Harlem Book Fair founder Max Rodriguez on filling a literary void for the Black community

The story of the Harlem Book Fair started when one man saw a void. Back in the early 1990s, it occurred to New Yorker Max Rodriguez that many Black authors and Black books weren’t getting the same shine as others. 

“I’ve always been an avid reader,” Rodriguez told the Amsterdam News. “I would read the New York Times Book Review, the Paris Review, the New York Review of Books. I would always turn to the table of contents to see what books looked like me. More often than not, there were none. Sometimes, one or two. I thought, ‘Why isn’t there a review that focuses on authors of color?’”

From that point on, Rodriguez took a stand, first publishing a physical book review of his own that highlighted Black authors, which grew into the Harlem Book Fair. Now running for some three decades, that fair returns this Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. This year’s edition of the book fair carries a special distinction, though, as it aligns with the centennial of the Harlem Renaissance. 

“Max has been an extraordinary steward of not just our intellectual traditions, but more so our intellectual traditions outside of institutional control and power,” said Patrick A. Howell, one of the Harlem Book Fair’s producers. Indeed, Rodriguez has created an institution that has grown into one of Harlem’s most enduring and consequential tentpole events. He spoke with the AmNews to discuss why he created the Book Fair, its evolution, and how it’s bouncing back since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When Rodriguez founded the QBR Black Book Review, which has transitioned from print to online today, it was during a time when Black authors like Terry McMillan were reaching the Black cultural zeitgeist, but many of them weren’t being analyzed and presented to the general public adequately. These days, QBR platforms prominent literary works like Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” and “The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic,” edited by the likes of Mahogany L. Browne and Jamila Woods. 

The QBR Black Book Review was originally headquartered in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, but when Rodriguez moved operations to Harlem three years later, he noticed a similar void. “There was no event that celebrated Black writing. So, I began the Harlem Book Fair.”  

Much like QBR, Rodriguez wanted the Harlem Book Fair to have a combination of A-list Black authors and gifted newcomers. He and Howell leave no stone unturned, casting “a wide net” to achieve this collection of minds for the fair, believing that, like him, guests are well-versed and curious about different writers and subjects. He also wanted the collective of writers to be a north star for other aspiring authors who were attending the fair as well. 

“We want to make sure that we give access to our readers to those authors that they are familiar with who have broken through and for those authors who are independent, aspiring, and are new authors,” Rodriguez continued. “Those authors who are well known, they show us as a community that it can be done. Independent authors show how to get there; they tell us that story.”

The 2026 installment of the Harlem Book Fair comes full circle with its first annual edition in 1998, being held at the same location, though with much more humble beginnings. “We began in the Harlem State Office Building Plaza,” Rodriguez said. “We started out with 40 exhibitors and about 300 people. It has since grown, at its height, pre-COVID, to over 300 exhibitors, 30,000 people, televised on C-SPAN.”

Growing to such magnitude is impressive for any event. But according to Howell, Rodriguez’s conscious decision to build the book fair without the help of prominent colleges, sponsorships, and other sources makes it all the more fulfilling. Rodriguez wanted the book fair to be more homegrown, to show that Black entrepreneurs and the community can accomplish great feats on their own.

“[Max] could’ve had any number of institutions, including Harvard, working with Skip (Dr. Henry Louis) Gates many, many years ago,” Howell said. “What he’s done, year in and year out, is running a marathon. He’s playing the long game, and that long game is basically powered by the fact that he believes in us.”

Like so many other events, the Harlem Book Fair faced uncertainty due to the nationwide lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Rodriguez has slowly begun to rebuild the Book Fair post-pandemic, and believes the 2026 edition will see the event return to its glory days, as the community recovers from both the economic and social hardships brought on by COVID-19.

“We’re very happy with the gathering of writers, storytellers, poets, children’s books, and influencers who are supporting the book fair, because there’s an acknowledgment that there’s an authenticity about our voices being found there. More and more, that authenticity becomes harder to reach and the book fair sort of stands, in many ways, as a cultural oasis for us to gather and re-gather and re-join the fray, but fully armed with each other’s stories that strengthen us year to year.”

This year, Rodriguez and Howell are using the Harlem Renaissance centennial as a thematic boost for the book fair. Howell says that the period, an artistic and creative golden age of expression and experimentation for writers and musicians, had far-reaching effects on the country.

“We think the Harlem Renaissance represents the beginning of culture in the United States,” Howell said. “I don’t think Michael Jackson, hip hop, Denzel [Washington], Spike Lee, or any of that is possible, not only in the Black community, but in the global community. America’s number one chief export has been her culture. Up until this period of time in American history, everyone wanted to come to America. In part, that’s because of the branding and marketing that comes through because of the Harlem Renaissance.”

For Rodriguez, this year’s book fair marks a crucial time when finding this generation’s artistic revolutionaries will help the community grow. He added that society is wondering where the contemporary heirs to the Harlem Renaissance’s most cherished and progressive writers will appear.

“Where are they? Who are they? Who decides who and what intertwines culture, unity, the whole ivory tower idea, and who decides what stories are read and the function and role of the writer as a cultural maven? The whole conversation about writing and culture is becoming quite interesting. There’s some real hard conversations to have and some decisions to make about who makes those decisions, or at the very least on our part ensuring that our writers are given voice.”

The Harlem Book Fair, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 29, at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, will feature book vendors, book readings, live music, and panel discussions. Rodriguez isn’t motivated to make a profit, but to make sure the fair is an “information nexus” for the community. 

“I do this out of love, out of passion, not only for books, but for us as a community. The one thing that isn’t generally acknowledged culturally is our intellectual capital, our sense of vision for ourselves, for our communities, and where we want to be 10 years from now –– with a conversation about how we might get and how we might avoid not getting there.” 

Visit harlembookfair.com for more info.