Who we are
We are an all star team of passionate book lovers and community builders from the best book club in all of Portland, Prose Before Bros! Started in 2018, PBB is a community for WOC who are underrepresented and often ignored (especially in the literary world) and gives them a space to be seen and heard. PBB is now a book club with over 400 members!
Following the success of PBB, a group of us got together to figure out how we could expand this idea of building community but for the larger BIPOC community in Portland. We already knew that Portland is one of the most literate cities in the country and our library system one of the largest in the world. So how could we build something that incorporates the literary community but also centers Black and Brown voices and their stories? Just like PBB, we wanted to create a space where POC can exist without explanation, and so, The Freadom Festival was born.
What we Believe
A core tenet of the Freadom Festival is our belief that reading and books should be inclusive and accessible. Which is why we are hosting this free event in a local Portland park, open to all to come learn the importance of Juneteenth, fellowship with a community of fellow book lovers, support Black businesses, receive educational resources, and celebrate literacy and liberation!
Free The Books Free The People
The theme for this year’s festival is a call to action against the rise of Book Bans in libraries and school districts across the US. These new laws and regulations limit access and restrict children’s freedom to read. Reports have found that efforts to ban books have nearly doubled in 2022 and have reached a peak in 2023 with over 1,500 books bans across the country in 182 school districts and 37 states. There are more books being banned than ever before, all at a time when shelves are becoming more inclusive and representative of society.
The books being banned across the U.S. disproportionately represent BIPOC and Queer people, echoing the oppressive anti-literacy laws of the past. But we won't be silenced! It's not simply books that are being banned, it's a set of ideas, identities, voices, stories and a knowledge of our history that is being suppressed, silenced and forcibly removed. We know that an attack on a person's ability to read and learn is a threat to their freedom. Books are more than just words on pages; they hold the power to revolutionize our minds and transform society. Like our ancestors before us, we can still use books as a way towards revolution to reclaim our freedom. Reading is Power, its rebellion, its resistance, its freedom!
The Freadom Festival wants to inspire and encourage you to read anyways, read now, read Black and just READ by any means necessary.