Reading is so old-school! Which local bookstore has the claim to fame as Raleigh’s oldest?
a. Quail Ridge Books b. Nice Price Books & Records c. Reader’s Corner d. Capitol Comics
Aww. NC State alum, writing professor and romance author Sarah Grunder Ruiz recently released her third novel, Last Call at the Local, which is based in what country?
a. Ireland b. Scotland c. England d. Australia
Turning its first page in 1984, Quail Ridge Books has since lauded literacy and the love of reading in Raleigh. Though its storefront is now situated in North Hills, where did the spot initially open?
a. Wade Avenue b. Falls of Neuse Road c. Wilmington Street d. Fayetteville Street
Liberation Station Bookstore ensures no dream is deferred and Black experiences are represented in its literature selects. Who initially inspired founder Victoria Scott-Miller to showcase representation via her DTR storefront?
a. Her daughters b. Her sons c. Her nephews d. Her father
Books and brewskis can be found at Beow’s Books & Brews, inspired by a group of great authors and thinkers of the 20th century (think: C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Dorothy Sayers and Charles Williams). What did this literary society nickname themselves?
a. Ink and Insights b. The Literaries c. The Inklings d. The Bookworms
In-the-know Raleigh readers peruse hidden-gem book outpost Dog-Eared Books, which is a sister shop to what recently opened independent bookstore?
Ready, set, write! EIC Melissa Howsam authored her first children’s book, i may be small but i’m still important, this fall. What important character in her life took center stage in the book?
a. Assistant Editor Anna Beth Adcock b. Her best friend c. Her dog d. Her nephew
Celebrate African American tradition, culture and history with the city at this weeklong event feat. activations, games, food trunks and more—plus a dance party and movie screening Thursday night and a Lunch and Jam on Friday. raleighnc.gov
Through 6/19 2023 Capital City Juneteenth Celebration
This celebration spreads across several days of education and heritage and includes everything from workshops and worships to a fish fry to a gospel music concert at the NCMA.juneteenthraleigh.org
Through 6/19 Town of Cary Juneteenth Celebration
Light it red, yellow and green! Find the columns of the Cary Art Center showcasing these significant colors all weeklong… and keep the celebrations going via a R&B, jazz, soul and funk performance from NiiTO on Thursday, with dance, music and history discussions to look forward to Saturday. Keep it colorful, Cary! carync.gov
6/16 For The Culture Crawl
Take a stroll Downtown to honor Juneteenth and celebrate artistic freedom by grabbing a drink and stopping by Artspace for live music/art exhibitions. Then snap a pic with your fave piece of public artwork by a Black artist, dine at a Downtown Black-owned restaurant and finish the evening at CAM Raleigh. #DTRCultureCrawl artspacenc.org
6/16 Juneteenth at the Pope House Museum
Rise up with the Pope Museum for storytelling and tours highlighting one of Raleigh’s most prominent Black families (and one of NC’s first licensed African American doctors!). Plus, sign up for a walking tour Saturday + Sunday to learn more about the City of Oaks’ Black neighborhoods. raleighnc.gov
6/16–17 Wake Forest Juneteenth Celebration
Join the Town of Wake Forest as it commemorates freedom with two days of fun. On Friday, find a community gathering at Taylor Street Park, then come back Saturday for a lineup including a freedom walk, DJs and performative dance groups. wakeforestnc.gov
6/17 Family Day at the Park
Park yourself at Dorothea Dix Park for an all-day celebration of liberty! Embrace African American culture via spirituals, jazz and R&B performances, a children’s activity zone, and story corner. Majazztic, indeed! dixpark.org
6/17 Juneteenth Block Party with Triangle Pop-Up Market
It ain’t a true Juneteenth celebration without food, drinks and live music! Plus, shop til ya drop at the Triangle Pop-Up Market to truly celebrate in style. boxyard.rtp.org
6/17–18 Juneteenth Jubilee 2023
Can you dig it? Fayetteville’s ’70s-themed jubilee will deliver disco and R&B music from award-winning Black artists—in addition to a costume contest (winner gets a prize!), 5K race and historical trolley tour. How groovy! visitdowntownfayetteville.com
6/17–19 Liberation Station Bookstore Grand Opening
Book it to the grand opening of NC’s first Black-Owned children’s bookstore for festivities corresponding with Juneteenth (!). Plus, don’t miss a slew of bestselling and award-winning Black authors, illustrators and historians whose books will line the shelves of the DTR shop. liberationstationbookstore.com
No dream is deferred at Liberation Station Bookstore—bowing Downtown this month.
“I feel like I’ve always been a practitioner of possibilities,” says Victoria Scott-Miller, who made waves nationally in 2019 when a quest to find children’s books with characters of color for her two young sons proved unsuccessful. As the story goes, she and husband Duane Miller decided to take matters into their own hands and launched Liberation Station Bookstore—the Triangle’s first Black-owned children’s bookstore—out of the trunk of their 2011 Chevy Cruze.
“That’s how it got started—just us trying to be good parents and not only raising our children, but also allowing our children to raise us,” says Scott-Miller, who is also an award-winning entrepreneur, documentary filmmaker and author. “Listening to their needs, listening to their hopes and their dreams, and really just meeting them with action.”
After four years of operating as a pop-up, the pioneering business will open the doors to its first brick-and-mortar location at 208 Fayetteville St. over Juneteenth weekend, inviting kids and parents to step inside and discover an abundance of books that embrace the full spectrum of the Black experience. “They’ll get to see Black children laughing—and not just in the news,” Scott-Miller maintains. “They’ll get to see them being scientists and artists.”
(Andrea Weigl)
The community has rallied to bring Liberation Station to this watershed moment, raising over $12,000 (as of press time) to equip the new space with everything from shelving to seating. “We said if we ever asked the community for anything, then it would be because we were getting a physical space,” explains Scott-Miller. “So to know they were ready and they waited on us, it’s just amazing.”
In addition to carrying a wide array of banned books—“children deserve to see a full picture,” says Scott-Miller—Liberation Station will offer “Dope and Abled,” a collection of titles highlighting children of all abilities.
“We’ll have books in Braille; we’ll have books that talk about seeing kids being empowered by being on the spectrum. And we’ve connected with the Black ASL group here in Raleigh, and we’ll be offering storytime for deaf parents and deaf children to be able to interact with their community members,” reveals Scott-Miller, whose youngest son was diagnosed with autism two years ago. “We’ve tried to think about, ‘What does inclusion mean to us?’ We’ve thought about some of the discomforts we have felt as parents having a child with autism and really creating a space where they can feel welcome.”
The rest is still unwritten, but, for now, Scott-Miller says she simply feels grateful for the unique opportunity her family has been given to “make history in real time.”
“I’m excited to see indecisiveness,” she shares. “I’m excited to see little kids not knowing what to choose because there’s so many choices. ‘I don’t know what to pick because everything is for me.’ … I just cannot wait.”
Liberation Station’s Anchor section introduces a curation of adult titles lovingly paired with children’s titles to spark intergenerational discussion. For Scott-Miller’s curated pairings, click here.
Liberation Station’s Anchor section introduces a curation of adult titles lovingly paired with children’s titles to spark intergenerational discussion. “I’m excited about what type of conversations those books will open up in the home and around the dinner table because I know they’ve done that for us,” shares Scott-Miller. Here, she offers three pairings for families to dive into together this summer.
“Maud Martha is a novel that talks about a 7-year-old dark-skinned African American girl who loves flowers and also is learning to accept herself through the lens of a 1920s family,” says Scott-Miller. Coupled with the children’s book Sulwe, also about a dark-skinned girl struggling with acceptance “and really having an affirming conversation with the narrator of the story to be able to develop more self-esteem and excitement about who she is,” she emphasizes that “we get to have this span of conversation from 1920 all the way up to the late 2000s.”
“I call it a Black classic,” says Scott-Miller of Invisible Man, which “talks about social and intellectual issues that African Americans faced in the early ’20s.” Her rec for kids is The Talk, “a discussion about the different vantage points from children experiencing race in real time.” For instance, one poignant testimony comes from the son of children’s author Derrick Barnes, who explores “being Black and loving comic books and what’s that like,” she explains.
“Brown Girl Dreaming is poetry about the Black girl’s experience in adolescence,” shares Scott-Miller. For a powerful dialogue, she suggests pairing it with Her Stories, a collection of tales combining the “innovative fantasy side of folklore” with the empowerment of “Black girlhood leading into Black womanhood.”
NCMA gives us the exclusive on its new commissioned children’s book, The Museum Lives in Me.
As a kid, there was nothing more exciting than going on a school field trip—getting out of class; the wonder of a new, unfamiliar place; an interactive learning experience. … Channeling that excitement in book form is the NCMA, commissioning Victoria Scott-Miller, owner of Liberation Station Bookstore, to create a children’s book about the museum’s People’s Collection—NC’s state art collection.
Titled The Museum Lives in Me, the book—illustrated by Raleigh-based artist JP Jermaine Powell and set to be released May 21—showcases the discovery of the collection by a group of students on a field trip, highlighting their meaningful connections to art.
Promotional portraits of artist JP Jermaine Powell, illustrator of The Museum Lives in Me, a children’s book commissioned by the NCMA.
With every turn of the page, teacher Miss Edmonia—which Scott-Miller named after Edmonia “Wildfire Lewis,” the first professional African American and Native American sculptor—helps children discover and interact with well-known pieces from the People’s Collection, including Mickalene Thomas’ Three Graces: Les Trois Femmes Noires, Romare Bearden’s New Orleans: Ragging Home and Yayoi Kusama’s LIGHT OF LIFE.
“This beautiful story highlights the joy and understanding that art can bring to everyone, particularly children,” says Museum Director Valerie Hillings.
An homage to Black women, many of the students are also named after lesser-known Black female artists, like student Kara-Clementine, whose namesakes are artists Kara Walker and Clementine Hunter. “We talk about the artwork—but not the artists,” explains Scott-Miller. “I wanted to make sure the names were called.”
Promotional portraits of Victoria Scott-Miller, author of The Museum Lives in Me, a children’s book commissioned by the NCMA.
Powell, who worked closely with Scott-Miller on both the story and the illustrations, says that they spent a lot of time revisiting their pasts, exchanging stories and “coming up with great experiences to make the characters come alive and feel authentic.”
Ultimately, the pair hopes the book illustrates for both adults and children how fascinating the museum really is while helping teach them to take inventory of their own inner exhibits worth discovering and celebrating, says Scott-Miller. “You don’t necessarily have to be in the museum to be part of the museum,” Powell adds. But through The Museum Lives in Me, you can be a part of its story. Available at Museum Store, and Black-owned and independent bookstores nationwide, including Liberation Station Bookstore
