Bed-Stuy Pop-Up Library Focuses On Black Women Writers

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Ola Ronke Akinmowo lives in a Bed-Stuy studio with almost 1,000 books, all written by black women authors, that she’d very much like you to read.

Akinmowo is the mastermind behind the The Free Black Women's Library, a pop-up library that provides the neighborhood with hundreds of free books written by black women.

“The library is my love letter to Bed-Stuy,” said Akinmowo, who is hoping to raise $15,000 to expand her one-woman bookshare program. “For me, it’s really about using books as a tool to connect with folks and to imagine.

The Free Black Women’s Library began in 2015 when Akinmowo took to social media to ask people send her books written by black women, she said.

Within weeks she received 100 books — including Meridian by Alice Walker, Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes, Indigo by Beverly Jenkins — from people who, like Akinmowo, wanted to champion black women writers.

“A lot of time our stories are framed in the negative,” she said. “I thought this would be a way to confront that narrative in a way that was affirming."

The Bed-Stuy lover began schlepping her growing collection of books — which she packs in boxes and loads into the back of an Uber — to street corners, stoops and event spaces across the city on a monthly basis.

The policy is simple — if you give a book, you can take a book — but as her collection has grown to include multiple copies of popular titles, sometimes Akinmowo can simply give a book away for free.

During her five-hour shifts, Akinmowo also plan events — poetry readings, political discussions and writing sessions — to take place alongside the library.

“It puts us in a position of power,” she explained. “If we’re discussing the criminalization of black girls, even if we’re just having a discussion, we’re in a position of power because these ideas are coming from us.”

The community growing around Akinmowo is not homogeneous, she said. Readers from across the globe have donated to Akinmowo’s collection and Brooklynites who are men and women, old and young, black and white have flocked to the pop-up library.

“A book is like a portal, it just opens you up to a new way of thinking,” said Akinmowo. “It’s beautiful to see strangers bond over these books.”

Today, her massive library includes works of fiction, nonfiction children’s and history from authors such as Octavia Butler, Audre Lorde, Monique W. Morris, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison and many, many more.

Which is why Akinmowo hopes to raise $15,000 to expand her reach and buy “a legit mobile library” and launch a Free Black Women’s Library app that readers could use to browse the collection and learn about famous black women writers.

But she has raised only $3,017 — 20 percent of her goal — in the first three months of the campaign, she said.

"It is an incredibly laborious project that requires lots of time and attention," wrote Akinmowo on her CrowdRise site. "I am in dire need of finances to support its growth and maintenance."

But no matter how the campaign goes, Akinmowo said she'll keep bring her books out onto Bed-Stuy’s streets for the neighborhood to enjoy.

“I’m interested in what brings people together, what inspires, what entertains, and what heals,” said Akinmowo. “I feel like books qualify.”

The next open library day is slated for March 25 on Bedford Avenue.

Photos courtesy of Olaronke Akinmowo