Terri Hamm did not set out to change Houston’s literary scene, she just wanted her daughter to find a book she actually wanted to read. She opened a bookstore in Third Ward, and it quietly became one of the important rooms in the city.
A daughter’s request
Reading has always been central to Hamm’s life. Her mother modeled it, and she carried it forward. But the push to open a store came from her daughter, Elle.
“When my daughter was maybe around 11, she was getting sick and tired of me choosing books for her,” Hamm said. “We lived abroad in Singapore and Asia, and we didn’t have a bookstore where she could really go and explore books that she was genuinely interested in.”
When the family returned to Houston, Hamm spotted the gap. She wanted a space that centered Black authors and gave Black readers room to truly explore. “I felt like there wasn’t a physical place in Houston where she could really dig deep and explore the huge, deep breath of works that Black authors are writing, and I also realized that that space didn’t really exist for me in the city as well. Not in a way that was super accessible and consistent.”
Starting with pop-ups
Rather than commit to a brick-and-mortar from the start, Hamm tested the idea through pop-ups across the city. “I am very risk-averse,” she said, “so we started out with pop-ups.” The question she heard most at every event was the same. Where is your physical space?
That response told her everything. “We learned that people were desperate for a space they could rely on to go to, buy books, learn about what’s been coming out, explore some of the classic authors, and attend author talks. That was something that was missing specifically for Black readers in the city.”
Building community at Kindred Stories
Today, Kindred Stories hosts around 30 events a month, from author talks and book clubs to an adult spelling bee that draws close to 200 attendees each year. “About 30 of those folks compete. We have some cocktails, it’s a lot of fun,” Hamm said.
Running the store is no small feat. “A day as a bookseller is very intense. There’s a lot of logistics and planning,” she said. “We are constantly ordering books, receiving books, talking to customers, trying to build community in a genuine way.” The store has also become a space where staff and customers dream together. “There’s an autonomy of creating these community spaces that we, too, are yearning as booksellers.”
Books, bans and Kindred’s school work
As Kindred Stories grew, so did Hamm’s work beyond the store’s walls. She began donating culturally relevant books to Houston schools, a practice that has taken on greater weight as book bans spread across Texas.
“The whole book banning situation in Texas makes us quite angry at Kindred Stories,” she said. “At all times, there has always been a resource void when it comes to books in Black and Brown neighborhoods.”
The contrast within Houston’s school system is stark. “My family lives in a neighborhood called the Heights, where schools have libraries and great librarians that are activating the library space,” Hamm said. “Whereas in Third Ward, some of these schools have never had an author visit their school, ever.”
She described how libraries in underserved neighborhoods have been effectively gutted. “There’s no librarian. There is a library space, but they’ve been turned into detention centers. Books are just not being accessed and activated in the way that we know would change lives.”
Kindred Stories works with the Houston Public Library, the ACLU of Texas, and outside partners so that when an author visits a school, every student leaves with a book. “A parent doesn’t need to pay any money,” Hamm said. “We just want to make books and author experiences as accessible as possible.”
For Hamm, it comes down to a truth about access. “What’s happening now is like the haves versus the have-nots. The haves find a way to continue to make it happen, and the have-nots sometimes don’t have access to these things, and I think it’s detrimental.”
Kindred Stories is located at 2310 Elgin Street in Houston’s Third Ward. Learn more at kindredstorieshtx.com or follow them on Instagram @kindredstorieshtx.
