About this Event
📚 The Turnaway Project Meets The After Party Book Club
✨We’re bringing Black Literature & Reproductive Justice into the same conversation! 🤝🏾
We’ll be discussing Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr in conversation with The Turnaway Study by Diana Greene Foster for an afternoon of reading, reflection, and community.
✨📚 Truth Is follows Truth Bangura, a seventeen-year-old Black girl, Philadelphia slam poet, and high school senior who discovers she is pregnant by her ex-boyfriend. Certain about the decision she makes for herself, Truth turns to poetry, her notebook, and her slam team as she navigates family conflict, friendship, judgment, and a future she is still trying to imagine.
Told through free verse, journal entries, and poetry, the novel explores reproductive choice, first love, family expectations, community, and the power of finding your voice.
🎤 A coming-of-age story about making your own choices and learning to speak your truth.
🎓 Together, we’ll connect Truth’s story to the research in The Turnaway Study and create space to examine what we think we know about abortion, where those ideas come from, and how they shape the way we understand reproductive choices.
This is more than a traditional book club. Come ready to READ, LISTEN, REFLECT, QUESTION, and CONNECT. 🖤
❗ Whether you finish the book or not, please pull up, read with us, and bring your perspective. This is a safe space. You DO NOT have to have an abortion story to participate. 👌🏾
🎓 The Turnaway Study, led by researcher Diana Greene Foster at UCSF, examined an understudied form of abortion access: What happens when people are DENIED a WANTED ABORTION?
Researchers followed nearly 1,000 women seeking abortions at 30 U.S. facilities, including women who received abortions and women who were TURNED AWAY because they were too far along.
The findings documented consequences of abortion denial, including greater economic hardship and difficulty meeting basic needs. The study also found that having a wanted abortion WAS NOT associated with worse mental health outcomes compared with being denied one.
The research further documented that people denied abortions were more likely to remain in contact with abusive partners and experienced worse economic outcomes, among MANY other adverse circumstances.
☕ We’re bringing The Turnaway Project x The After Party Book Club to The Drip Community Coffeehouse in South STL City!
🗓️ Sunday, October 25, 2026
⏰ 12:30 PM–2:30 PM
📍 3615 Potomac Street, St. Louis, MO 63116
More than just coffee and delicious treats, The Drip is a space for community, creativity, connection, and conversation. So grab your favorite drink and a snack, pull up a chair, and support a local Black-owned business! Come ready to read, reflect, and fellowship with us.
📚 WHERE TO GET THE BOOK?
Let's prioritize FREE, LOW-COST, and LOCAL options, so cost doesn’t have to be a barrier to tap in. 🤎
📖 Local Library: Check for a physical copy or the eBook + Audiobook through Libby.
🏪 Local Independent Bookstore: Always support your local indie booksellers when you can!
🛍️ Bookshop.org: Shop online while supporting independent bookstores across the country.
💸 ThriftBooks: Look for affordable used copies.
❗ If access is still a barrier, please reach out to me directly on Instagram (@TheNoireAnthology). I want folks at the table, so we’ll figure it out! 🤎
Agenda
🕑: 12:30 PM - 12:40 PM
☕ 12:30 PM | Get Settled + Order Food/Drinks
Info: Arrive, get comfortable, order something from The Drip, and settle into the space.
🕑: 12:40 PM - 12:50 PM
12:40 PM | Introductions + Community Agreements
Info: A chance to meet the folks around the table and get grounded in the community we’re creating.
🕑: 12:50 PM - 01:05 PM
12:50 PM | Grounding + The Turnaway Study Review
🕑: 01:05 PM - 01:15 PM
1:05 PM | Icebreaker
Info: A quick activity to get us talking and thinking together.
🕑: 01:15 PM - 01:35 PM
1:15 PM | Abortion + Bias Activity
Info: An interactive activity designed to help us examine our knowledge, assumptions, and biases around abortion and challenge some of the narratives we’ve been taught.
🕑: 01:35 PM - 02:20 PM
1:35 PM | Book Discussion
Info: We’ll dive into Truth Is and connect Truth’s story, poetry, reproductive choices, relationships, family, and identity to the broader reproductive justice conversation.
🕑: 02:20 PM - 02:30 PM
2:20 PM | Goodbyes + Exit Grounding
Event venue & nearby stays
The Drip Community Coffee House STL, 3615 Potomac Street, St. Louis, United States
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