EMEKA, EAT EGUSI! Book Release Party with candice iloh
Join us as we celebrate National Book Award finalist candice iloh, author of Every Body Looking, for the release of their debut picture book, EMEKA, EAT EGUSI!
Hosted at the Painted Bride in partnership with Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books, this joyful, family-friendly evening brings together literary art, film, music, food, and community.
The program features:
- A live interactive reading by Pemi Aguda
- An exclusive short documentary screening by filmmaker jasmine lynea
- An artist talk and book signing with candice iloh
- Soukous and Afrobeats favorites by DJ Oluwafemi
- A tasting of traditional cuisine, including egusi and jollof
- An advance RSVP secures your copy of EMEKA, EAT EGUSI! and is highly encouraged. A limited number of books will also be available for purchase on site.
This event includes an on-site low-sensory space for children who need time away from the main gathering, with coloring materials and quiet play supplies available.
Come and celebrate storytelling across generations, spanning mediums, and cultures.
About the Book
EMEKA, EAT EGUSI! is a vibrant debut picture book that centers family, food, and cultural memory. With warmth and humor, candice iloh invites young readers into a world where identity, belonging, and love are shared at the table.
FEATURED ARTISTS
candice iloh
candice iloh is the author of Every Body Looking, a National Book Award finalist. Their debut picture book, EMEKA, EAT EGUSI!, marks an exciting expansion of their storytelling into illustrated literature for young readers. Through lyrical prose and intimate narrative voice, iloh’s work explores identity, diaspora, memory, and joy.
Pemi Aguda
Pemi Aguda is the author of the forthcoming One Leg on Earth and Ghostroots, a National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner finalist. She is from Lagos, Nigeria. Her work examines the emotional landscapes of contemporary life with precision, lyricism, and imaginative depth.
jasmine lynea
jasmine lynea is a queer storyteller, film director, and visual artist who radically dreams beyond the boundaries of our reality. Their work navigates the fluid spaces between truth and myth, offering vibrant, unconventional narratives that envision a loving, queer, and colorful liberating future.
In 2022, jasmine wrote, directed, and edited the short sci-fi fantasy film The Love Machine, which premiered at BlackStar Film Festival and streamed on the Xfinity channel.
In 2023, their work earned fellowships and grants from Mural Arts, the Velocity Fund, Flaherty’s Queer-World Mending program, IPMF, and Scribe Video Center.
In winter 2025, jasmine was awarded the Paul Robeson Creative Arts Grant and began participation in the NextFab x Leeways artist residency. The residency culminated in the immersive installation The Love Machine [reprise], debuting new collage and wood works.
DJ Oluwafemi
Oluwafemi is a Philadelphia-based rhythmist by way of Lagos, Nigeria, whose multidisciplinary practice explores rhythm and repetition as fundamental forces in music, visual art, and daily life.
With over 15 years of experience as a deejay, music producer, muralist, designer, and VJ, he crafts immersive environments drawing from hip-hop, African symbology, and mathematics. His self-defined practice of rhythmism uses pattern as both method and message, rooted in cultural memory and the universality of cycles.
In 2024, he held a residency at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, responding to early American artworks connected to African and Indigenous makers. The residency culminated in a multimedia performance amplifying these histories through original video and music. His work invites audiences to experience rhythm not only as art, but as a way of being.
Accessibility
- Family-friendly event
- On-site low-sensory area available
- Coloring and quiet play supplies provided
- Seating available throughout the space
- Contact info@paintedbride.org with any specific accessibility requests.