By Jennifer Ring. At work, Takeya Trayer encourages kids to tell their own stories, teaching animation camps for kids. Outside of work, she tells her own. The children’s book, “My Mommy is My Daddy” is Trayer’s way of introducing her nontraditional family to the world…. Read More
The African American Heritage Association announced the “I Love Banned Books” book club, which aims to combat educational censorship, will take place at St. Pete’s Tombolo Books starting in October. The book club is designed for children in the 1st through 12th grades and … Read More
By Frank Drouzas. “Books are the tools that we use to make sense of the world,” says educator Nikki Hill, adding that children will be deprived of profound literature with ongoing book bans. Lenice Emanuel says books are being banned in schools “because they understand that there’s power in knowledge.”… Read More
By Margo Hammond. Lisbon is now considered the capital of cool, but its most famous resident is a nerdy poet born there in 1888. Fernando Pessoa was a surrealist before there were even Surrealists. Much of the work he penned was attributed not to Pessoa, but to at least 72 alter egos … Read More
By Yuki Jackson. I recently held a manga and comic book-based poetry workshop at St.Pete’s Tombolo Books. It was an effort to connect and share the efforts of The Battleground, a youth program I founded, with the wider Tampa Bay community…. Read More
By Ralph Wimbish. Anyone familiar with the history of St. Petersburg should know how important my parents, Ralph and Bette Wimbish, were in the fight against segregation. Restaurants, theaters, public restrooms, beaches, swimming pools, schools and hospitals were integrated by 1967, the year my dad died at the age of 45…. Read More
By Margo Hammond. Swain’s readers may come at first to meet James Swain, the writer of 24 mystery novels. But, like me, they leave magic aficionados, blown away by his eye-popping free weekly magic show…. Read More
By Laura Kepner. Every summer for the past six years, the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center becomes a catalyst for kids to connect to their environment, their world, and their minds. They become writers, illustrators, sculptors, painters, creators and magic makers…. Read More
By Fatemah Tuwainah. I had the honor to meet with Mental Health Counselor Dr. Ladonna Butler, the Founder and Executive Director of The Well for Life – who organized this weekend’s Healing While Black 2023 creative summit … Read More
By Laura Kepner. “The theme of The Island Sisters is shining a light on different ways a woman can be abused,” says author Micki Berthelot Morency. “They are not just random people, they are our daughters, our cousins, our neighbors, our acquaintances… The story is about the strength of women’s friendship.”… Read More
