¡Saludos, everybody! This post is way overdue but I am now just getting time after the holidays & my second book announcement to sit and blog!
If you have not heard the pop up bookstore that was selling my book Papas y papas opened up a brick and mortar store back in October at Ironworks Houston! It is a cultural space carefully curating literature for Spanish, Portuguese, and bilingual readers (including kid lit). The video below is from the grand opening!
Location:
711 Milby St • Ste. 11
Hours:
Wed-Thur 10-4
Fri 10-6
Sat 10-7
Sun 10-6
Dreamers is ran by Elizabeth Farfán-Santos , an academic and former anthropology professor at University of Houston. She has authored two books of her own and is already placing dreamers on the map for Hispanic art, culture, and community. The store has story time every second Saturday of the month as well as other author & community events. Pay her a visit & give her a follow!
Quiero agregar que la selección de libros en español es excelente, para adultos y niños. Es muy caro comprar libros de Amazon traducidos, pero especialmente en español proveídos de México, Latinoamérica o España. En el día de apertura compre como 3 cuentos ilustrados en español porque se que, como en una boutique, si no compras lo que ves en Dreamers, puede que no este allí cuando regreses! Entonces: make sure you buy what you love upon gazing upon it!
I had the pleasure of doing a book reading at Dreamers back in November!
Papas y papas, bestseller at Dreamers Bookstore
As an indie author I have to appreciate my wins as they come! Being an author is hard, being an indie author feels overwhelming at times with me having to design, send to print, and market my own books! Elizabeth is supportive of local authors and we highly appreciate her for it!
The reading was an intimate affair! I love how Dreamer’s “porch” extends out, overlooking the warehouse. It really is a romantic & unique view. Since Thanksgiving was coming up, we decided instead of a story time, a book talk about how tortillas are made from earth to table would be more relevant.
Most of the readers were toddlers and preschool age, which is exactly the target audience for papas! The children enjoyed amasar & making tortillas, rolling them into tacos and then getting creative with empanadas & itacates too. Parents and caregivers usually get into the sensory play too! We adults forget how fun it is to get messy! I think my favorite creation was this hurache with concha impressions on it!
The concha impression is from a stamp custom-made by Fresh Masa, a San Antonio Latina-owned sensory play shop “inspired by cultura, creativity, and inclusion.” Fresh Masa recently added Papas y papas to their store & I am so happy they did because I do believe Papas aligns with their mission!
I enjoyed bringing my book talk to a public space as usually I reserve it for school visits! It was great to meet readers from Houston and see their enthusiasm for the book & the play that comes with it.
I am also very happy that the Houston Hispanic and Spanish speaking community is getting representation! As I said on my Instagram post, we are a varied community made up of much more professionals and thinkers than ever before. I am glad Elizabeth created a space for us to reflect that.
Los dejo con las fotos de ese lindo día. And I hope you can join us in Spring for my Paletas 1-2-3 story time!
Biblioterika 