African American Book Fair in Philly

I read of this book fair on Philly.com, and though it's too late for me to hop an Amtrak train, maybe others can go. Founded by Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, the 15th annual event takes place on Saturday, February 3rd, from 1 to 3. The Philadelphia Daily News article includes an interview with Lloyd-Sgambati:

Q. How is this different from other Black History Month events for kids?

A. There is no singing, no dancing. They line up around the corner for books. There is no face-painting, no secondary events. They come for one purpose, it is a literary event. Kids as young as toddlers have autographed books, and having ownership means the child is more apt to read the book.

Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall wrote about the fair last week in the piece "Black history is entwined in America's":

And in Philadelphia, there has been one Black History Month event that has stayed true to its original historical mission: the African American Children's Book Fair, which will be held at City College of Philadelphia on Feb. 3.

Comments

[LM Morris]

I attended this "Book Fair" and I and my sister were very disappointed. Why? You had to stand in line to just look at the books (all books). All displays, Authors, and books were around the perimiter of the gym where the book fair was held. The entire center of the gym was not used which would have afforded the opportunity to see all or any of the books. I gues what I am saying is the lack of proper floor planning inhibited the opportunity to see and possibly purchase the many books that were there. We did get to take my nephew to see a few of the authors who were there and read from their books but that is as good as we got. We were really looking forward to attending the book fair and purchasing books that related to us and for our younger family members.

A few suggestions to the coordinators of the book fair: Use ALL of your space wisely, divide the books by age appropriate levels, fiction, non-fiction and more book related vendors (posters are nice but bookmarks and journals are better). Also extend the hours of the bookfair. Who wants to stand in an extremely long line only to discover you only have a few minutes before the fair ends because the people in front of you took a bit longer to browes the books.

I got the sence that whom ever was in charge of the event did not trust the audience and therefore it was desided that having a line to browes the books was a better idea. Not, use the space and have good security. what events do you go to you have to stand in line to see any of what is being offered at all times. When you go to Border's Books they don't make people stand in line to browes their books, it is open and you browes "freely". Paying patrons should be treated with respect and allowed to browes freely. I believe more books would have been sold if it were a true book fair to

[Susan]

That is some great feedback for the organizers, L.M. You should send it to them! I was going by the newspapers' recommendations, but there is nothing like first-hand experience. Thank you for relating yours!