Soulful Chicago Book Fair

CTL-E-5219 · Organization · other · 2015–present (first held 2016)

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

The Soulful Chicago Book Fair is a Chicago book fair celebrating Black authors and Black literature, founded by Asadah Kirkland. Reader's Digest dates its founding to 2015; press coverage documents the inaugural fair in July 2016, and Kirkland's own account says she brought it to life in 2016 — this record carries the founding as 2015, first held 2016. Organized under the Soulful Book Fair Foundation, the fair has run in multiple editions on Chicago's South Side. After no 2024 edition — a gap Kirkland attributed, in a revival appeal, to illness and lack of funding — a GoFundMe campaign supported an August 9, 2025 return, and a further edition, the Soulful Chicago Black History Book Fair, was held February 15, 2026 at Little Black Pearl with Kirkland as host. The fair maintains its own site and author-submission process and is listed on the 10times event platform, where one edition is rated 4.5 from 25 ratings (checked October 15, 2026).

The record

• Also known as: Soulful Chicago Black History Book Fair

Notes

STAGED 2026-10-15 under CTL-GOV-006. STATISTICS: one edition rated 4.5 from 25 ratings on 10times (index, checked 2026-10-15). EXCLUDED as self-claimed organiser figures: visitor counts (3,000+/4,500), '100+ events', 'serviced close to 1,000 authors', 'first African-American book fair in the metaverse' (PR claim). Founding carried as founded 2015 / first held July 2016 (sources differ; see packet red team).

Relationships

• Asadah Kirkland — founded by
  Soulful Chicago Book Fair founded by Asadah Kirkland (Reader's Digest; Illinois State University News).

Referenced by

• Asadah Kirkland — member of organization → this record
• Soulful Book Fair Foundation — partnered with → this record

Sources

• Reader's Digest — Nicest Places: Soulful Chicago Book Fair, Chicago, IL (primary source)
• Auburn Gresham Portal, 2016 — fair coverage (auburngreshamportal.org/news/10576)
• 10times — Soulful Chicago Book Fair listing, organiser Soulful Book Fair Foundation (10times.com/bookfair-chicago)
• HappeningNext — Soulful Chicago Black History Book Fair, Feb 15, 2026, Little Black Pearl (happeningnext.com)

Record CTL-E-5219 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 4 sources (1 primary) · 3 mapped relationships · CTL research: PPL-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.