4th Annual Tampa Bay Black Authors Expo

The Tampa Bay Black Authors Expo is returning for our 4th year and this year we're back at the beautiful Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association Event Venue located at 2005 N. Lamar Ave in Tampa, FL! You can see a partial list of authors here.

Our theme for this year's event is "Keeping Black Lit Alive". Our first expo was in 2019. We are now in 2025 and looking forward to our fourth expo. We are still keeping our mission of celebrating and supporting Black independent authors alive in the midst of growing pressures from censorship and book bans, the influence of social media, the dizzying pace of AI technology, and the slashing of funding for the arts and humanities. We want to celebrate, nurture, uplift, and educate our local Black and Brown authors and writers. Our modern day griots!

Join us in our celebration on Saturday September 20, 2025 from 12p to 4p. This year we will be honoring the memory of Ms. Gwendolyn Henderson, councilwoman and owner of Black English Bookstore who passed away June 2025, with a performance from local poet, Troy R. Legette.

Royalists Sweets will be in the building for the serving up some delicious treats. We're thrilled to have her back because the cake she made last year was soooo good!

#TBBAE2025 is not going to be a celebration of just the literary arts and spoken word, we'll also be celebrating the visual arts as we welcome artist Distinctly Bella! She will be there exhibiting her art, so come join us and learn more about the creative work that she's doing in the Bay Area.

Distinctly Bella, born in Long Branch, NJ, and raised in the culturally diverse environment of South Florida, is a first-generation American of Caribbean descent, deeply rooted in the vibrant cultures of Haiti and Barbados. As a self-taught artist from a young age, she found refuge and expression in art, initially through dance and later through painting. Drawing inspiration from the rhythms, colors, and landscapes of her heritage, Distinctly Bella founded her art business in 2018. Through her business she celebrates the rich tapestry of Caribbean and African traditions, infusing her artwork with the essence of her roots.

You can find her on TikTok @distinctly.bella and on IG @distinctlybella ✨

🎉 Raffle 🎉 As part of this year's Expo, we have an added bonus! We will be holding a raffle, and the prizes will be your choice of a fantastic book basket. One basket will contain one book from each of our adult book authors and the other basket will contain one book from each of our children's book authors. Raffle tickets are free. You must be present to get a raffle ticket and you must be present to win. We will be announcing the winners between 3:30p - 3:45p!

There will be more event information released as we get closer to the date.

The official TBBAE 2025 t-shirts can be purchased here!

Make sure to follow TBBAE on Facebook for updates and use the hashtag #TBBAE2025!