A power-house panel of Black women in media. Rofhiwa is delighted to host Charity Elder, awarding winning journalist and media executive as she reads and discusses her book Power: The Rise of Black Women in America. Charity is joined by WRAL news anchor and journalist Lora Lavigne and Courtney Napier, writer, journalist, publisher, and liberation coach.
Book Launch: Birthing Liberation with Sabia Wade and Whitney Williams
Rofhiwa hosts Sabia Wade, renowned radical doula, educator and author of Birthing Liberation: How Reproductive Justice Can Free Us All. Join us Sabia talks to Whitney Williams, Durham based doula and educator. In Birthing Liberation, Sabia traces the history of medical racism to explain how institutions and professionals have failed the BIPOC community. Ultimately, Sabia presents us with a guide for how we can all achieve liberation through trauma healing and reproductive justice.
HBCU Trivia Night: Breaking the Bias
WUNC 91.5 hosts HBCU Trivia Night at Rofhiwa Book Cafe Thursday, March 16th at 7 p.m. ET. Test your knowledge on topics from fashion to politics. Trivia participants will compete to see who knows the most about BIPOC women- identifying icons.
Book Talk: Of Black Study, with Joshua Myers and Jasmine Cobb
Joshua Myers, author of Of Black Study, which explores the ideas of Black intellectuals who created different ways of thinking and knowing in their pursuit of freedom talks to Jasmine Cobb, author of New Growth: The Art and Texture of Black Hair which traces the history of Afro-textured coiffure as a visual material through which to reimagine the sensual experience of Blackness. This is an in-person event.
Book Launch: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone, How to Be a (Young) Antiracist
The launch of How to Be a (Young) Antiracist with co-authors Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone in conversation with Durham based author and psychiatrist, Dr. Damon Tweedy.
Black Christmas at Rofhiwa: Live Music with XOXOK
XOXOK (atmospheric soul; Durham, NC) performs live in concert as part of Black Christmas at Rofhiwa - a series of special events to gather in community and fellowship in celebration of this most special time of year. Admission is free ($10 donation appreciated).
Book Launch: The Color Line with Igiaba Scego and Maya Freelon
An afternoon with author, Igiaba Scego and Durham visual artist, Maya Freelon as we launch Scego's second novel, The Color Line. Igiaba's third novel, The Color Line combines the characters of Edmonia Lewis and Sarah Parker Remond and is dedicated to Rome and to these two African-American women who lived in 19th-century Rome - interweaving the lives of two women artists, more than a century apart and both living in Italy.
Book Launch - Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions in conversation with Francesca Royster and Shirlette Ammons
An evening with Francesca Royster and Durham musician, Shirlette Ammons as we launch Royster's monumental book, Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions. In this timely work—the first book on Black country music by a Black writer—Francesca Royster uncovers the Black performers and fans, including herself, who are exploring the pleasures and possibilities of the genre.
Her Word is Bond: Psalm One, Book Launch and Live Session
The launch of Her Word is Bond: Navigating Hiphop and Relationships in a Culture of Misogyny, a celebration of the life and career of Psalm One, the Chicago born rapper who blazed the trail for women in hip hop. Part memoir, part music journalism, Her Word is Bond takes an unflinching look at underground hip hop culture through the eyes of a queer Black woman.
Dalia Kinsey and Da'Shaun Harrison: Decolonizing Wellness, in pursuit of Body Liberation
Dalia Kinsey reads from and discusses Decolonizing Wellness: A QTBIPOC-Centered Guide to Escape the Diet Trap, Heal Your Self-Image, and Achieve Body Liberation. A love letter to those who struggle with their bodies. A gentle call to acceptance, trust and self-love. Da'Shaun Harrison, author of Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Blackness as Anti-Blackness joins Dalia in conversation.
Book Talk: Big Girl, A Novel by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
We are thrilled to host the launch of Big Girl, A Novel that traces the intergenerational hungers and desires of Black womanhood. Please join us as author of Big Girl, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan talks to Black feminist scholar, poet and activist Alexis Pauline Gumbs. This is an in-person event.
Dr. Tara T. Green and Monet Noelle Marshal: A Conversation on Black Women Defining Pleasure
Dr. Tara T. Green reads from and discusses See Me Naked: Black Women Defining Pleasure in the Interwar Era, on the extraordinary lives of Lena Horne, Moms Mabley, Yolande DuBois, and Memphis Minnie. Black women who enjoyed pleasure as they gave pleasure to both those in their lives and to the public at large. Durham's beloved Monet Noelle Marshall - artist and cultural organizer, joins Dr. Green in conversation.
Poetry Reading and Discussion: Thresh & Hold with Marlanda Dekine and Tyree Daye
Marlanda Dekine reads from and discusses Thresh & Hold, their dynamic debut collection which covers themes relating to ancestry, memory, and the process of staying within one’s own body. What does it mean, Marlanda asks, to be a Gullah-Geechee descendant from a rural place where a third of the nation's founding wealth was harvested by trafficked West and Central Africans? Fellow poet Tyree Daye, author of the collection Cardinal joins Marlanda in discussion.
Rofhiwa Presents: Muzi INTERBLAKTIC Tour
Part of his Interblaktic - North America Tour, South African Dj-Producer-Musician will play at THE PINHOOK on Saturday June, 25 - with support from Durham's beloved Dj Gemynii. A self-declared Afrofuturist, Muzi offers the world glimpses of the future, wielding sound to suggest alternative universes and encounters with our best and dreaming selves. A new generation of South African sound. A bold vision of African music.
Book Launch: Break This House with Candice Iloh and Kwame Mbalia
June 1 - We are thrilled to host the launch of Break This House, a prose novel about a teenager reckoning with her family’s–and her home town’s–secrets. Please join us as author of Break This House, Candice Iloh talks to New York Times Bestselling author, Kwame Mbalia. This is a virtual event, live on Crowdcast and free with registration.
Book Launch: The Fire That Time: Transnational Black Radicalism and the Sir George Williams Occupation
The book launch of The Fire That Time: Transnational Black Radicalism and the Sir George Williams Occupation and engage in conversation with the editors, Ronald Cummings and Nalini Mohabir, and contributors, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Nigel Westmaas, and Michael O. West, whose chapters raise questions and reflect on the unfinished business of Black radical protest. Essayist and novelist, Panashe Chigumadzi will moderate.
Book Launch: America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women and the Struggle for Justice
We are thrilled to host the launch of America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women and the Struggle for Justice which explores the combined force of anti-Blackness, misogyny, patriarchy and capitalism in the lives of Black Women and girls in the United States. Please join us as author of America, Goddam, Treva B. Lindsey talks to Melissa Harris-Perry, media host, and author of Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America. This is an in-person event.
Book Launch: The Sex Lives of African Women, with Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah and Deesha Philyaw
April 12 - We are thrilled to host the launch of the ground breaking collection of intimate accounts and stories of pleasure and sexual freedom from African women across the globe, The Sex Lives of African Women. Please join us in conversation with author of the Sex Lives of African Women, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah who will share our virtual platform with the incomparable Deesha Philway, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. In her review of the The Sex Lives of African Women, Philyaw described the book as a marvelous "collection of raw, tender stories [that] captures the breath and depth of the Diaspora with the intimacy of looking in a mirror."
Chronicling The Hip-Hop South: In Conversation with Regina Bradley, Dasan Ahanu and Kyesha Jennings
March 18 - In collaboration with The Kitchen and Carolina Performing Arts, we are thrilled to host Chronicling The Hip-Hop South, a conversation between Regina Bradley, Dasan Ahanu and Kyesha Jennings on Southern Hip-Hop and Black Southern culture more broadly. Regina Bradley will speak about her book Chronicling Stankonia: The Rise of the Hip-Hop South which she has stated, she envisions as "a blueprint to have a more complex conversation about Southern hip-hop."
The Quarter Storm: Book Launch with Veronica G. Henry and Cadwell Turnbull
March 4 -The launch of Veronica G. Henry's sophomore novel The Quarter Storm, the story of Haitian Vodou Priestess Mambo Raina who must test the boundaries of her powers to solve a ritual murder in New Orleans and protect everything she holds sacred. Veronica G. Henry will be in conversation with Caldwell Turnball, author of the novel No Gods No Monsters.