Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pearl-Catherine Tita. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Pearl-Catherine , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I have been writing poetry since I was 11-years-old. I wasn’t really the best at expressing myself verbally. However, if you handed me a pencil and paper, I would convey every emotion I had ever felt about a particular situation on that paper. As I got older, I told myself that one day I would write a book. I had planned to have that book completed by 18-years-old, but life didn’t quite go as I planned. Ten years later, I would finally embark on a literary journey that I hoped would end with my very own published book that I could finally hold in my hands…and it did.

As I pursued this literary endeavour, I was terrified and confused; both about the process and sharing the inner workings of my brain with the outside world. I had so many questions to ask about the processes of publishing, and I wanted to better inform myself of the intricacies of existing in the literary world- as a person of colour. I felt that I needed to be around like-minded people to bounce ideas off of, learn from, and hopefully share resources. I hoped to gain confidence with the knowledge I would be acquiring, and the comradery that would be created as I would navigate this new world with the people that I would soon be grouping together.

My passion project turned business, BLK Book Fair, would be birthed out of my personal fears, my desire to see Black Canadian Authors at the forefront of the literary world, and my love for helping people. BLK Book Fair was founded in February 2021 and we have two major focuses: (1) Support and community for, and amongst BLK Book Fair members; (2) Highlighting the members and their work. Essentially, our initiative is for Black Canadian Authors and Creators of Literature-based Materials, to band together and support one another in the dissemination of our stories/products. In turn, we are then sharing what we’ve produced with people who either see ourselves in themselves, or people who just want to support us. We are showing children of colour, as well as our peers; their capabilities through what we’ve accomplished. I have found that although the career of an author is an individualistic endeavour, I strive to demonstrate the power in collectivism amongst authors. With BLK Book Fair, I hope to produce a ripple effect of inspiration that will impact generations to come.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Pearl-Catherine Tita and I’m an author, a poet, I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, and I am the founder of a literary organization called BLK Book Fair. Inspired by my need for support as a person of colour navigating the literary world, I founded BLK Book Fair in 2021. BLK Book Fair is a collaborative opportunity for Black Canadian Authors and Creators of Literature-based Materials. BLK Book Fair has come about to demonstrate that in addition to Black people’s illuminating presence—there is depth to us; intelligence, creativity and more! We have created a platform where new and established authors can help each other thrive; by working as a collective to bring attention to the literary talents and skills of Black Canadians.

In addition, we host events for the community such as our annual book fair and our children’s creative writing workshop. We have events specified for our members such as our unity photoshoots, and our book signing events with Indigo/Chapters. We have also been welcomed to do presentations at schools where we share what BLK Book Fair is about and what we have to offer the community. These events facilitate our members with networking, branding, and sharing their stories with the world. We also sell custom print materials that help with marketing such as; pull-up banners, business cards and bookmarks.

I am proud that I have created an initiative that provides a platform for a community that has been underrepresented for so long. It also solves the problem of the lack of inclusivity and Black representation in literature. BLK Book Fair showcases the works of Black Canadian authors/creators; it puts a face to the materials; and it provides “the stories behind the stories” (where you get to know more about the authors/creators).

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

In trying to figure out how to balance work and life, adding the world of social media into the equation has been challenging, but rewarding. In building my social media, I focused on authenticity and I wondered how I could keep people engaged on a page focused on literature. With that, I have been intentional about always having visually appealing posts that have bright colours and every book image has to be 3D. I also tried to stand out from other book pages by making my 3D book images move. Those moving images have been very appreciated by many of the authors. I would make the moving images for free and send them to the members. Then, people who were not part of BLK Book Fair wanted moving images of their books and offered to pay.

I have made so many invaluable connections through social media. I am connected with Black people who are doing some very amazing things in the country. I have had people who are not part of the Black community demonstrate their allyship through sponsorship, donations and by simply sharing what it is that we do. My advice would be to try not to focus too much on your follower count because that can be very discouraging. I would just share what I thought needed to be shared, and believed that it would be received by those who wanted to be receptive. I have found that authenticity and intention breeds social media engagement. With this, I am so happy that we have the ability to engage with people of all interests and backgrounds via social media.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have faced so many obstacles in the building of BLK Book Fair. An example of my resilience was during January of 2022, I was facing the worst financial difficulties of my life. Until this day, I haven’t been successful with grants, so everything is just about paid for from my pockets. In January, I had decided to still go through with our first Unity Photoshoot even though it was going to be tight for me financially. I paid for photographers, rented out a studio and told our authors to get dressed up, dolled up and it was free of charge to them. I was aiming to present visuals of black literary excellence for February of 2022 for Black History Month. However, when the photographer went to upload the images after our amazing shoot…technology had other plans; we lost all of our images. I was devastated because this was promotional material that I needed and paid so much for. I contacted the photographer and told her that I was going to take the retrieval of these images into my own hands. I got the memory card and drove to 3 shops that told me they couldn’t do anything. I then made many calls and found someone who said they could retrieve the images.

I gave the memory card to who I thought would be my hero, however, upon further investigation, he said he couldn’t do anything…but, he had someone in Poland who could do it. Shipping the card to Poland would cost a bit of money and the retrieval would be rather expensive as well. But, I needed those images. I couldn’t redo the photoshoot because trying to get all of these busy authors in one place, and to get hair and makeup done again-it was too much stress for me! I sent the card to Poland and waited desperately. However, the techs in Poland were trying to charge me even more money than initially discussed. They wanted $2000 that I absolutely didn’t have. The tech in Toronto who had sent the card to Poland on my behalf told me that I should just throw in the towel at this point. This had now been an almost 7 month process trying to get these images back. As I was going through all of this, BLK Book Fair still had, and participated in, 3 events during that 7 month battle.

We still haven’t done the re-shoot but it is absolutely in the works. I really had to try so hard not to give up, because that wasn’t my first obstacle, but it was one of the biggest. As I kept hosting events and continued to network, I built so many new and meaningful relationships. I had to continue to push through because BLK Book Fair is bigger than me and so many people are finding value in what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blkbookfair.com
• Instagram: @blkbookfair