Although our city’s slogan is no longer “The City That Reads,” a new literacy program is using one powerful story to bring local communities together.

One Book Baltimore—a collaboration between Baltimore City Public Schools, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore Ceasefire, and several other organizations—connects area students through a book club-style reading of author Nic Stone’s best-selling novel, Dear Martin. Stone kicked off the initiative during the Baltimore Book Festival in September with a discussion about her debut book, which follows the story of an Ivy League-bound, African-American student who becomes a victim of racial profiling.

The program started with the distribution of free copies of the novel to all Baltimore City Public Schools seventh- and eighth-graders and continued with free events such as youth conferences on social justice. Going forward, One Book Baltimore leaders hope that the story’s narrative surrounding race and identity will encourage young people to discuss their own experiences and challenges.

Tarnerra Davis, a junior at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, says she recognized parallels between some of the plot points in Dear Martin and the violence occurring in her own neighborhood.

Davis says the book empowered her to participate in a community discussion during one Baltimore Ceasefire weekend. “I’m into speaking out on certain things that are going on in the community if someone else isn’t going to,” she says.

To wrap up the program’s inaugural year, Stone will visit the Enoch Pratt Northwood library branch on December 12 for a discussion on the book’s racial equity and anti-violence themes.

“People don’t expect [teenagers] to speak up and be knowledgeable about these topics,” says Jaylin Jones, an eighth-grader at Southwest Baltimore Charter School. “Learning about it forwards us into being leaders on these topics and enables us to help other people understand them.”

You’ve gained attention for incorporating self-empowerment and activism into your eighth-grade English classes, which are made up of students from across the city. How do you work in those kinds of lessons?
It always goes back to the text. If I read a story, I’m going to find something that relates to [some of] my students’ trauma. We read about a woman who did not speak for years because she saw someone get killed. I asked the kids, “Why did she feel that way?” Once I get them talking about her, I can then ask, “Have you ever felt that way? Do you know anyone who feels that way?” If I can figure out a way to pull out the social-emotional discussion points, then I can get them to open up enough for me to motivate them. I’m all about doing what I feel our curriculum is missing.

How does that compare to how other schools approach emotional learning?
A lot of schools are adopting social-emotional learning curriculums that are supplementary to [their normal] work, such as 10 minutes of meditation in the middle of the school day. There are so many ways to implement social-emotional stuff into every class, but no one’s doing it yet. So that’s what I’m modeling through my curriculum, and eventually I’m going to bleed that throughout the entire nation—that’s my plan.

You’re so open about your struggles with depression on Instagram and in your classroom.
Yeah, I’m pretty open about everything. The only thing I do not share is my love life. I’d rather have something I can keep for myself. But the depression—I don’t feel like it’s mine to keep. Depression is really our fight—it’s an American fight; it’s a universal issue; it’s something that so many of us saw our parents try to live through. We didn’t know what we were looking at. Now for everyone who understands it and has the courage to speak about it, it’s our responsibility to do so.

How does that relate to your relationship with reading?
I didn’t fall in love with reading until a few years ago when I didn’t get into my PhD program at the University of Maryland. I’ve always been a strong teacher because I love teaching and I love kids, but I was not grounded in theory. My professor was so upset when I didn’t get into the program, but she gave me a book by bell hooks and said, “Start with this—this is critical race theory.” And bell hooks not only helped me begin to read theory, but she helped me forgive my family members who had hurt me. She talks about mental health, shame in the black community, lack of love, and things that are direct results of post-traumatic slave syndrome. I read that and thought, “Woah! This is everybody that I’m around!” There were so many nuanced things that I began to see when I got into theory, and I got addicted to that fast.

Then I fell into my deepest depression in 2015 and I was unable to do anything but read. I found my sanity in reading about people who are bipolar and schizophrenic, and I was like, “Oh my god—this is me, this is my mother, this is my grandmother.” Reading really healed me. And these weren’t just books by black authors. You gotta read everybody. Because our stories are in everybody’s stories. I don’t give my kids as many books by black authors as people assume that I do. I used to do that before I began reading as much because I thought that’s what my students needed. Now I’m like, ‘I want you to read about this child in India whose mother was killed, and this little boy in Africa who had to escape, and this little girl in Mexico.’ I want them to see themselves in all of these people. And then we can bring it back to Baltimore.

What are some of the books that you’re teaching this year? How do you motivate students to read extra books that are outside of the curriculum?
We have to teach The Crossover, which is a narrative poem about a kid who plays basketball and his dad dies at the end. I think it’s a good book, but I don’t love it so I added three more. I have this chart that says Master Reader, and if you read five books in the marking period, then you’re a master. If you only read one, then you’re a reader. It’s not a competition; it’s more of a discussion. I let them know that not everyone is going to [read] five books. You may only do one, and that’s okay. And why did you only do one and someone else did five? When you go home, you have to help your mom; when they go home, they’re chillin’, so they have more time. We have these open discussions where we talk about how intimate reading is and how diverse we are as learners.

Tell us about last year’s after-school trip to the new Baltimore City Correctional Center with your Reading Club students.
The jail trip was big for me because we didn’t have books [in my classroom] last year. All the books I have this year came from a book drive on Instagram, and now there are enough for kids to read at home in addition to the class set. How does the city give the jail $32 million, but our schools are lacking? So I walked the kids down to the jail and let them see. Where are the playgrounds? Why do we have all these Chinese restaurants and liquor stores and carryouts? Where’s the actual supermarket? For the kids, it was eye-opening. I let them ask all of the questions.

How have your students affected your life?
The children that I’m teaching are my family. I don’t know how, and I honestly don’t care how, but the work that I’m doing is beyond me, and I take a lot of pride in that. It’s really an honor, and it allows me to trust the process. I had a student who was murdered at barely 22 years old and had a 6-year-old daughter. I can hear his voice saying, “Now I’m actually with you, Ms. Clay, while you’re dealing with these boys. You won’t lose another one.” I can feel that, I can hear that, I can see it in the butterflies, I can feel it in the wind, and I know that everything’s going to be good. That’s why, for me, I would call Baltimore ‘Charm City’. It’s like that witchy charm. And not witchy with a notion of scary, harmful magic. It’s the magic that most people don’t know is inside of them. And I get to pull that out of these kids, and they pull it out of me.

September in Baltimore means one thing for bibliophiles—The Baltimore Book Festival. For three days, the Inner Harbor becomes a book store, reading room, and literary salon all rolled into one, with stages featuring a host of local, national, and international authors to gather inspiration from. To make navigating this weekend’s schedule a little easier, we’ve highlighted 10 writers and events that are not to be missed—and broken them down by your genre of choice.

Literature Lovers

Maryland Humanities presents Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 24, Literary Salon  This Johns Hopkins grad who grew up in Nigeria has taken the literary world by storm. Her latest novel Americanah, was published around the world in 2013, and has received numerous accolades, including winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction, and it was named one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year. Her 2003 novel Purple Hibiscus was the One Maryland One Book selection this year and her TED talk about feminism is a must-see.

Alice McDermott
3:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 24, Literary Salon  McDermott, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, is the author of seven novels, including Someone, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award, and Charming Billy, which won the National Book Award. She’s also been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize twice, and her articles, reviews, and stories have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker. She’ll be promoting her new book The Ninth Hour at the festival.

True Crime Enthusiasts

It’s amazing that a few years after the Serial podcast became such a huge hit that we are still pondering the future of Adnan Syed, who was convicted in the murder of Hae Min Lee. Two women with special connections to Syed are appearing at the festival. First is Asia McClain Chapman, who will tell her story of how she became the key alibi witness for Syed in Serial, and now in her book, Confessions of a Serial Alibi. (3 p.m. Saturday, Inner Harbor Stage.) And an hour later, catch Rabia Chaudry, Syed’s public advocate and author of the New York Times bestselling book Adnan’s Story. (4 p.m. Saturday, Inner Harbor Stage.) 

Local Scenesters

A Touch of Literati 
6 p.m. Friday, CityLit Stage Baltimore’s own CityLit Press celebrates the launch of author Rafael Alvarez’s new collection of fiction, Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown. The book commemorates the 20th anniversary of Alvarez’s fiction debut, The Fountain of Highlandtown. The celebration includes two prize-winners: 2017 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow Devin Allen, who will speak about the Time magazine photo that changed his life and the youth educational program he founded, and Deborah Rudacille, a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow, and science writer who tells stories about the ways in which science influences culture and culture informs science, the links between science and social justice movements. This session is moderated by WYPR’s Aaron Henkin. 

Foodies

The intersection of food and literature is always a welcome discussion, and the book fest has plenty of cooking demos and cookbook signings at its Food for Thought Stage. But there’s also Lunch at the Homesick Restaurant (1 p.m. Friday, Food for Thought Stage), where national best-selling mystery author Laura Lippman joins author Ann Hood and author and home cook Michael Ruhlman to discuss the way fiction informs food and food informs fiction, both in their own work and the works of others. Audience members who know their fictional food will have a chance to win some distinctly Baltimore treats.

Kids or Kids at Heart

Pets on Wheels
(11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Top of the World Observation Level) What could be better than cute pets and books? Children will be partnered with a therapy dog (or cat!) from Pets on Wheels. After selecting a favorite book, the child is invited to sit and read to their furry friend. And we maintain this event shouldn’t just be for kids—adults like to read books aloud, too. 

The Conservation Conscious

McKay Jenkins (11:30 a.m. Saturday, Food For Thought Stage) has been writing about people and the natural world for 30 years, and continues this work in his new book, Food Fight: GMOs and the Future of the American Diet. He is also the author of ContamiNation, which chronicles his investigation into the myriad synthetic chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and the growing body of evidence about the harm these chemicals do to our bodies and the environment. He teaches at The University of Delaware and lives in Baltimore.

Poetry Aficionados

Poets Speak: Raw Wounds, Wise Blood, Speak Water
(2 p.m. Sunday, CityLit Stage) You might know the name Kondwani Fidel from his recent viral essay that analyzed the human toll of Baltimore’s violence in his personal experiences. The writer, speaker, and spoken word poet has also authored a book, Raw Wounds, has been featured in Business Insider and CNN, and was a 2016 recipient of the Ford: Men of Courage Award. He joins Robert Earl Price the author of four books of poetry, including Wise Blood and Truth Thomas, a singer-songwriter and poet who was the winner of the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry. Ron Kipling Williams, author of Black Freak Mosh Heaven, will moderate.

Be Free Live! hosted by Love the Poet (Michelle Antoinette Nelson)
(4 p.m. Sunday, Inner Harbor Stage) Baltimore’s longest running monthly open mic will take place live at the book festival. Hosted by Michelle Antoinette Nelson aka LOVE the poet an artist, innovator, and Founder of Brown and Healthy a non-profit and global health and wellness initiative for people of color. She’s dedicated over a decade to her life’s work to authoring books, plays, writing arts + education curricula, and providing platforms for artists to explore and discover the true nature of their art. Featuring Almight Ra, Antoine Hayes, Najh Bayyan, and others.

Known for its annual, sold-out Black & White party, the Pratt Contemporaries is more than just an organization that throws a great shindig. The nonprofit, now in its 10th year, has raised more than  $1 million for child and teen literacy programs at the Enoch Pratt Free Library since its inception.

Over a decade ago, library members under the direction of Carla Hayden approached two volunteers, Kate Powell and Chris Espenshade, to create an organization that would bring young donors into the library.

“At the time, I really didn’t know what that was going to look like,” said Powell, who is now the co-founder of Pratt Contemporaries. “We didn’t know each other. We’ve become best friends since, which has been such a perk of this whole thing.”

The two women began the process by forming a committee of 12, including former director of communications Roswell Encina, who was also instrumental in getting the group started. At that first meeting—held at the former Red Maple space in Mt. Vernon—the committee decided that individuals could purchase a membership for just $40, and have access to the library’s events throughout the year.

“The idea behind it was to engage younger people to have them learn about the library,” Powell said. “There’s this huge gap in time when people use the library. So part of the mission was to get people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s to just use the library.”

At this year’s annual meeting, held on June 1, Pratt Contemporaries unveiled its new logo and awarded $180,000 to 12 different literacy and improvement initiatives for the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

But deciding which specific programs to fund is never an easy task, according to board chair Jacob Hodes. The board tasks the librarians at each branch to come up with a list of programs that would be beneficial to the patrons and then Pratt Contemporaries members vote town-hall style.

“It’s like choosing your favorite child—they are all great programs,” Hodes said. “You can’t fund everything, there are a limited amount of dollars in every budget.”

Ned Courtemanche, board vice chair of Pratt Contemporaries, said that no matter what programs are chosen, they are making a tangible impact for the community.

“Personally, I always love STEM program funding,” Courtemanche said. “The second one always surprises me, because it’s so important but you don’t think about, is money for transportation. It’s something that is surprisingly expensive.”

One of the greatest obstacles for the library is actually getting students to the locations. For the 2018 year, $27,500 will be allocated to provide free buses to solve that problem. The STEM program—focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math education—will receive $20,000 for year-round programming, another $25,000 will go towards branch improvements, and a whopping $50,000 is reserved to go towards the renovation campaign of the central branch on Cathedral Street.

“The Pratt Contemporaries mission is to bring people into the library that wouldn’t otherwise come,” Hodes explained. “We want people to really see the benefits, learn about the programs, and really become ambassadors of all the great things that Pratt is doing.”

Over the years, that initial committee of 12 became a board of 18, and the Pratt Contemporaries now has more than 300 members. Members pay dues depending on their level and also get special perks, like first dibs on tickets to the famed Black & White Party every January.

“The party has really been the leader on the membership side. Becoming a member is really the only way to guarantee a ticket,” Hodes said. “We’re lucky that it’s a nimble way that we can raise funds and capital for the library.”

When Powell and Espenshade began this endeavor, they never imagined it would blossom into what it is now. Powell said that she is pleased with the direction the organization has taken and is excited to see what the future holds.

“Chris and I have really stepped back from being a part of the leadership. We are just members now,” Powell said. “The coolest thing about starting something is when you can leave it in really good hands and watch it continue to grow. It’s incredible.”

On July 1, Hodes will pass the baton over to Courtemanche and he will begin his leadership role as board chair. His goal for the group hasn’t wavered from a decade ago—to empower young professionals to get involved with the progression of the city.

“We can always remind people that the library is not just the responsibility of the city,” Courtemanche said. “The people of Baltimore really have to step up and make sure we take care of something that is essential to the growth of Baltimore.”