WATCH: Sidik Fofana on Gentrification and Teaching in Public Schools

Sidik Fofana launches his first book, an electrifying collection of eight interconnected stories showcasing the strengths, struggles, and hopes of the tenants of one of Harlem’s low-income high rises in a powerful storytelling experience.

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs follows a tight-knit cast of tenants in the Banneker Homes, a low-income residential building where the threat of eviction due to an impending rent increase weighs on everyone’s mind. There is Swan in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend’s release from prison jeopardizes the life he’s been trying to lead. There’s Mimi, in apartment 14D, who hustles to raise the child she had with Swan by waitressing at Roscoe’s and doing hair on the side. And more residents who weave in and out of each other’s lives, endeavoring to escape from their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love.

Fofana joins Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene for a reading and conversation with author Chantal V. Johnson (Post-Traumatic).

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Founded in October 2009 by Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore is an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. Combining the best traditions of the neighborhood bookstore with carefully curated, community-minded events, Greenlight has earned a reputation as a literary destination. Greenlight has continued to serve its community during the COVID-19 pandemic with a diverse array of virtual events, and has been inspired by the movements for racial justice across the country to engage in the work of becoming a more anti-racist company. Learn more at greenlightbookstore.com or check them out @greenlightbklyn.