Colson Whitehead, best known for his 2009 novel Sag Harbor, recently released a novel about zombies, Zone One. The book challenges literary conventions and may very well represent a change in perspective from the literary establishment toward genre novels. Spanning three days in a post-apocalyptic world, the story deftly handles traditional…
When we interviewed Karen Russell about her debut novel Swamplandia!, we characterized her fiction as swamp gothic – equal parts adventure and macabre. But when Hollywood types got a hold of this story set in South Florida, they saw comedy. HBO has picked up Swamplandia, a half-hour comedy series based…
Can you haiku? Join local journalist and former Miami New Times food critic Jen Karetnick, in conjunction with Next@19th, as they host Rooftop Chaiku (“chai” is a Hebrew word meaning “life” or “living,” for all you gentiles. It’s also the name of a damn fine spice milk tea, but that’s…
Tigertail releases a print poetry publication annually, each with a different guest editor. This year’s annual, the ninth in their series, was edited by Lynne Barrett, Professor of English at Florida International University, and has moved into prose. Authors submitted prose poetry, flash fiction, and flash nonfiction with a word…
As writers, we were totally annoyed by Lip Service at the Miracle Theatre last night. How dare they choose an attorney, a marketing teacher, and a television communications director to stand on stage and read their writing to a full house of eager listeners? In our book, writers are supposed…
One Hundred Thousand Poets for Change is a worldwide poetry gathering — basically the largest organized poetry event in history. Sound like a grandiose statement? It is. This Saturday, there will be 650 events in 95 countries, including 13 events in South Florida alone. Expect a poetic dialogue promoting environmental,…
Tyra Banks may have just penned America’s Next Top Novel, for teens, that is. Alas, the joke is terrible, but it needed to be made. The former supermodel published her first book, describing it as a fantasy and adventure tale for young women entitled Modelland.Her goal is to make young…
On the second page of Birds of Paradise, Diana Abu-Jaber evokes local carpet salesman Don Bailey as that “thirty-foot naked man reclining, selling God-knows-what.” The novel, which is steeped in the visual cues of Miami life, flips back and forth between a wayward daughter’s street life on the pink sidewalks…
Perez Hilton: Celebrity ass-kisser. MS Paint pro. Children’s book author. Yes, the former Miamian and Belen Jesuit grad thinks he can appeal to kids. The result? The Boy With Pink Hair. The plot goes something like this: a little boy is different because he has pink hair and gets bullied…
We’re dismayed to learn that rapper-cum-actor 50 Cent is not up on his modern African literature. We had to read Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart in high school English. But it appears Fiddy did not, because he titled his new film with the same phrase. Achebe’s Nigerian tale,…
Batwoman is back and she is no longer a second class citizen of Gotham City. The character, originally introduced in the ’50s, was intended to be a romantic interest for Batman but the idea never took off, and she was eventually killed. DC Comics had introduced her to dispel the…
Cristina Garcia – prominent Hispanic novelist, creative writing professor, and founder of Las Brujas Writers Workshop – is all over the map these days. A quick glance at the Miami literary scene places Garcia, if not at the helm, then certainly among the best-known writers in the city. Invited to…
“So whatcha doing this weekend?” “Oh, not much, dropping by Bas Fisher Invitational to watch a couple of writers write.” “Say what?”That’s right Miami literati, what you’ve been dreaming of your entire lives – just ahead of waiting in line at the DMV and sitting in rush hour traffic on…
Anne Hathaway stars in One Day alongside heartbreakingly attractive Jim Sturgess. Together, they represent perhaps the worst casting decision ever. Well, not the worst casting decision — the history of film is long — but readers of the novel which served as the basis for the film probably can’t recognize…
After a few meager tweets about some of the authors confirmed for the Miami Book Fair 2011, a recent email has just released two dozen more awesome names. Check after the jump for the 24 new authors confirmed for the literary fest, slated for November 13 to 20. Better get…
Literati rejoice! After previously experimenting in the written word through their various memoirs, Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian have picked November 1st as the release date for their debut novel, Dollhouse. What can we expect? A Picaresque satire? Existential fiction in the style of Sartre? No matter what genre the…
Mizu Con, which we mistakenly thought was named after a soup, hits Miami this Friday. The anime convention will feature vendors, costume contests, panels, gaming rooms, and artist areas displaying Japanese artwork.Local groups will also perform, including Urban Ronin, a local stunt performance troupe, which will be put on an…
If he hadn’t died of leukemia in 1994, Charles Bukowski would have been 91 years old today. And with the rumors that James Franco is adapting the author’s semiautobiographical novel Ham on Rye for the screen, we’d like to remind everyone of the bizarre, true facts from ol’ Hank’s life…
The Miami Book Fair continues its Chinese water torture-style of author announcements with ten more names released via their Twitter feed. As we reported last week, the first authors released included Colson Whitehead and Ghost World’s Daniel Clowes. The next batch of names include Booker Prize winners, TV personalities, and…
Now that the Harry Potter series has ended, leaving a generation of eager readers (or eager Harry Potter readers at least) and billions of dollars in its wake, it’s only reasonable to assume that movie studios will be frantically digging through bookstores searching for the next big thing. However, as…
If you grew up in Miami, you’ve been assessing derrieres since elementary school. You’ve checked out more rumps than your average proctologist. You’re an ass expert. Thankfully, Miami’s got its share of great butts thanks to its proximity to the Caribbean, where near perfect tushes have been cultivated for generations.Since…
Remember back in the day when the whole family sat around the living room watching the Honeymooners or The Ed Sullivan Show or Bonanza on a behemoth boob tube and stand that took up half of the space in the room. Of course you don’t. But trust us, televisions -…
