Program Type:
Arts & Culture, Authors & Books, Community Partner, Equity & Anti-Racism, Multicultural- Registration is required for this event.
- Registration will close on February 26, 2026 @ 6:00pm.
Program Description
Event Details
🌼 Bloom Theory: A Black History Month Gathering with Roy Kinsey
February 26 | Oak Park Public Library
The Rapbrary experience continues with Bloom Theory — a Black History Month gathering with Roy Kinsey.
Join Chicago-based rapper, librarian, and Rapbrary founder Roy Kinsey for an evening of sound, story, and celebration. While Maintaining Wonder: Deangelo’s World remains on view through March, this event serves as a culminating celebration of Black History Month — honoring imagination, resilience, and the sacredness of Black creative life.
The evening includes:
• A reception with food and drink
• Music by DJ Mister Wallace
• A community meet & greet with Roy Kinsey
• Book and album signing for Dandelions: A Legacy Project
• Screenings of Roy Kinsey’s live performances and the documentary Rapbrarian: Reading Came First in the Veterans Room
Roy will be present in the space as both artist and librarian — signing books, sharing conversation, and showcasing work at the intersection of hip-hop, literature, and liberation.
Come gather. Come celebrate. Come bloom.
About Rapbrary at the Main Library
Rapbrary is a living archive founded by Chicago-based rapper, librarian, and cultural worker Roy Kinsey, rooted in the belief that hip-hop is literature and libraries are cultural sanctuaries. At Oak Park Public Library, Rapbrary unfolded as a multi-week immersive experience blending live performance, film, installation, visual art, music, and storytelling—centering Black imagination, freedom of expression, and the power of story as resistance.
The Idea Box installation Maintaining Wonder: Deangelo's World invited visitors into the interior life of a sensitive, creative Black child inspired by Kinsey's book Deangelo and the Dandelion. Through environmental design, books, and visual storytelling, the installation centers tenderness, imagination, and resilience, creating a space where softness and strength coexist.
This program is brought to the Oak Park community through a partnership between the Oak Park Public Library, the Village of Oak Park, Oak Park Township and the Oak Park & River Forest Community Foundation.