Black Liberation Reading Group!

This space has been created for Black people to come together to read and build fellowship with others in the Hudson Valley. Grown from the Black Women Book Read, this reading group is open to Black people of all genders. 

This session, we will be discussing  Biomythography Bayou by Mel Michelle Lewis. 

We will meet the 2nd Tuesday of each month starting from 6:30p - 8:00p

This book group may be different from others you have attended. We intentionally pull small sections of the book to read, because we are not just talking about the book. In our discussions we reflect on how what we are reading resonates with our life, how we feel connected to or in opposition to what we are reading, and how we feel we are further growing personally, and moving more towards liberation individually and as a people.  We are building a community of people who share this desire to grow in this way together. Each participant is encouraged to bring to the room an excerpt that they would like to discuss, but it is not necessary. 

Our friends at Rough Draft in Kingston have this book available/available to order, if you mention the book read, you will get a discount. If you are unable to purchase a book please email callie at mxcalliemackenzie[at]gmail.org and with notice we could purchase a book for you. 

We will be meeting at 474 Broadway Kingston, NY at the new location of the UU Catskills. Please RSVP so we know how many people to expect

Session 1: October 14, 2025

Reading for this session: 

• Acknowledgements

• Land & Labor Acknowledgement

• Conjure Portal

• Part 1: Water 

Session 2: November 11, 2025

Reading for this session: 

• Part 2: Fire

Session 3: December 9, 2025

Reading for this session: 

• Part 3: Earth

Session 4: January 13, 2025

Reading for this session: 

• Part 4: Mineral

• Part 5: Nature

About the book: 

Biomythography Bayou is more than just a book of memoir; it is a ritual for conjuring queer embodied knowledges and decolonial perspectives. Blending a rich gumbo of genres—from ingredients such as praise songs, folk tales, recipes, incantations, and invocations—it also includes a multimedia component, with “bayou tableau” images and audio recording links. Inspired by such writers as Audre Lorde, Zora Neale Hurston, and Octavia Butler, Mel Michelle Lewis draws from the well of her ancestors in order to chart a course toward healing Afrofutures. Showcasing the nature, folklore, dialect, foodways, music, and art of the Gulf’s coastal communities, Lewis finds poetic ways to celebrate their power and wisdom.