Nationwide — The third annual After I See Me™ Youngsters’s Ebook Honest takes place Saturday, July 25, 2026 (11 am to 4 pm) on the Dayton Metro Library’s West Department, in Dayton, Ohio, bringing collectively African American youngsters’s authors, educators, households, and psychological well being professionals for a literacy expertise that extends past conventional e book gala’s. The mannequin responds to an ongoing illustration hole in youngsters’s publishing by creating areas the place numerous authors are seen, accessible, and instantly linked to younger readers.
Attendance finally yr’s occasion doubled from the earlier yr, signaling rising neighborhood demand for culturally responsive books and family-centered literacy programming.
What started as a neighborhood youngsters’s e book truthful has advanced right into a broader literacy motion responding to persistent gaps in illustration in youngsters’s literature. The After I See Me™ Youngsters’s Ebook Honest has raised greater than $10,000 and positioned books into the fingers of over 1,000 youngsters via its signature “A Ebook in Each Bag” effort — designed to make sure each youngster receives a e book reflecting their id and potential.
The e book truthful started after a younger reader’s expertise highlighted how hardly ever youngsters encounter books that replicate their lives. Immediately, the initiative operates as a social-impact publishing mannequin mixing writer visibility, household literacy, and e book entry.
“When youngsters see themselves in tales, it shapes how they see their future,” stated Valerie J. Lewis Coleman, founding father of the e book truthful. “This work brings books, belonging, and risk collectively in a single place.” The strategy positions the e book truthful as a part of a broader community-driven literacy motion reasonably than a standalone occasion.
Not like conventional gala’s, After I See Me™ integrates youth writer debuts, social-emotional studying experiences, and household literacy engagement — positioning studying as each tutorial and emotional improvement.
The initiative continues to develop via partnerships with faculties, neighborhood organizations, and unbiased authors, with organizers exploring methods to duplicate the mannequin in extra communities, laying the groundwork for growth into extra communities nationwide.
Media protection alternatives embody youth writer debuts, dwell social-emotional studying actions, household literacy engagement, and the rising community of unbiased youngsters’s authors contributing to illustration in publishing.
Occasion Particulars:After I See Me™ Youngsters’s Ebook FairDate/Time: Saturday, July 25, 2026 | 11:00 AM–4:00 PMLocation: Dayton Metro Library – West Department, 300 Abbey Avenue, Dayton, OH 45417
For Authors: WhenISeeMe.com/AuthorFor Sponsors: WhenISeeMe.com/Sponsorship
AboutWhen I See Me™ is a community-driven literacy initiative based by writer and publishing mentor, Valerie J. Lewis Coleman, to make sure youngsters have entry to books that replicate their identities, experiences, and prospects. By youngsters’s e book gala’s, youth publishing alternatives, and family-centered literacy programming, the initiative connects numerous authors, educators, psychological well being professionals, and neighborhood companions to help studying, confidence, and belonging.
After I See Me™ makes use of publishing as a device to help literacy, id improvement, and youth voice.
Since its launch, After I See Me™ has raised greater than $10,000 and positioned books into the fingers of over 1,000 youngsters, with attendance rising every year. Ebook entry is made attainable via particular person donors, sponsors, and neighborhood partnerships that assist present free books to taking part youngsters.
Coleman is growing the initiative’s long-term infrastructure to develop entry to numerous books and youth storytelling alternatives in extra communities nationwide. Study extra at WhenISeeMe.com
For press inquiries, contact information@penofthewriter.com or 888-802-1802
