The first day of Jennine Capó Crucet’s writing workshop at Florida State University in 2013, where I was a student, she made our class stand up and do an improv exercise. It made me sweaty and uncomfortable, but it was a necessary lesson in trust. We’d be sharing a lot…
You may know the Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco for his reading at President Obama’s second inauguration, or more recently, the poem he recited in honor the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba. He has written poetry books and memoirs, and this year he’s on the panel “Bridges to/from…
Before the sweet instant photographic gratification presented by digital devices, citizens of the world documented their lives using this very sensitive and fickle thing called film. It had a limited number of exposures and you couldn’t see what or if you captured anything until it was developed in your college’s…
Can’t make it out to the 32nd Annual Miami Book Fair? No problem, C-SPAN2 has you covered. This Saturday and Sunday starting at 10 a.m., the channel’s BookTV will air live coverage of all the events happenings including: author talks, interviews, viewer call-in segments, and anything else you they come…
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and now a longtime resident of South Florida, M.J. Fièvre is a poet, essayist, short story writer, translator and the author of numerous French-language novels. At 34 years of age, her most recent work is the English-language memoir, A Sky the Color of Chaos, chronicling her upbringing in the…
Comedians aren’t known for their warmth or inviting nature, so when Colombian-American actor John Leguizamo opens up about his upbringing and invites the whole world in, things can get a little ghetto. The star of the HBO standup hit Ghetto Klown, Leguizamo decided to turn his skit into a more…
Tom Austin was documenting South Beach long before the Art Basel crowd moved in and transformed the quirky island into a luxury enclave. As a staff writer at the Miami New Times in the early ’90s, Austin’s weekly nightlife column “Swelter” put the author in touch with the artists and…
Amber Tamblyn is, in many ways, a mystery. An actress, a director, a poet, a performance artist (she recently embarked on a motorcycle poetry tour across Texas with fellow poet Derrick Brown, dubbed Lazers of Sexcellence 5.0) — Tamblyn has been working since the tender age of 13. From turns in The Sisterhood…
Luther Campbell, New Times’ own weekly columnist, has written a book about his fight for truth, justice, and Liberty City. Posing with fists up on the cover of The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and Liberty City, inside Uncle Luke tells a “raw and powerful true story of…
Bookstores aren’t usually prime real estate for celeb-spotting. The lobby of the Mandarin Oriental, the Standard Spa, or Louis Vuitton in the Design District are more likely candidates. But this is the week of the book fair, which means all bets are off, and bibliophiles of every persuasion (including the super…
In its 32nd year, Miami Book Fair International brings a bevy of authors — both world-renowned and local gems — to downtown Miami for eight days of all things literature. With headliner Patti Smith having given a successful talk the opening night of the festival last Sunday, and the likes…
The thought of writing a series that spans a century with each chapter representing a year might sound daunting to some authors. Jane Smiley, however, is not just any author. With her latest novel, Golden Age, she closes out what has been dubbed the Last Hundred Years trilogy, a series…
Who loves coffee, writes lyrical poems about feeding cats, and kicked off the 32nd Miami Book Fair with a tremendous bang? Why, that could be none-other than National Book Award winner and living rock music icon, Patti Smith. The 68-year-old celebrates the 40-year anniversary of her seminal album Horses and…
Call Achy Obejas anything but a jack of all trades: the accomplished author, journalist, and translator claims the only thing she peddles are words. “I always think it’s really funny when people say ‘the multi-talented Achy Obejas’ because actually I have very limited talents,” she says, a statement that’s unequivocally…
It may strike some people as odd that Miami is becoming known as a literary city. Creative, yes. Artsy, sure. But is literary a stretch? If you have ever attended the Miami Book Fair before, the answer is a resounding “no.” If this is your first time attending, get ready…
If there’s one poet you don’t want to miss this year at the Miami Book Fair, it’s Juan Felipe Herrera. Not just because this past June he was named U.S. poet laureate, but also because his writing is engaging, socially conscious, and performative. The son of migrant farm workers, the…
Gaming hasn’t always been the most inclusive thing in the world, with young women especially often being excluded due to the fragile egos of gamer men. Accusations are immediately lobbed against anyone who wants to try out a new tabletop or video game about how they’re “fake gamers,” and this…
While plenty of folks will be hitting the Miami Book Fair for an abundance of novels and memoirs, there’s an audience for art that’s both literary and visual. Destination: Comics is MBF’s spot for all kinds of events involving comic books and graphic novels. Much like the rest of the…
The book-publishing industry has a gender gap. Study after study has shown the sector that should be the most enlightened has yet to shatter the glass ceiling: Men publish more books, and the vast majority of major literary awards go to male authors who write books about men. These facts…
Although citrus trees are neither indigenous to Florida nor to North America, the orange has been synonymous with the state for decades. From postcards to tourism ads, through crop booms and frosts, the happy fruit has endured as Florida’s state fruit and beverage, marking its place in pop culture for years…
The Miami Book Fair International (MBFI) looms large with its literary prestige, but the week-long bibliophile fest isn’t all about the written word. Last year, the famous festival launched The Swamp, a Miami-inspired event space designed to showcase the city’s unique culture. This year, The Swamp is back, and it has…
If you think you can’t get down with short stories, then you haven’t read Mia Alvar. Her debut short story collection, In the Country, was published in June featuring Filipino characters living under martial law in their own country in the 1970’s and working and saving up in the Middle…
