The Harlem Renaissance Book Fair at the Reardon Center in Kansas City Kansas has come and gone. I had a lot of fun.

I would like to relate that I sold a lot of copies of NEQUA, but I didn’t.  No money, just fun.

I was pleased to see several persons I knew from K.C. MO. The former owner of Wilma’s books which was located on Troost was there. She has a fabulous collection of hardbound books with A+ dust jackets. I have purchased a couple of great books from her in the past.  The Word on The Brazos  by  J. Mason Brewer  in fine condition was the one I remember best.

I met Christine Taylor-Butler, a science-fiction writer who was selling her newest book which has great cover art and illustrations, titled The Lost Tribes.

Sarah Washington O'Neal Rush, Great Granddaughter of Booker T. Washington came from New York, with a book for sale "Rising Up From the Blood: A Legacy Reclaimed, A Bridge Forward,".  She, Steve Penn and Sonny Gibson each gave presentations about their books.  

I also got to see my old boss from the 2010 Census Anita Watley. 

Alvin Sykes was signing the Emmet Till book which explains about his strange path getting the national legislation passed, which provided funds for  Justice Dept. and the F.B.I. to go after civil rights  violators.

I also got to shake hands with Mr. David Haley the Senator  for 4th District in Kansas, which covers Wyandotte County.  Thanked him for his part in backing the Harlem Renaissance Book Fair and asked that he make sure it is back next year, maybe with some funding for expansion.

A great day -even found out that my friend Maurice Copeland used to hang out with a writer I just met named Fred Whitehead. Small interwoven world.

                       The Harlem Book Fair is coming to Kansas City.  It will be held from 

                           10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Reardon Civic Center, 

                                     5th and Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kan.

HBF Midwest Regional, Kansas City, Kansas • October 

“The Harlem Book Fair (HBF), the nation’s flagship African American public literary event, is proud to announce its strategic partnership with the Kansas City, Ks NAACP and El Centro, Kansas City’s leading African American and Hispanic community advocacy organizations.”

“The annual Harlem Book Fair Midwest will feature nationally-acclaimed writers, A-list celebrity authors, engaging family literacy events and community-based Kansas City authors and cultural artists.”

“In partnership with the (KCK) NAACP, El Centro, Inc., and their Community Advocates, the Harlem Book Fair Midwest will become the most highly anticipated, inclusive, cross-cultural literary event in the Midwest.” 

It will be held in the Reardon Center and should be a real affair.  I am going to be there Thanks to my friend Sonny Gibson. Sonny has published two books on Negro History in Kansas City, Missouri. 

I will be trying to promote sales of NEQUA. I am also going to take some stuff out of my KC Metro Books collection which are all listed for sale on www.biblio.com .   Mostly I will take books to the Fair by or about Gurdjieff , Ouspensky and friends.

One of the “and friends” is Jean Toomer.  He was born into a bi-racial family. He was part of the Harlem Renaissance and leader of a group of Harlem residents loosely organized as a Gurdjieff Study Group. 

Toomer wrote Cane, Essentials: Definitions and Aphorisms,  The Flavor of Man,   The Collected Poems of Jean Toomer and a series of essays. Toomer's papers and unpublished manuscripts are held by the Beinecke Library at Yale University

In 1926  Toomer went to France and studied with Gurdjieff,  at Fontainebleau. He was a student of Gurdjieff until the mid-1930s.

Toomer joined the Society of Friends (Quakers) and developed several Quaker organizations. He is also credited with starting the Chicago Gurdjieff Group.

See you at the Book Fair.  I’ve got a real good $60.00 copy of Octavia Butler’s Clay’s Ark for sale also. Bring some money.