Spotlight: The Head & The Hand Books
Crafting Stories, Building Community
The Head and The Hand Books (H&H Books) is a nonprofit publisher and bookstore based in the Fishtown/Kensington section of Philadelphia. Its mission is to democratize access to publishing for marginalized voices and to provide curated experiences that reflect the full spectrum of human experience through literature. As a women-run literary arts organization supported by a growing corps of 20 volunteers, H&H is committed to serving as a launchpad for the next generation of local writers and to growing as the neighborhood’s sole independent bookstore and publisher duo. The organization aims to create innovative relationships between local authors and their audiences by curating and publishing transformative works that have the power to spark change and entertain.
We are proud to be a fiscal sponsor to this vital resource. Read more about the organization, and support today!
Tell us about your organization or project.
As a publisher, our goal is to provide a launchpad so that unheard voices can be amplified and garner the celebration they deserve. We seek to offer community-driven clout to emerging writers whose voices would otherwise be excluded from traditional publishing – people of color, immigrants and refugees, non-English speakers, and LGBTQIA+ writers whose voices are essential and necessary. As a bookstore, we offer a curated book-buying experience to socially conscious readers who are seeking perspectives beyond their own. While we source new and noteworthy titles that offer diverse perspectives, we also focus an entire section of the store on authors and stories with connections to Philadelphia, feature a large selection of Spanish and bilingual children’s books, and our book donation program allows community members to donate new or used titles that H&H can resell for revenue. As a community-centered space, H&H Books hosts reading series, writing workshops, hybrid arts programming, and children's story time events that align with our mission.
What core values or mission drive your work?
An element of our mission that drives us is our identity as a “third space” outside the home and workplace where connection happens. We keep this “third space” mission of fostering community at the forefront of everything we do. Values that drive our work include connection, inclusion, and artistic celebration.
How has your relationship with CultureWorks supported your journey?
CultureWorks has been instrumental in our capacity building, grantwriting, and financial management, and has helped us grow in the areas of budget creation and long-term planning. Through our relationship with CultureWorks, we have standardized our business practices as a nonprofit with an income-earning project, which has been vital in our success.
What’s something exciting on the horizon?
We’re incredibly excited about a new project we’re seeking grant funding for this summer: a programming-to-publishing and bilingual literacy project focusing on the unheard stories of marginalized populations in the Fishtown/Kensington area of the city. This project builds on the successes of H&H’s Riverwards Chapbook Series, which ran through 2023 to late 2024. The goal of this program is to collaboratively create and freely distribute art that reflects our communities, as well as broaden and diversify our core audiences. We’re looking to work with four community-based organizations – Lutheran Settlement House, Savage Sisters, Taller Puertorriqueno, and ArtWell – to create mutually beneficial agreements and engage constituents to take part in writing workshops. H&H will edit and publish 3 publications that result from these workshops and host readings to highlight contributors and celebrate their collective work.
