Torch Day at BookPeople

Join us for TORCH DAY at BookPeople, all day Saturday, October 5th! 

Shop all day in person or online and 10% of your purchase will support Torch Literary Arts. 

Torch Day Events In-Store 

2:00 PM - Torch Author Panel with Jasmine Games, Kelis Rowe, Prudence Arceneaux, and Amanda Johnston

5:00 PM - Torch Karaoke! Sign up for the open mic and read works by Torch features (we'll have copies on hand) or share your original work. 

Click here for FREE RSVP. 

Light refreshments served. 

This event is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.

Jasmine Games (she/her) is a Black and queer spoken word poet and theater practitioner from Houston, TX. She holds a BA in English and Performance Studies from Texas A&M University (2018) and an MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from The University of Texas at Austin (2022). Games is an award-winning poet and practitioner, including the 2021 Sexton Prize for Poetry from the Black Spring Press Group and the 2021 Winifred Ward Scholarship for excellence in youth drama/theatre from the American Alliance for Theatre Education. Working in education and social justice in Austin, TX, she utilizes drama, creative writing, and devised performance to address social (in)justices with participants of all ages. Learn more about Jasmine at jasmineigames.com and follow her on social media @jasminegamespoetry.

Kelis Rowe is a stay-at-home mom and former homeschooler who writes sweeping, classic teen romance novels from the points of view of Black girls who are stronger than they know and the Black teen boys who just gotta love ‘em. Her award-winning debut novel, Finding Jupiter, is a contemporary romance about an introverted artist and poet and a champion swimmer who bond through shared grief and fall in love one fateful Memphis summer. It incorporates journal pages of art and found poetry from the pages of classic novels including The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Kelis writes out of her home in Leander, TX.

Prudence Arceneaux, a native Texan, is a poet who teaches English and Creative Writing at Austin Community College, in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in various journals, including The Academy of American Poets’ Poem- A- Day, Limestone, New Texas, Hazmat Review, Texas Observer, Whiskey Island Magazine, African Voices and Inkwell. She is the author of two chapbooks of poetry– DIRT (awarded the 2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and LIBERTY. She is the English Department Chair at Austin Community College.

Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. TORCH has featured work by Colleen J. McElroy, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, retreats, and special events.