Join us in celebration of Elisabet Velasquez’ debut novel in verse, “When We Make It.”

Hosted by Jasmine Aequitas

Guest readers include: ✓ Alba Delia Hernández, Vanessa Hidary, t’ai freedom ford, r. erica doyle, Rich Villar, Angelique Imani Rodriguez, Yesenia Montilla, Keomi Tarver, Mario J Pagán Morales, Flako Jimenez, Shy Richardson, Vanessa Martir, Robert Carlos García, Malika Aisha, Annette Estévez

Launch party includes music by DJ NiiLO, local vendors, picaderas, book signing, and a special reading of “When We Make It.”

Copies of the book will be available for purchase! Mil Mundos is the official bookseller. Mil Mundos Books’ primary mission is to remain dedicated to larger-scale anti-gentrification work in eastern Bushwick and beyond, and to maintain a curation and space that celebrates Black, Latinx and Indigenous heritage and supports the narratives of these cultures

Elisabet Velasquez, born and raised in Bushwick Brooklyn has won praise for her debut novel as “a dynamo…Velasquez renders the heart in conflict with itself, the swag and bilingual sonic charge of Bushwick.” (Willie Perdomo).

In her first novel, Velásquez returns to Bushwick to tell the story of a young girl
Sarai is a first-generation Puerto Rican eighth grader who can see with clarity the truth, pain, and beauty of the world both inside and outside her Bushwick apartment. Together with her older sister Estrella, she navigates the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Sarai questions the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives with determination and an open heart, learning to celebrate herself in a way that she has been denied.

This event is hosted by May Day Space.
Mayday Space is a multi-story organizing center and social hub in Bushwick. Mayday is both a neighborhood resource and a citywide destination for engaging programming, a home for radical ideas and debate, and a welcoming gathering place for people and movements to work, learn, celebrate and build together.

After party will be hosted by May Day’s sister organization Starr Barr, a nightlife venue in Bushwick, Brooklyn that celebrates and supports movements for social justice.

*Your reservation does not guarantee admission to this event. There’s a limited seating capacity and everyone will be seated on a first come first serve basis.

Event will begin at 5pm PROMPTLY

What other writers are saying about When We Make It

Unapologetically fierce and honest, Elisabet Velasquez captures the Brooklyn city streets with a Nuyorican vibe that can’t be duplicated. When We Make It is the perfect, coming-of-age tale with rhythmic poetry that is certain to cement Velasquez as an exciting new young adult voice to celebrate.”
—Lilliam Rivera, Pura Belpré Honor-Winning Author of Never Look Back

“The energy. The clarity. The beauty. Elisabet Velasquez brings it all…Her voice is FIRE!”
—New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Woodson

“This is the kind of book that makes you feel seen, the kind you read around the kitchen table to your sisters and friends. It will make you laugh and cry and remind you that you aren’t alone.”
—Angie Cruz, author of Domincana