New South Side community arts space and its literary festival are ‘remixing the narrative’ on youths and reading

The simple red and white exterior of the BiB Community Arts Space belies the treasure trove found inside.

Blue and silver star-shaped balloons cling to a storefront that looks like a candy shop for kids in the Roseland neighborhood. But the center at 119 E. 107th St. is a bookstore and a safe space where families and youths can come together in community.

The site, which opened this month with the help of a grant from the City of Chicago’s Small Business Storefront Activation Program , is the brainchild of Jurema Gorham, founder and executive director of the Burst Into Books nonprofit dedicated to educational programs and cultural literacy.

The former teacher created BiB when her son James, now 12, was just 7. Knowing it is rare for someone like James to see himself in what he is reading in the classroom, Gorham created BiB for him and other families like hers. She says that matters.

“I want kids to see themselves in what they’re learning,” Gorham said. “We got sci-fi, we got love stories, we got graphic novels and all of them look like me. Burst Into Books, everything we do, all of it, is around Black and brown authors. It’s really about how do we make reading an everyday lifestyle versus a chore, a punishment: ‘Get off your tablet and read a book.’ I want to choose to read a book because not only is it fun, but also I see myself in what I’m reading.”

Inside BiB Community Arts Space, there are bookshelves that toddlers, tweens, teens and adults can peruse, featuring everything from cookbooks to biographies. And local vendors sell items such as tea and greeting cards. All are produced by and for Black and brown authors, creatives and businesses.

Fanciful art and colorful murals make the walls pop with a nod to the fact that Black is beautiful on one side of the building, courtesy of Gorham’s artist brother, Jermaine Nolen , a former reporter. On the other side, Gorham has paired books and vinyl as one pairs wine and cheese. And of course there’s a reading nook with toys for younger readers that sits front and center with a comfy literary throne for authors to take center stage or a child to cuddle up and pore over the words in a new find.

In the back sits a shelf of donated books that people are encouraged to take and pay what they can. From 2019 to 2023, BiB donated 30,000 books to people, schools and organizations. Gorham said she plans to help teachers revamp their classroom libraries with wish lists or BiB’s online bookstore.

The space also offers community events like interactive book clubs for youths as young as 6 months and creative writing workshops led by Nolen.

An upcoming highlight is Gorham’s ongoing endeavor: the Words of Wonder Literary Festival . The free event, created in 2022, is slated for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 27 at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center, 10201 S. Cottage Grove Ave.

Attendees can expect interactive literary and arts programming, diverse groups of book vendors and live performances by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, spoken word artist Harold Green III, the Kenwood School of Ballet, the Jesse White Tumblers and Black Girls Jump.

Author Derrick Barnes and illustrator Vanessa Brantley Newton will provide workshops for all ages on writing and storytelling through art. In past years, notable authors who participated included Jacqueline Woodson, Eve Ewing, Jason Reynolds and Jerry Craft.

“Being able to have community focused events in your neighborhood matters,” Gorham said. “I want kids to have access to people where if they’re able to do a writing workshop with Jason Reynolds, he listens to their poem. Now, it means something different when you come to our bookstore and see his book on the shelf. … That’s another inclination to open his book to read it because I know the person behind the book.

“We have our writing programs, because even giving them access to that — how you can become an author — that’s what our festival is about, an introduction, but also trying to spur on the next generation of writers, illustrators, poets,” she said. “That’s why our festival matters and it’s in this community. You should be able to see literary excellence all through the city. I don’t think the South Side has been able to be recognized for that and that’s my goal.”

Gorham’s mother, Cheryl Nolen-Wilson, said the festival is growing so much that it may have to extend to two days next year.

“(Gorham’s) tagline is ‘remixing the narrative’ because the narrative is kids don’t like to read, but they do once they get the right book in front of them,” Nolen-Wilson said.

To that end, Nolen shifted his storytelling lens from journalism to creative writing. He is completing a master’s degree at DePaul University this year and plans to do more hands-on storytelling with people who feel like they don’t have the words or the confidence to share their stories.

“It’s not so much as teaching; I think the intimate, interpersonal relationships when learning storytelling is what brings people out of their shells,” he said.

Going forward, Gorham wants people to ask how the shared community space can benefit them.

“You get to stay in communities because people understand that you’re really creating a staple for the whole community and not just for the organization,” she said. “I want this. If you come back four months from now, our calendars are going to be filled with what other people are doing here, not just us. More and more each day, we find more ways to be able to do that.”

BiB Community Art Space is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.