If there’s anyone who could spearhead a Miami-based podcast dedicated to reading, writing, and the book world, it’s Mitchell Kaplan. As the owner of Books & Books, one of the few remaining independent bookstores in the city, and cofounder of the Miami Book Fair, he’s certainly got the chops and passion for all things related to words.
Our favorite buildings by the firm that defined Miami architecture.
The Miami Book Fair is a celebration of the literary arts that attracts some of the finest writers from all over the world. Everyone knows the Miami Book Fair is a hot ticket, offering a bit of warmth in the tropics before the long winter everywhere else. This year, the fair is set to take place November 11 through 18 at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, and it’s rolling out its roster of authors.
“There’s a weirdness from growing up in Miami that lends toward storytelling. Everyone there comes from somewhere else. It made me want to know people’s stories.”
Novelist Natalia Sylvester’s novel “Everyone Knows You Go Home” explores the trauma and joys of an immigrant family living in the United States. Sylvester is the artist in residence at the Betsy Hotel’s residency program the Writer’s Room.
The Alphabet of Enchantment Island is a bilingual children’s book about the magic of being Boricua and the African heritage of Puerto Rico, says its author Yajaira De La Espada. The Afro-Latinx creative of Puerto Rican and Panamanian decent spent the last four years writing the book, but after Hurricane…
Photographer Ian Witlen got a call from New Times’ art director just after 2:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day. She had heard reports that there was an active shooter on the campus of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Witlen had graduated from the school in 2001. “I immediately thought it was just another…
Multidisciplinary artist Najja Moon has released her first book, titled Finding Out You Are Whole. But for her, the project is more than just a publication. The printed collection was a way for her to step back from her usual style of work, collaborating with others, and,…
On January 20, 2013, Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco presented his poem “One Today” to a shivering crowd waiting to see Barack Obama sworn in for a second term. Zooming his poetic lens in and out, he offers a literary portrait of American life — there’s his mother ringing up groceries…
“The Dante Chamber” author, Matthew Pearl, will host an intimate chat with readers at Books & Books in Coral Gables at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
You might know local Zack Bush as the co-owner of the popular Little Havana bar Ball & Chain. But now he’s also a published author. Bush recently penned his first children’s book, Made for Me, inspired by the birth of his firstborn son, Ace. For three years, he’s been writing the book and now calls it the project he’s “proudest of.” The 32-page book details a new dad’s journey through his baby’s first milestones.
When Pete Fernandez returns to South Florida to hunt down the missing son of a rising politician — and eventually to unravel a cold case tied to a murderous cult — he operates in a very real version of Miami. The fictional detective hangs in Wynwood, eats Cuban food at Islas Canarias, and pokes around cookie-cutter suburbs in Southwest Miami-Dade.
When the awful news broke today that the legendary writer Tom Wolfe had died at 88 years old, all sorts of pockets of America jumped to lay claim to a man who was arguably the most influential nonfiction writer of the past 50 years.
It’s never OK to touch anyone’s hair without permission, but women of color experience that sort of unwanted attention all the time. Jamila Rowser relates that sentiment in her new comic, Wash Day, an homage to the Sunday ritual women with textured hair know all too well. Rowser, a South Florida resident who is black and Latina, wanted to share the story of many women in a slice-of-life format. Her comic includes glimpses of marijuana, gentrification, and street harassment — everyday themes for women in America and beyond.
In October 2015, Category 3 Hurricane Joaquin ripped through the Caribbean. It was a storm that confounded meteorologists and sank the cargo ship El Faro, bound for Puerto Rico. Along with the vessel, 33 sailors were lost.
O, Miami seeks to put “silence into language” with its #MeToo workshop this Sunday. Poet Yaddyra Peralta will conduct the event as part of the planned programming of O, Miami Poetry Festival.
Everyone thinks their hometown is unique, and everyone is probably right. But as any regular reader of Miami New Times can attest, our city is a special kind of odd. It’s the kind of place where the richest of the rich, the poorest of the poor, the most uptight, and the most laid-back are all melting in the same impossible heat. Through the eyes of two out-of-towners, I attempted to write not exactly a love letter to Miami, but a memorable postcard that would make its recipients wish they were here.
Zines are all about cutting out the middleman. You want to get your ideas or art out there? Just do it your goddamn self. Dale Zine was launched in 2009 by art director Steve Saiz as a DIY publishing project he used to highlight the talents of his friends. He…
Author and journalist Steve Almond found himself struggling to wrap his head around the election-night results of 2016. The result of that journey is his latest book, Bad Stories: What The Hell Just Happened to Our Country. He’ll discuss it Monday, March 26, with Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan.
Miami has provided the setting for truly epic crime tales turned into movies, such as War Dogs and Blow. The upcoming film The Corporation tells the story of Cuban crime lord Jose Miguel Battle’s rise to power in the underworld. The project stars Benicio del Toro, is based on a history penned by best-selling author T.J. English, and will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
You might cringe at the thought of poetry, imagining smoky obscurity, impenetrable reasoning, and nonsensical utterances. But poetry is actually one of the most accessible kinds of art, says P. Scott Cunningham, the founder of O, Miami Poetry Festival and the author of the poetry book Ya Te Veo, released March 1.
Brad Meltzer is one of South Florida’s most celebrated thriller writers. For more than two decades, the author of page turners such as The Tenth Justice, Identity Crisis, and The Millionaires has more than proven the width and breadth of his imagination. In his latest book, The Escape Artist, due out March 6, he draws from some of the least-known segments of America’s military and turns them into a tale all their own.
