bull jean book party oakland
brand activation
Event Production | Social Media Kit | Print Materials
After producing the Los Angeles Bull-Jean Book Party, Woven Studios at The Nest was delighted to be invited back to produce a Bull-Jean Book Party in Oakland! This time hired by Rajasvini Bhansali, this was another opportunity to curate a beautiful and engaging celebration of the renowned performance novelist, Sharon Bridgforth, and her latest body of work -- bull-jean & dem/dey back! We also designed all of the event assets.
We threw the Oakland Book Party at The Huey P. Newton Foundation in downtown Oakland. Guests were invited to enjoy snacks from nearby Paulista while they listened to several of Sharon's fans and mentees read from bull-jean & dem/dey back, and heard juicy details from Sharon about the inspirations for her writing, facilitated by questions from her daughter and interviewer, Sonja Perryman. After a Q&A, guests had the chance to get their books signed by Sharon, engage with the altar space curated by Amara Tabor Smith and purchase custom commemorative prints that were being screen printed live on site. The evening concluded with a full dance party, complete with the Cupid Shuffle and the Electric Slide!
Sharon Bridgforth
PLAYWRIGHT
“I believe that the work that they are doing is a critical ingredient in community building and change making with humanity at its core.”
Inducted in the Texas Institute of Letters in 2025, Sharon Bridgforth is a United States Artists Fellow, winner of Yale's Windham Campbell Prize in Drama, Playwrights’ Center Core Member, McKnight National Fellow and a New Dramatists alumnae. A Doris Duke Performing Artist she has received support from Creative Capital, MAP Fund and the National Performance Network. Sharon is an Associate Company Member at Pillsbury House + Theatre (PHT) in Minneapolis, MN. and has had the privilege of serving as Guest Facility for the Macondo Writers Workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros.
Her work is featured in: Volume 110, No. 4, Winter 2022 of The Yale Review; Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature; Mouths of Rain an Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought; and Feminist Studies Vol 48 Number 1, honoring 40 years of This Bridge Called by Back and But Some of Us Are Brave! Sharon's bull-jean & dem/dey back and All These Things: A Conversation by Sharon Bridgforth & Daniel Alexander Jones are published by 53rd State Press. AdeRisa Productions produced the 2023 bull-jean & dem/dey back L.A. Book Party Documentary directed by Adelina Anthony. 53rd State Press and The Sledgehammer Series (an imprint of Tripwire Harlot Press) will be releasing publications of Sharon's work in 2025/2026.
