steppin’ out Literature Is Liberating We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

By Abigail Morici

is Saturday, Crosstown Concourse and Cafe Noir will present Memphis’ rst-ever Literature Is Liberating Festival, a free, communitywide festival celebrating Black voices in literature. e event, which is open to all ages, will feature vendors, author discussions, panels, and activities and readings for kids.

“ e mission,” Jasmine Settles, owner of Cafe Noir, explains, “is to enrich the community through literature by upli ing the mind, nourishing the body, and liberating the spirit.” And that same mission carries within her cafe/bookstore, set to open this summer, which will focus on books by BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors. “ e main goal is to highlight marginalized voices, … to kind of give folks the space to be able to explore these authors and explore marginalized voices because o entimes the content that’s presented to us in school leads us to be kind of bored and uninterested [without diverse voices to capture imaginations and re ect di erent backgrounds].”

As such, Settles, who rediscovered the importance of diverse storytelling while pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Memphis, wants to spark this interest in the community. “Memphis has one of the lowest literacy rates in Tennessee. I wanna get folks more involved with reading literature and ways that we can improve our community through doing so.” e festival on Saturday will feature a spoken word performance by local poet Nubia Yasin, reading from her recently released collection of poetry e Blood and Body. “It’s a self-portrait,” Yasin says of her collection. “It’s about love and all its shadows, and how I learned that from my family. … It deals a lot with the theme of home and what that means and what that looks like, who are the players in like this thing called home.” is will be the rst time Yasin will be able to speak publicly about her book, and she will be accompanied by musician Desire during the performance.

Also, on the festival’s schedule, is a performance by Hattiloo eatre and a panel on African-American literature, presented by professors Jacqueline Trimble, Shelby Crosby, and Terrence Tucker. Plus, Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, will discuss her writings on Wells in conjunction with an Indie Memphis screening of the documentary Facing Down Storms: Memphis and the Making of Ida B. Wells. Indie Memphis will also screen 1970’s Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris, a portrait of the writer during his time abroad.

Meanwhile, young writers and readers can take part in a reading and a writing workshop with Ali Manning, a food scientist whose rst book Can I Play with My Food? was published in early 2022. Librarians from Memphis Public Libraries will also make an appearance for readings, and a free cra -making station will be open throughout the day in the Central Atrium. For more information and a full schedule, visit crosstownconcourse.com/events.

LITERATURE IS LIBERATING FESTIVAL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY

“ e Ecstasy of In uence: Mid-South Artists Centering the Margins” e show features work by Ahmad George, Maritza Dávila, Tommy Kha, Richard Lou, and D’Angelo Lovell Williams. e work of this intergenerational, interconnected group draws attention to the diverse communities that have called the Mid-South home.

Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, on display through March 10 Mentors and students, Mid-South natives and travelers, queer, Latinx, Chicano, nonbinary, Asian American, Black — the artists in this show are incredibly diverse, and all work with a commitment to express the richness of their identity. is commitment is steadfast, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that their identities are historically marginalized in the region.

Morris & Mollye Fogelman

International Jewish Film Festival

Memphis Jewish Community Center, ursday, February 2-March 2 e J presents its 9th year of the Morris and Mollye Fogelman International Jewish Film Festival, with screenings on select dates through March 2nd.

Opening night, February 2nd, 7 p.m., kicks o with iMordecai, a heart-warming movie based on a true story, in which Holocaust survivor Mordecai, while living in Miami, embraces the new technology of his iPhone. What ensues is an upli ing comedy and a love letter to the city of Miami.

Next up on the lineup is Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen on February 5th.

Find the full schedule at jccmemphis.com. Tickets are $7 per screening or $49 for a series pass.

Comedian Poundcake: 10 Hilarious Commandments e Halloran Centre, Saturday, February 4, 7 p.m., $55-$75 Demario “Comedian Poundcake” Hollowell grew up in the Raleigh neighborhood in Memphis and has been making people laugh his whole life. In school, he was able to make the entire class laugh, including faculty and sta , at his alma mater, Raleigh-Egypt High School. Although he knew he was the wittiest of all, he never thought that he would one day make a living as a comedian.

Now, Poundcake’s positive, observational comedy and distinctive, relatable point of view will be center stage for his annual birthday comedy show in Memphis.

MUSIC By Alex Greene