Even though we have demonstrated a successful track record, we have not been
able to attract the major funders. I’d like to get a MacArthur grant to
plant these literary seeds around the country. I am the unofficial Literary
Ambassador traveling around the world CELEBRATING READING.
Why does the book fair continue to be important?
Children need to see images of themselves in books — positive images. They
need to see our stories, our history in books. I attended the Bologna
Children’s Book Fair, which is a publishing trade show in Italy, last year.
More than 1,200 exhibitors from 75 countries participated with 25,000
attendees. Children’s books from every continent were represented. But I
didn't see any African-American books from the United States. Granted there
were not a lot of US publishers participating in the event, but there is a
global curiosity to know more about African Americans.
I also travel to a lot of international book events and the question that
always comes up is what do we read — what type of books do we like. Many are
trying to get their books into our community. Let’s reciprocate. The more we
know about each other, the better we co-exist. This goes for all us. Make
sure your child’s library is multicultural.
Another issue is this myth that African Americans don’t read and won’t buy
books for their children — especially hard cover. This is totally absurd.
Access is the issue. Publishers and booksellers have to think out of the
box. Go to the people — church bookstores, social and civic organizations.
Here you will find a willing audience — willing to invest in their children.
African American consumers also need to be pro-active. When you walk into
your local bookstore, if you don’t see African-American children’s titles on
the shelves ask for some recommendations. Publishing is a business. Get your
family and friends to buy at the location. If the bookstore knows they have
an audience for African-American children’s books, you’ll see the
difference. Don’t know where to start — The Brown Bookshelf is a great
starting point or the
African American Children’s book Project website. The authors and
illustrators on these sites are the cream of the crop. And of course you can
reach out to me.
What are the constants you've kept over the years? What are some new
features you've added?
The event is FREE — did I mention the event is FREE. Also the authors and
illustrators are a very important part of the success of the event. They are
the hallmark of this event. For some children, this is the first time they
will meet an author or illustrator. This encounter opens the door to a
life-long love of reading. Attendees get the opportunity to interact.
Three years ago, we added workshops. Syndicated cartoonist
Jerry Craft is
hosting a cartoon workshop sponsored by PECO in the Literary Salon. The PECO
LITERARY SALON is a new feature at the event. NBC10, a local television
affiliate, continues to support the event by purchasing books of our guest
authors and illustrators to give to children who attend the event. They also
host our reading circle. The authors/illustrators know that they’ve pre-sold
books and we get these great books into the hands of the attendees.
Another highlight of the event is our Educator Book-Give Away program.
Earlier on, I recognized that many of our educators didn’t have the funding
to buy new books to use in their classrooms. So I reached out to sponsors
again to buy books of our authors/illustrators to give-away. McDonald’s is a
long-time sponsor of this initiative. HealthPartners Foundation, Health
Partners Plans and Councilman Kenyatta Johnson sponsor our Parents Book-Give
Away program. The Literary Media and Publishing Consultants pull all of the
elements together.
Of course the book fair. First time attendees are surprised at people
standing in lines to buy books. Waiting patiently to buy books. These
consumers understand the importance that books have on their children’s
overall upbringing. We sell more books in three hours than any other
African-American retailer in the country.
Please talk about the line-up. What should people expect when they
attend the book fair? How can they get the most out of it?
More
than 21 nationally known bestselling authors/illustrators will participate.
Many have won the American
Library Association Coretta Scott King award. These
authors/illustrators have produced some of the best books of our generation.
The afternoon is packed with activities that promote the power and joy of
reading. Authors and illustrators will make presentations from their books.
The Literary Row distributes book-related promotional materials free of
charge. Our Educator Book-Giveaway distributes brand new books to teachers
and librarians to use in their classrooms. This event reinforces our slogan
“A BOOK OPEN A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES.”
Featured authors and illustrators:
CRYSTAL ALLEN
TAMEKA FRYER BROWN
FLOYD COOPER
AREN CRAFT
JAYLEN CRAFT
JERRY CRAFT
COURTNEY DAVIS
NANCY DEVARD
CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY
MARION LANE
E. B. LEWIS
LONDON LADD
KELLY STARLING LYONS
IIYASAH SHABAZZ
PAULA YOUNG SHELTON
DON TATE
PAMELA TUCK
ERIC VELASQUEZ
KATHLEEN WAINWRIGHT
BIL WRIGHT
Find out more
about the African American Children’s Book Fair