Salman Rushdie talks (and writes) a lot about the dual nature of Islam, but the notorious author is quite a study in contrasts as well. First, you have Salman Rushdie the intellectual, known for his comprehensive knowledge and understanding of history, a man whose name was included in the title…
With the Miami Book Fair within reach and fresh off being named the ninth dumbest city in America, we feel compelled to wear our literacy on our sleeves — as in shoulder to elbow ink. In case you haven’t noticed, pop culture is riding a wave of lit tattoos, and…
In Cuban Ballet, author Octavio Roca utilizes words and lush photographs to tell the story of Alicia Alonso, Cuba’s most prominent prima ballerina and choreographer (and also one of the most powerful women aligned with the island’s government). The author, son of a former Havana ballerina, also explores the lives…
Edwidge Danticat moved from Haiti to the United States when she was 12 and draws on that immigrant experience, filled with history, suffering, and love to portray the complex realities of past and present Haiti. At 41 she has written more than ten books and dabbled in several different genres,…
hen you think of Ricky Martin, you probably think, “hubba, hubba!” The former boy-band hunk of singing love is no longer just a pretty face and vibrating glutes, he’s also a deep and thoughtful author of a new autobiography. The singer is coming out of the dark, as Gloria Estefan…
CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien has told a lot of stories–from tragedies like Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Southeast Asia, and the earthquake in Haiti to the experiences of everyday people in Black in America, Latino in America, and Gay in America. Now, she’s telling her own story in her book,…
On the TV sitcom Hot in Cleveland, Betty White plays a sarcastic old coot who freaking loves herself a bedazzled jumpsuit. Her character’s name is Elka and interestingly enough, Betty in real life freaking loves herself some elk…and some hippo, monkey, ostrich, iguana, and any other furry, scaly, or feathered…
Since we last talked about the Miami International Book Fair, there have been a few sad cancellations: Sir Michael Caine, Venus Williams, and Charles Burns. But there have also been some kicking additions (Dave Eggers!). Today, the Book Fair announced the official schedule of events, so let’s hope this means…
Jersey Shore isn’t the only house of monkeys we can think of that is featured in a reality television show. Bestselling author Sara Gruen has written into her new book, Ape House, the story of an actual group of primates on primetime. Best known for her 2006 novel Water for Elephants, a…
If you’ve ever been to a Wynwood Second Saturdays Art Walk, you’ve probably met the Miami Poetry Collective. They’re the ones behind makeshift tables — littered with vintage typewriters and half-empty cups of beer — selling custom poems for a couple of bucks. The project is called Poem Depot, and…
Poets live in a state of perpetual observation, searching for meaning and beauty where others see barrenness. They dwell in the trenches; often acting as our greatest philosophers, reporting back in beautiful language. F. Daniel Rzicznek, a professor at Bowling Green State University and one of the top young poets…
Christy GastAs soon as we type the N-word, most of you are going to skim on by this post. So we won’t type narrative (damn! OK, we won’t type it more than once). Let’s just call it the ability to tell a good story. Anyway, three Miami artists will tip…
via FacebookIt is Friday, September 24, 8 p.m. at Books & Books in Coral Gables. Author Carolina Garcia Aguilera is pacing around the bookstore noticeably nervous. Smiling politely she greets her fans, most of whom religiously follow her writing. Just like the author, the readers are anxious. After all, they’re…
Grove Press published Jack Kerouac.Thanks to Barney Rosset, the man behind Grove Press and the Evergreen Review, we all got drunk on the road poetics of Jack Kerouac, blissed out on the ballsy cadence of Allen Ginsberg, and humbled by the witty domestic disputes of Tom Stoppard plays. Tonight, the…
OK. So admitting that you were a hostage negotiator at the Branch Davidian ranch outside of Waco, Texas in 1993–where more than 80 individuals ended up dying–is a little like saying you’re a chastity coach at a French cathouse. Then again, when you are dealing with a sociopath like David Koresh…
JJohn D’Agataohn D’Agata loves dogs, but he doesn’t own one of his own. He also loves reading art magazines because he enjoys the way the critics write. These are two interesting facts Cultist learned while corresponding with the poet and essayist who was credited by Annie Dillard as “redefining the…
Imagine being handed a VIP card to every major circle of the art world. Then try to convince yourself whether or not you can withstand the pressure, the glamor, the expectation, the academia, and the absurd amounts of money being spent. Art historian and sociologist Sarah Thornton goes on safari…
Static, deep silence, and the sound of thought waves wind and rush through Serge Carrefax. A boy raised on an English estate where his radio-obsessed father ran a school for the deaf, Serge watches his teenage sister Sophie die, serves as a radio operator during World War I, becomes a…
Bummed out that tennis superstar Venus Williams canceled her Miami Book Fair appearance? Oh hey good news! The multiple Grand Slam champion will be signing her book Come to Win at the Books & Books at Bal Harbour Shops on Wednesday, September 15. So instead of waiting in line for…
With the season five premiere of Dexter on Showtime only two weeks away, it’s as if all the planets have aligned for any fanboy of the show. As 58-year-old author Jeff Lindsay told us over the phone, the fact that his latest novel, Dexter is Delicious, was released around the…
Anyone who’s spent an afternoon on Key Biscayne or climbed the island’s lighthouse has seen them: the cluster of mysterious wooden houses, hugging the horizon, absurd and alluring in the middle of the sea. The ramshackle frames are all that remains of Stiltsville, a colony of homes built in Biscayne…
How do you kill an Argentine? Make him stand on his ego and jump. So goes the old Colombian joke as told by Sabina, a Colombian-American girl from New Jersey, the daughter of immigrants, and the protagonist of Patricia Engel’s Vida. In one of Vida’s nine stories, Sabina spends time…
