Despite the thrilling exploits that have spammed the breadth of human history, the topic can be deadly dull, particularly in the context of freshman core. For many people, their only experience with historical events is via overtired teachers and textbooks. But when it comes to the work of writer Erik…
Tonight Books and Books welcomes National Book Award Winner, Phil Klay. Klay’s story collection, Redeployment, sketches the lives of the young American men deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Klay, a former Marine who served in Iraq, draws fully-formed characters, and his collection is no mere celebration of military heroics. Rather,…
Rita Dove’s Sonata Mulattica brings the whirlwind life of 18th century biracial violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower to modern audiences. Fans of her work will be able to hear Dove read from her poem at, “History’s Crevices: Sonata Mulattica’s Forgotten Prodigy” at the University of Miami this Thursday. Dove, a former…
P. Scott Cunningham is a familiar face on the Miami arts scene. The founder of O, Miami has done something that might seem nearly impossible: turned Miami into a poetry town. But Cunningham wants even more from the Magic City. He wants a “whole different level of engagement with literature…
Just last week, Nathaniel Sandler moved Bookleggers’ headquarters into an enormous loft space just north of downtown. Most books are still in cardboard U-Haul boxes and black plastic crates stacked on top of each other in the back of the main office space. A giant logo for Creative Lifestyle Realty,…
Ever since writing Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh has been renowned for his twisted plots and characters.The Scottish author now lives part-time in Chicago and part-time in beautiful, sunny South Beach. As a Miamian, reading his latest release, The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, is like a perverted look at your own…
Tigertail Productions has made its name in South Florida as the “pioneer of innovative art,” and the tradition continues with two new poetry residencies beginning in February. Poets and spoken-word artists Andrea Assaf and George Yamazawa will give Miami’s youth the opportunity to learn more about themselves and the creative…
Writers and literary minds, rejoice! Perhaps one of the most prestigious writing workshops in the country is making a move and taking up a permanent residence at the University of Miami. The Voices of our Nations Arts Foundation, better known as VONA, is relocating from the West Coast to our…
For most of us, the concept of paying it forward began and ended with the credits of a Haley Joel Osment movie. For Miguel “Mike” Fernandez, it’s a lifelong lesson. Fernandez, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba at 12, started private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners in Coral Gables…
Kendall native Mandy Baca is an unlikely historian. Her first loves aren’t the dusty archives and musty-smelling books that normally keep historians company, rather they’re the aromatic spices of the kitchen. Baca is a trained gastronome, she earned a master’s degree in Italian gastronomy and tourism from the University of…
Since President Obama announced that the U.S. would begin the process of normalizing relationships with Cuba, there have been many loud voices more than willing to offer opinions. But the cacophonous landscape is often more defined by extreme positions that – for the last few weeks — have drowned out…
Movies have been made outta his words, lots and lots of movies, each of which is mad, bad and dangerous not to know about, including The Acid House, Ecstasy, Filth, and, of course, a little torrent of beautiful depravity entitled Trainspotting. But it’s the words themselves which spurred the cinema…
In this week’s Miami New Times, we profile 30 of the most interesting characters in town, with portraits of each from photographer Stian Roenning. See the entire Miami New Times People Issue here. If Mitchell Kaplan were an author instead of Florida’s sire of storytelling, it’s a good bet he’d…
Andy Cohen is hitting the road for a tour promoting his new book, The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year. The memoir recounts his star-studded adventures of the last 365 days, which means tons of name dropping (he actually states in the introduction he almost called…
“I don’t think Gossip Girl happens to any teenager I know,” Mariko Tamaki laughs as we talk about the way a lot of young adult works don’t exactly mirror reality. “I think the idea is to stay within a visible realm of experience.” Mariko Tamaki is coming down for the…
Brian Turner’s My Life as a Foreign Country is not your typical war memoir. As the title implies, there is something radically displaced about this soldier’s story. In one moment, Turner imagines himself as a drone aircraft, “plying the darkness above my body, flying over my wife as she sleeps…
The voice of Buika is a melodious blend of Africa, Spain, and the Mediterranean, with an amazing quaver more powerful than the Plava Laguna from the excellent action flick The Fifth Element. Hailing from the island of Majorca, near Ibiza, she now calls Miami Beach home. And she has a…
Alfred J. López’s new book, José Martí: A Revolutionary Life from University of Texas Press, is the first biography written about the polarizing Cuban revolutionary in over half a century and the first ever in English. For as academic a subject as Martí could be in the hands of a…
Anjanette Delgado trails her right hand along the spines of books lining a shelf at Books & Books in Coral Gables, vigorously grabbing another paperback to add to the existing pile balanced in her left arm. She makes her way to a small corner table in the bookstore’s café and…
Florida’s weirdness is hardly a secret. From Fark.com’s Florida section to the popularity of “Why is Florida so weird?” as a Google query, the world is on to our state’s many oddities. But there’s more to the Sunshine State’s quirky character than dudes with half a head and alligator whisperers…
There’s a universe behind our eyes, says prize-winning short story writer Morowa Yejidé. Her debut novel, Time of the Locust, observes the life and family of Sephiri, a young autistic boy whose mother struggles to support and understand him in the wake of losing her husband to the unforgiving confines…
In addition to the Mad Max, post-apocalyptic kind, death matches come in many flavors, including the bookish variety. And this year, the Miami Book Fair International’s The Swamp lounge is hosting a Florida-themed Literary Death Match, featuring writers (and one judge) who hail from the Sunshine State. So what is…
