The Renfrow Story

As those who have been following the project from the beginning may remember, last April I did a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to pay the illustrator and cover the bulk of the initial print expenses. Those who contributed $25 would receive a copy of the book. Support at the $50 or more level also funded copies to be donated to libraries.

The response was overwhelming and I have funds to donate 500 copies to libraries!

Some Kickstarter donors asked to donate copies to their local public libraries. Those copies were mailed a couple of weeks ago to Maryland, Colorado, Michigan, California and a few places in Iowa. And of course I got copies to the Grinnell libraries first thing (the public library and Fairview, Bailey Park, Davis and the Middle School).

The school is named for Edith’s oldest sister, Helen. She was a remarkable woman who devoted her life to the rights of African Americans and women. You can read an overview of Helen’s life here and a more thorough account in the book African Americans of Early Grinnell by Dan Kaiser (available at the library). The librarian, Lisa McDonough, told me that the principal plans to personally read the book to every class at the school during Black History Month. Isn’t that awesome!

I had also reached out to a friend who works at the Iowa City Public Library and was excited to have her connect me with Anne Wilmoth, the children’s librarian there. She was excited to accept a copy of the book and we are hoping we may be able to set up a program for sometime. Since I could only get there on a Saturday, Anne agreed to be the drop site so Lisa could get the books to take to the schools. I’m so excited to know they will be read by people in Iowa City starting tomorrow!

So as of today, I’ve managed to gift 46 copies to libraries. It’s a great start. But I’d love help spreading word to other public libraries around Iowa (beyond Iowa, too, of course – I’m just focusing here for the donated copies for now). I know from my own work at a library that an email from an author promoting their own book has limited success. But a request from a patron requesting a title, that’s something all libraries will pay attention to. So if you live in Iowa please check out this page for Books for Libraries. There’s a link to a book flier you can give to them. Or have them reach out to me through the form on that page. And remember, I’ve got copies set aside to DONATE TO LIBRARIES, but I won’t send them until I have made a contact with the library.

For clarity, I’m asking for help connecting to public libraries in Iowa at this point. I’ve got a friend working with me to connect to the AEAs to get copies into schools and that is looking very promising. I’ll share more on that as things get firmed up.

Thanks for any help you can provide in spreading the Renfrow story and inspiration!