Today’s Literary Gallery comes care of Kalima DeSuze, the founder behind our new fave feminist refuge: a bookstore in Brooklyn called Cafe con Libros. Cafe con Libros is more than a purveyor of terrific tomes—it’s a community space, a coffee shop, an art enclave, an anchor of inclusivity, and an indispensable resource and retreat. DeSuze’s book selections are brilliantly varied and wide-ranging, with a crucial emphasis on underrepresented voices. She also pays special attention to the price of her page-turners and imbibable offerings, advocating for affordability that makes her wares more accessible to her immediate community.
There’s great intention in everything about Cafe con Libros. It’s no surprise DeSuze’s art and lit pairings reflect a thoughtful, personal, complex hand at play. DeSuze herself isn’t just a book-curating bibliophile. She’s also a veteran, social worker, Afro-Latinx activist, and arts enthusiast. Beyond that, DeSuze is an inspiring doer, going out and manifesting her own ideal space. Kinda makes you want to seize your Saturday, eh?
Read below for DeSuze's print + lit pairings!
There’s great intention in everything about Cafe con Libros. It’s no surprise DeSuze’s art and lit pairings reflect a thoughtful, personal, complex hand at play. DeSuze herself isn’t just a book-curating bibliophile. She’s also a veteran, social worker, Afro-Latinx activist, and arts enthusiast. Beyond that, DeSuze is an inspiring doer, going out and manifesting her own ideal space. Kinda makes you want to seize your Saturday, eh?
Read below for DeSuze's print + lit pairings!
"Words and pictures are both powerful mediums of expression. For me, more importantly, they are creations that can hold a deeply political message, intense raging emotion, and frivolity all at once. I love the mutability of both in that its meaning is up to the interpreter, so everyone has the opportunity to be an expert and take from it what their souls need in that moment. All the while knowing that five minutes from now, it may very well hold a different meaning." – Kalima Desuze, owner of feminist bookstore Cafe Con Libros
you are loved & The Bluest Eye
The Good Earth & The Fall
Untitled (b) & Americanah
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More & Squeeze
Reclaiming My Time & Sister Outsider
Borderlands / La Frontera & Plate 22, Sheet 3, Ancient Courses Mississippi River Meander Belt
Growth & All about Love
This Bridge Called My Back & Washington, D.C. Government charwoman
In Glacier National Park, Montana & Lab Girl
Milk and Honey & Untitled (EHR-36), from Sweet Corruptions
The 411 on Kalima DeSuze
Kalima DeSuze is a first generation American, daughter, social worker, lover, and bibliophile. Her imaginary or arguably, uncultivated self is a painter, writer, and ballroom dancer. She has a deep affinity to the arts—they provide so much space for her to imagine and experiment. And, she loves the risk-taking that art always gives us permission to take. -kqd.
