ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — November is National Family Literacy Month and the educational workshops and events are getting underway. Organizers of one event said this type of work is vital in so many communities, especially those with a disproportionate achievement gap among students.

Lorielle Hollaway with Cultured Books bookstore is hoping to change that with her inaugural St. Pete Reads! Lit Fest. 

The event is taking place less than a block away from Hollaway’s bookstore.

“One thing that we, as an organization, Cultured Books Lit Foundation, is to really just champion a positive literacy experiences. If someone, whether they’re a reader of words or a reader of pictures or they love to listen to books, we celebrate it. We celebrate every reader,” Hollaway said.

She’s also teaming up with Barbershop Book Club and St. Pete College for the event. It’s an event Hollaway says is vital in this community.

“Personally, it makes me feel a little like, 'What is going on and what do these numbers mean? How does reading achievement scored for our culture, for our people?'” she said. “The literacy rates, they have not changed. They’ve been subpar for the Black and Brown community for far too long for it to stay the same.”

She’s hoping St. Pete Reads! Lit fest can make some kind of difference with those rates.

The event will provide reading improvement resources, exposure to Black authors and book clubs. One of the authors attending the event is Greg Neri. He wrote the book "Ghetto Cowboy," the book that inspired the movie, "Concrete Cowboy," starring Idris Elba.

The St. Pete Reads! Lit Fest kicks off Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Woodson African American Museum located at 2240 9^th Ave. S. in St. Petersburg.