16
HAPPENINGS
Photo by Susan De Vries.
Coffee and Community
by NADIA NEOPHYTOU
Since Cafe con Libros opened its doors in 2017, there have
been certain books that the store can’t keep on its shelves
long enough. “bell hooks’ ‘All About Love’ continues to
be our top seller,” owner Kalima DeSuze says. “Along with
Audre Lorde’s ‘Sister Outsider’ and ‘Women, Race &
Class’ by Angela Davis.” That Brooklyn book lovers know
where to go for literature that informs and educates as
much as it captivates is testament to what Cafe con Libros
has established over the past three years.
Named in tribute to the café con leche drink enjoyed in her
parents’ home country of Panama and to her Afro-Latina
roots, DeSuze opened Cafe con Libros as a space for
voices of women from the global diaspora to take center
stage. The store, in Crown Heights, is close to where
DeSuze grew up. Serving Irving Farm coffee and locally
made pastries, it’s become a hub for casual passersby and
deliberate visitors who seek out its socially conscious literary
offerings.
Cafe con Libros hosts regular book-club meetups that
have, since the pandemic, been moved online, and will
continue to be held virtually until 2022. Subjects like
oppressive systems, economic justice, and equality are
discussed at these events, and people from around the
world have been able to tune in, expanding the warm
neighborhood vibe Cafe con Libros exudes beyond its
Prospect Place address.
A social worker and teacher by day, DeSuze credits books
for her social education, and so every decision she makes
about the store is rooted in her degrees in social work and
social policy. “It really shows up in how I decide to run the
business, who I give a platform to, what books I choose,”
she says. She wants to continue building the community
Cafe con Libros has created by using Slack to continue
conversations started at book-club meetups. Down the
line, she sees a second store too.
Still, running a business and being an Afro-Latina entrepreneur
brings its challenges. Receiving an advance copy
of Argentinian young adult author Romina Garber’s new
release ‘Cazadora’ was a recent reminder of why DeSuze
started in the first place. “To be able to read stories like
this, to uplift stories like this, to create communities
around stories of this magnitude, it makes all the crying,
the late nights, the waking up at 3 a.m. to make sure the
social media calendar is all planned out, worth it,” she says.