Name: Once Upon a Kwanzaa Book Talk with Sidney Rose McCall in conversation with Dr. Ravynn Stringfield
Start: 2025-11-13T13:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-13T14:00:00-05:00
Location: Ford Classroom, Swem Library, 400 Landrum Drive, Williamsburg, VA, United States, Virginia 23186

Once Upon a Kwanzaa Book Talk with Sidney Rose McCall in conversation with Dr. Ravynn Stringfield

Join the Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation for a book talk on Once Upon a Kwanzaa with co-author Sidney Rose McCall in conversation with Dr. Ravynn Stringfield on November 13 at 1 pm in the Ford Classroom, Swem Library. All are welcome to attend. This event is part of the Public Humanities Gathering that is taking place on November 13 at Swem Library.
We are excited to host Sidney Rose McCall, as she discusses her new children's book Once Upon a Kwanzaa with Dr. Ravynn Stringfield, a novelist and William & Mary alumna. Once Upon a Kwanzaa "introduces communities of all colors to the interwoven history and lived experiences connected to this time of year when families and loved ones gather to celebrate, share, and reimagine the past, present, and future."
Sidney Rose McCall, a co-author of Once Upon a Kwanzaa, is a Florida-raised folklorist and public historian who studies Black ecologies, southern cultures and foodways, and the many underground railroads both in the American South and beyond. After serving as a student-docent at the Hurston Museum in Historic Eatonville, the hometown of Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, she now serves as an Academic Committee member for the ZORA! Festival of the Arts and Humanities. Although she is currently writing and researching in Virginia, Orlando remains her hometown where she enjoys spending time with her extended family and the many fur-babies in between. She is also a former Lemon Project History Apprentice.
Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield is an author, editor and artist based in Virginia. Ravynn’s debut young adult novel Love Requires Chocolate was published by JoyRevolution on August 20, 2024. Her second young adult novel, Love in 280 Characters or Less, from Feiwel & Friends, was released on April 15, 2025. Her book length fiction is represented by Leah Pierre of Ladderbird Agency. She served a multi-year Lemon Project Graduate Assistantship during her time at William & Mary.