Shelves Bookstore presents
Center Stage with Patrice Gopo and Derrick Barnes!
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED! DATE TO BE DETERMINED.
Shelves will host local authors Patrice Gopo and Derrick Barnes at 11:00am EST on Saturday, July 9th at The Gallery at Morning Star located at 12509 Idlewild Rd in Matthews, NC. This family friendly conversation and book signing will celebrate their new children’s books: All the Places We Call Home (Gopo) which will be published by WorthyKids on Tuesday, June 14th, and The Queen of Kindergarten (Barnes), which hit shelves on May 24th. Fellow Charlotte-based author Alicia D. Williams will moderate the conversation with Patrice and Derrick followed by an in-person book signing by all three.
You can RSVP for this event in 1 of 2 ways:
- Guests can purchase a copy of All the Places We Call Home or The Queen of Kindergarten from Shelves. Your book purchase will serve as your household’s event ticket and will ensure that you and your family are automatically added to the guest list. At checkout, please indicate the total number of children that will accompany you at the event. If you prefer to pick up your book(s) at the event, please select that option under [Shipping].
- You can RSVP without purchasing a copy of either book in advance by clicking –> here. Be sure to select the “RSVP for Patrice Gopo and Derrick Barnes event on 7/9/22” from the Subject list.
IMPORTANT! If you purchase other books written by any of the 3 authors with your copy of All the Places We Call Home or The Queen of Kindergarten, you will receive a special discount at checkout.
DONATE A BOOK! At checkout under [Shipping], you will also have the option to donate All the Places We Call Home or The Queen of Kindergarten to a family that would like to attend our event on Saturday, July 9th. If we are unable to find a family to gift the book(s) to, then we will deliver your donation to Promising Pages.
Meet the authors
Patrice Gopo is the child of Jamaican immigrants and was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She is an award-winning essayist and the author of All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way (a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection). Her ties to Jamaica and other parts of the world sparked her early desire to travel to the cities and countries she traced on a globe. In time, as she began writing about her experiences, Patrice became interested in how places contribute to the people we become. Ultimately, she hopes her stories celebrate the beauty of living a multifaceted life. Patrice lives with her family in North Carolina—a place she considers another home. All the Places We Call Home is her first picture book.
Derrick Barnes is the author of The Queen of Kindergarten, the New York Times bestseller The King of Kindergarten, as well as the critically acclaimed multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. In 2020, he became the only author, in the history of the award, to have won the Kirkus Prize twice for his twelfth release, the New York Times bestseller, I Am Every Good Thing. Derrick is a graduate of Jackson State University (BA-Marketing ’99) and was the first African-American male creative copywriter hired by greeting cards giant Hallmark Cards. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.
Meet the moderator
Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received the Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris prize finalist, and won the Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Alicia D also debuted a picture book biography, Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston. And, followed up with Shirley Chisholm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress. Alicia shares a passion for storytelling which stems from conducting school residencies as a Master Teaching Artist of arts-integration. Alicia D infuses her love for drama, movement, and storytelling to inspire students to write. She resides in Charlotte, NC.
