Nashville Black Literacy Coalition

08/07/2026

✨ Nashville, let's build our Black comics community! ✨

There's no shortage of Black folks in this city who love comics, graphic novels, and manga — but not enough places for us to be in the same room. Let's change that.

The Nashville Black Literacy Coalition is facilitating a gathering at the Nashville Comic Arts Festival on Saturday, October 3rd, time TBA — to start a Nashville Black Comics Collective right here.
Come meet your people and help us figure out what this group will look like — how often we meet, what we read, where we go from here. Nothing's set in stone yet, and that's the point. Show up and help shape it.

Use the link below to fill out the interest form and let us know you're coming.

Parents — this one is for your young readers, too. 👀
Got a kid who reads Naruto? A teen with a sketchbook? A middle schooler three volumes deep in something you've never heard of? Bring them through.

The Black Comics Collective Youth Group will be facilitated by Robin Griffin's A to Z Learning Book Club — a space where young readers can talk about a comic, graphic novel, or manga they love, read alongside other young folks who are into the same thing, and be around people who speak their language. No pressure, no assignments — just good books and good company.

We're looking for parents and guardians to attend and bring their young people.

Please share this post with your people.

Fill out the interest form in the bio.

Nashville Comic Arts Festival •

Saturday, October 3rd, time TBA • Vanderbilt Central Library •

Register here:
https://forms.gle/5DF8zAsiGTfW24ncA See less

08/03/2026

Black August & The End of Reading

📚 Black August has always been about the books.

Study is one of the original pillars — right alongside fasting, training, and fitness. Freedom fighters built study circles in cells.

Organizers passed around dog-eared paperbacks until the spines gave out. Reading wasn't a side hobby for the movement. It was the movement's homework.

Which makes this new Atlantic cover story worth sitting with.

"The End of Reading Is Here" (available in our linktree on bio page) argues America has gone postliterate — we still can read, we just mostly don't. Fewer than half of U.S. adults finished a book in 2022.

Reading for fun on any given day dropped from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023. More Americans placed a bet last year than finished a book. And a lot of students now hand dense texts to AI to "translate" instead of reading them.

Meanwhile, a devoted 20% of readers account for roughly 80% of all book reading. So reading didn't disappear — it got niche.

That's what we're thinking about this month. Every movement we've built has run on people who read, reflect, and pass the book to the next person.

What does that look like now?

We'd love to hear from you 👇🏾

What are you reading this Black August? Drop the title 📖

Has your own reading changed over the years — and what shifted it?

Do audiobooks, podcasts, and our oral tradition carry the same weight for you as sitting with a book?

For the teachers, organizers, and parents: what's actually helping people slow down and stay with a long read?

No wrong answers here — we're just curious how this is landing for folks.

🔗 Full article is in our Linktree in bio. Give it a read and share what stayed with you.

07/31/2026

https://www.mobilize.us/equityalliance/event/964678/?rname=Tiffeni&share_context=event_details&share_medium=copy_link

Join us for our first Virtual Book Club discussion featuring The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson. Together, we’ll explore how the book’s themes connect to today’s world! We’re diving into politics and education to social media, entertainment, and current events. We’ll discus...

07/29/2026

07/21/2026

Back in 2020 when COVID hit, Kevin Powell launched a Writing Workshop via Zoom, to support writers and others wanting to express themselves through those difficult times. He provided advice of all kinds to folks, free of charge, and he even interviewed legendary writers like Nikki Giovanni and V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Walter Mosley. Due to many requests He is bringing it back for just 3 sessions this Summer for a very small fee per session, details on attached graphic. Please feel free to share with anyone who is writing or trying to write.

07/21/2026

📚✨ LET'S MAKE BLACK LITERACY MORE VISIBLE IN NASHVILLE.✨

Every day, Black literacy is happening across our city—but too often, those stories go unseen.

We want to change that.

📸 Send us photos and stories that capture what Black literacy looks like in your home, organization, school, library, neighborhood, church, community center, book club, tutoring program, or anywhere people are reading, learning, writing, and growing together. Or send a book review.

Are you part of an organization promoting literacy? We'd love to highlight your work, too!

📅 Send us your organization's literacy events, programs, book clubs, workshops, family literacy nights, and community gatherings. We'll share them with the NBLC community to help make literacy opportunities more visible across Nashville.

Together, we're building a living picture of Black literacy—celebrating the people, places, and organizations strengthening our community every day.

📧 Email: [email protected](m
📱
Instagram: Nashville Black Literacy Coalition

Let's make Black literacy more visible in our community—one photo, one story, one event at a time.🖤📖

07/21/2026

📚✨ LET'S MAKE BLACK LITERACY MORE VISIBLE IN NASHVILLE.✨

Every day, Black literacy is happening across our city—but too often, those stories go unseen.

We want to change that.

📸 Send us photos and stories that capture what Black literacy looks like in your home, organization, school, library, neighborhood, church, community center, book club, tutoring program, or anywhere people are reading, learning, writing, and growing together. Or send a book review.

Are you part of an organization promoting literacy? We'd love to highlight your work, too!

📅 Send us your organization's literacy events, programs, book clubs, workshops, family literacy nights, and community gatherings. We'll share them with the NBLC community to help make literacy opportunities more visible across Nashville.

Together, we're building a living picture of Black literacy—celebrating the people, places, and organizations strengthening our community every day.

📧
Email: [email protected](m

📱
Instagram:

Let's make Black literacy more visible in our community—one photo, one story, one event at a time.🖤📖

07/21/2026

Thank you, Humanities TN!