When Lindo Jones, a Germantown-based poet, published his debut graphic novel “PawnShop” last year, he didn’t want the celebration to end after the release party. Experiencing a gathering of people interested in poetry, the sci-fi and fantasy genres, and Black culture that coalesce in one space was special.
“We were jamming,” Jones told the Local. “It’s something I don’t want in isolation. I don’t want it to be a one-off.”
Jones began to brainstorm. He reached out to Enoch Church, another poet and friend, with a simple question: Could they put on a con? (For the uninitiated, that’s slang for convention.) Church’s answer was also simple.
“He said, ‘Yo, we could do a lot of things, but first we got to get the bread,’” Jones said.
A year later, with funding acquired, Jones, Church, and fellow poet Khalisah Hameed are putting on a poetry comic con celebrating the intersection of sci-fi, fantasy, comics, poetry, and Black culture. Poetry Blerds and Jams (PB&J) will be on Sept. 12 from noon to 7 p.m. at Braid Mill in Germantown.
Planning the con
Rebekah Borucki, founder and president of Row House Publishing, got PB&J off the ground with a $15,000 investment after speaking with Jones about his idea. Once the money was acquired, then came the planning.
Putting together a full blown comic con is a lot of work, as Jones, Church, and Hameed quickly learned. Another thing they learned is that it can help to have a catchy name. “Blerd” means Black nerd, a badge that the group wears with pride. Combined with Poetry and Jams, the PB&J acronym came naturally.
“One of the things that I have learned about marketing is that when you give someone something new, you should also give them something very familiar,” Jones said.
Leading up to the main con, the team has been hosting smaller community events at the Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library, such as a Black Imagination Book Club and a Teen Comic Book Workshop. Jones said these events have been “really energizing” and have inspired more confidence about PB&J. Church agrees.
“The pop-up things that we’ve been doing, the comic book workshop, and all of these other things, they have been a form of affirmation because there is investment; there is a desire for more community around people who overlap in these identities,” Church said. “We are very intentionally and with some hard work creating a space for that community to happen.”
Blending art, activism, and joy
According to PB&J’s website, the event’s programming “blends art, activism, and joy, all rooted in Blerd culture.” This will include an Artist Alley, where attendees can meet local illustrators, graphic novelists, and visual storytellers.
There will also be panel discussions on topics such as “Poetry as a Superpower,” “Afrofuturists Organizing,” and “Black in Comics: Celebrating Black Voices.” The talks will address how Blerds see themselves in stories and how they can make fandoms more Black. Lastly, there will be live performances of both spoken word poetry and music.
Hameed said the variety of vendors and activities is a direct result of the group being directly involved in the poetry and Blerd scene in the city.
“Both as poets and as Blerd lovers, and just as Black people in Philadelphia, [we’re] able to constantly have our pulse on what people are looking for, what people are excited for,” Hameed said. “Being that tapped in takes a lot of energy, but it also allows us to curate the event in a way that is really responsive to what people want, which also makes me think that we’re going to have a lot of success in the long run because people know us. We’re not strangers trying to do a new thing in a strange community.”
Having the event in Germantown holds a lot of significance for the trio. Jones was born and raised in the neighborhood, Hameed currently lives there, and Church, of West Philadelphia, lived in Germantown for several years. They also acknowledge that Germantown is a hot spot for poets, with important Black history. Jones wants to add to that history.
“I was doing a fair amount of research, and I have not seen any news article or anything yet that says that a comic con has happened in Germantown,” Jones said. “So this is a really historical moment that we’re living in.”
Although the con hasn’t occurred yet, the ambition of Jones, Church, and Hameed is difficult to stop. The group is already planning ahead to make PB&J an annual event.
PB&J will be on Sept. 12 from 12-7 p.m. at Braid Mill (441 High St., Germantown). To learn more about PB&J and buy tickets, visit poetryblerdsandjams.com.
Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.
