Welcome!
Greetings! I am so excited to welcome you to the 13th annual Leimert Park Village Book Fair!
Time certainly flies when you’re having fun. It’s been a real honor for me to encourage the love of books and reading in our community, and for you to respond so positively with your support. We’re in the throws of putting together a wonderful Book Fair this year, and I sincerely want to thank you for all your patronage throughout the years. Still, the best is yet to come!
As always, this family-oriented event will be held in the heart of Leimert Park, which is considered the center of the African American arts/intellectual scene in the city. The book fair will be held inside of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on both the first and second floors and the Macy's Bridge.
On a personal note, many years ago I envisioned a book fair as homage to my grandmother who encouraged my love of reading as a child. When she passed away, I wanted to give back to the community and do something in her memory that would make a difference. And that’s how the idea of the Leimert Park Village Book Fair was born.
Today, I am delighted that the LPVBF was “Voted as "One of LA’s Five Best Annual Book Festivals!” It’s a testament to the hard work and support of the community. It takes a village to not only raise a child; but it also takes a village to educate a child for a better tomorrow.
The Leimert Park Village Book Fair has become a much-anticipated cultural tradition in the community. It has been a real treat for me to bring some of your favorite authors and celebrities to our community, and provide them an opportunity to promote their latest work as well as meet some of their fans up close and personal.
In the past ten years, the Book Fair has hosted an incredible lineup of authors, poets, celebrity authors, speakers and artists, including Pulitzer Prize winners Isabel Wilkerson and Douglas A. Blackmon; prominent literary figure Ishmael Reed; New York Times best seller Eric Jerome Dickey; poet/activist Nikki Giovanni and poet/playwright Sonia Sanchez; Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr.; White House Correspondent and CNN Contributor April Ryan; along with award-winning actors like Victoria Rowell ("The Young and the Restless”); Hill Harper (“CSI: NY”); Todd Bridges (Diff’rent Strokes); Isaiah Washington (“Grey’s Anatomy”); reality star NeNe Leakes ("Real Housewives of Atlanta”); and Filmmaker/Producer DeVon Franklin and actress Meagan Good (“Think Like A Man…”) just to name a few. And there are still more authors to enjoy!
Planning an event of this magnitude requires teamwork and lots of support from the city, the business community, community leaders, sponsors and local and state politicians. I would like to thank my sponsors, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas of District 2; the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs; the City of Los Angeles and the Capri Capital Partners of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza for their continued support. I especially want to thank our board members as well as the book fair’s honorary chairpersons – philanthropists Dr. Bernard W. Kinsey and his lovely wife, Shirley, who have taken the book fair to new heights with their guidance and collective resources.
So, look for our first virtual Leimert Park Village Book Fair when it returns this year, rain or shine!
Sincerely,
Cynthia E. Exum
Executive Director & Founder