CENTER CITY (KYW Newsradio) — After more than a month of programming, the Free Library of Philadelphia’s One Book, One Philadelphia celebration of Tariq ‘Black Thought’ Trotter’s memoir, “The Upcycled Self,” drew to a close this past week.
As a final sendoff, artists of all backgrounds gathered to hear from Trotter — of Roots fame — and share how the book inspired them.
“In a world that often felt like it had already made up its mind about who I was supposed to be, the arts gave me another option. Books gave me another voice. And literacy was a saving grace,” Trotter told the crowd gathered in Parkway Central Library’s Montgomery Auditorium.
The annual One Book, One Philadelphia program from the Free Library takes one book and plans seven weeks of events throughout the city around it to promote literacy, library usage, and civic dialogue.
Trotter said he was humbled when his memoir was chosen as the 2025 selection.
“More than anything it tells me that people are still willing to meet each other in that sacred middle ground,” said Trotter. “That space where empathy is born, where healing begins and stories turn into bridges instead of borders.”
That message and story inspired all the artists who performed the night of the sendoff, including spoken-word poet and author Gabriel Ramirez.
“What does it mean to move through a world that doesn’t welcome you into a lot of spaces and to say: ‘I’m gonna be here regardless?’” they said.
Saskia, another poet and spoken-word performer from Southwest Philadelphia, said the pieces she chose to showcase were all related to a challenge she had to traverse and overcome in life.
“I think that’s the Philly story,” she said.