Miami Book Fair 2024 Blog
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog is posted with newest items at the top of the left column. Some panels are available online, even after the Fair, and we've linked to those panels below.
The skyline views from the Lost Chapter on Friday evening.
Photo by Emily Chaffins Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 9:10 PM
In “Marianne Williamson on The Mystic Jesus,” Williamson says that, in her opinion, “enlightenment is not a learning but an unlearning of the thinking of the world that blinds us to the truth of who we are.” She asks the audience to think of the psychological difference between seeing yourself as one wave separated from all other waves and thinking of yourself as one with all the other waves. She says, “If I think of myself as one wave surrounded by the huge ocean, how can I not live in constant terror of annihilation?” I am not a religious person, but I can’t help but feel the power of her words when she speaks of a “state of fear” that is “created by the fact that we think that we’re separate,” that we think “the evidence of the world is the only reality and there is only so much to go around” and “there’s not enough, and everybody is trying to be better to be worse, and you’re never good enough.” —Griffin Cornwell
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 4:45 PM
The book-signing line for YA authors Alex Aster and Romina Garber snakes from the signing tent just inside Children's Alley around past the Off the Shelf stage area. At least 75 fans wait patiently for the authors to conclude their 4:00 panel, at which point the line will no doubt grow dramatically. —Bob Morison 
Tiya Miles and Edda L. Fields-Black discuss Harriet Tubman. Photo by Bob Morison
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 3:55 PM
The panelists on the extraordinary exploits and contributions of Harriet Tubman are taking very different angles. In Combee: Harriett Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War, Edna L. Fields-Black centers on June 2, 1863, when Tubman piloted two regiments of Black Union Army soldiers on a raid up the Combahee River in South Carolina to free 756 enslaved people, "the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history." Setting the stage for the raid was Tubman’s relentless work as organizer and spy behind Confederate lines. In Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People, Tina Miles (a National Book Award winner for All That She Carried) takes a more contemplative approach, "exploring the interior spaces of Tubman’s world” and painting her in real-life rather than iconic terms. Miles talked about the importance of the natural world in Tubman’s childhood, development, and perspective. It took keen awareness of the landscape to operate an Underground Railroad. —Bob Morison 
John Hendrix reads aloud to the Art Lab audience, alongside moderator Daniel Jones.
Photo by James Barrett-Morison Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 3:51 PM
John Hendrix says he wrote his graphic novel Mythmakers about friendship, but also about a bigger idea: where do stories come from, and why do they matter? The book covers the friendship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, literary greats who made fantasy not just a viable genre, but a lucrative one. But he wanted to make the complex philosophical and narratological topics they discussed during the course of their friendship accessible to a middle-grade audience: "I try to make usable history for people, not to simplify a subject, but to clarify it." He read aloud to the audience about Lewis and Tolkien's first meeting at Oxford, where they bonded over their shared fandom of Norse myth, then their shared experience on the front lines of World War I, and finally their shared love of story, "a home outside the trauma of their lives." Librarian Daniel Jones asked about the impact of their relationship on each other. "If you are in creative work, why do you not have to be alone?" Hendrix answered: "Our art gets better in community. Lewis and Tolkien needed each other to keep going." And what better community than the Book Fair to share our love of the art of the written word! —James Barrett-Morison 
Music Legends panelists Alice Randall and Deborah Paredez. Photo by Bob Morison
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 2:42 PM
Both books in the “Music Legends” panel combine memoir with music appreciation/criticism. In American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous, Deborah Paredez pairs stages of her life with woman singers who fascinated and influenced her. She read from a section on her childhood, “Vicki Carr’s Voice,” about the singer’s omnipresence at gatherings of her extended San Antonio family. Her pantheon of divas also includes Rita Moreno, Aretha Franklin, and Celia Cruz. In My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future, Alice Randall describes how musicians including DeFord Bailey, Lil Hardin, Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Herb Jeffries influenced her and the evolution of country music. She read a childhood passage about the first effort of her prolific songwriting career, a plea to her father not to leave her in the car while he went into that bar. She also read what felt like a prose poem about all the things she’s done in music studios. Paradez and Randall discussed the word “diva,” how it’s changed toward the negative and what it really means: virtuosity together with swagger and pride. Extraordinary in talent and attitude. Breaking the mold in creative ways. Beyoncé? Definitely a diva. Taylor Swift? Sorry, not unruly enough. This session featured special camaraderie since the authors were recently paired at another book festival. They know each other and enjoy each other’s work, making for a very engaging exchange. —Bob Morison 
Ian Wilson-Navarro, Chris Meindl and Evan P. Bennett. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 2:33 PM
Always fun to stroll down Writers Row where authors reserve space to promote, sell, and sign their books. This year’s intriguing-title finalists by category: ◇ Adventure — Captain Bacawly and the Breakaway Bandits and The Taekwonderoos: Rescue at Rattling Ridge. ◇ Environment — The Magical World of Candytopia and Journey Through the Forest of Thimbleton. ◇ Health and wellness — Restore Me! But Privately, Please and Healing & Yoga with My Matching Red-Headed Dog. —Bob Morison
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 1:48 PM
Over on the Street Fair, I came across a booth called Bona Fide Bookworm that caught my eye. I briefly spoke with Abi, the founder of Bona Fide Bookworm, who mentioned that she started illustrating in 2020, which then snowballed into opening her very own store. The booth was lined with tote bags, shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, pins, and small classic book enamel keychains with a twist — there was a cat on each cover and included cat-related puns, some of which were The Whiskers of Oz, The Great Catsby, and Romeow and Juliet! —Bryane Alfonso Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 1:23 PM
Since my day job has in recent years involved research into longevity and retirement, I was looking forward to the "Age is Just a Number” panel. Debra Whitman, the public policy officer at AARP, discussed The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond. What do people need to know? Whitman focused on the first two of her seven questions. How long am I likely to live? No guarantees, and there are many correlations: genetics, of course, and various demographics, but one of the strongest correlations with longevity is where you live. And how can I stay healthy as I age? Healthy behaviors—starting with nutritious diet, regular exercise, and not smoking—have proven influence on longevity. They’re factors we can control. Whitman concluded by saying that demographic change (an aging population) and climate change are the two biggest forces we need to contend with today. James Chappel, an historian at Duke University, presented a retrospective view. Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age is a history of aging, and it’s not a very lengthy history. “We’ve been educating youth for thousands of years, but aging was little thought about until the 20th Century” when lifespans increased significantly. Over the last hundred years, "people had to be taught how to age.” He divides the timeline into three eras. The first focused on the “aged” with the tacit assumption that they were infirm and needy. Social Security was established to help them get by. After World War II came the era of “senior citizens,” whose growing numbers started exerting their influence. Medicare was established to help them stay healthy and enjoy more of life. Then by the 1980s, age 65 wasn’t meaning that much anymore and age took on a new and flexible identity, for many people a vibrant and creative time of life. Chappel suggested that America had done okay adjusting to the growing numbers of people in their 70s, but there’s policy gridlock and failure so far in dealing with the next major aging challenge—the growing numbers of people 85+ who will need long-term care. The cost of paid care is prohibitive for most, so the work falls to uncompensated family caregivers. —Bob Morison 
Isabelle Camille, moderator Ketsia Theodore-Pharel, and Nadège Fleurimond.
Photo by James Barrett-Morison Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 12:12 PM
The fashion panel discussion was about cultural and retail history as much as fashion per se. Julie Satow's When Women Ran Fifth Avenue profiles three women who shaped the experience (e.g., stores within a store) and built the brands of classic department stores (e.g., Lord & Taylor). Nancy MacDonell's Empresses of Seventh Avenue chronicles the women designers who set the direction of American fashion circa 1940 when the prevailing influence of French fashion was severed by World War II, including the rise of high-quality ready-to-wear. Journalist and author Rachel Felder moderated. MacDonell said that “fashion is an art form we all participate in,” and nowadays “everything works.” People no longer adapt to fashion cycles every eight or so years. Satow, MacDonell, and Felder agreed on the sameness of today’s surviving department stores and the scourge of synthetic fabrics. —Bob Morison 
Rachel Felder, Julie Satow, and Nancy MacDonell discussing fashion history.
Photo by Bob Morison Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 11:51 AM
Vanessa Chakour (Earthly Bodies) told us of her eight-year bond with Zephyr, a wolf at a wildlife sanctuary near her home. "I advocated for wolves before, but now it comes from a different place" thanks to the time she spent sitting with Zephyr, she says. Brandon Keim (Meet the Neighbors) then spoke about a groundhog named Juliet who built a burrow under his deck, and being able to see the lives of Juliet and her offspring outside his window over the years. In trying to research more about them, he found that "most information out there on groundhogs comes from the pest control industry." He found vast misinformation about them, as rabies vectors (they aren't) or nuisances (only rarely), and had to dig further to find real information about how they live their lives. Audience members, inspired by these stories, then shared tales of their connection to species, individual creatures and natural places. —James Barrett-Morison 
Brandon Keim and Vanessa Chakour. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 11:28 AM
One of my favorite panel categories at the Fair is nature, climate and environment. Miami is a place where the natural world is always just inches away, so it feels appropriate to start my Sunday at the "Animal Nature, Human Hearts" panel. Vanessa Chakour is a naturalist who stewards a preserve in western Massachusetts. Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature details how to bond with the non-human beings around us. Her goal is to have us see animals and plants as individuals. "When we connect with one species, that can be a bridge to falling in love with many species." Brandon Keim adds that we should be "caring about animals as individuals and not just as species." He says "it's on us to think through our relations to all the animals we're entangled with." Keim is a nature journalist, who consolidated some of his work into Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World. —James Barrett-Morison Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 11:21 AM
“The Art of Romance” panel was sponsored by the Steamy Lit Literary Cooperative (motto: The Steamier the book, the better). Steamy Lit founder and CEO Mel Saavedra welcomed the enthusiastic Sunday-morning audience to “The Church of Romance.” A panel of seven authors, representing contemporary, historical, and fantasy romance, shared what led them to break away from conventional romance to write stories of love in all its forms and lovers refreshingly and relatably diverse. Several of the authors said they apprenticed writing fan fiction before determining to write stories of their own. And several said they drew inspiration and situations from the rich world of Greek mythology. —Bob Morison Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 9:19 AM
I got to the Fair early today to beat the crowd, but there's no crowd in sight. A few vendors setting up, but people are taking a more relaxed approach this morning compared to the bustle at this time yesterday. —James Barrett-Morison 
Colorful seats at the Participate Stage in Children's Alley await eager spectators.
Photo by James Barrett-Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024
The Street Fair closes down for the evening Saturday. Photo by Natalia Martinez
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 8:20 PM
In the “On Being Jewish Now” panel, Keren Blankfeld says, “I never realized that being Jewish and writing about Auschwitz would become anything political. I have two young boys, and I never thought that I’d be nervous about them singing a Hebrew song as we walk down our neighborhood in Brooklyn. Things that I’ve never considered have suddenly become an issue.” —Griffin Cornwell Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 7:30 PM
I could write about a lot of things that happened during Patti Smith’s presentation. I could write about how she sang “Because the Night” a cappella, just like she did here nine years ago. Fans eagerly sang along to the chorus, their fingers in the air, pointing and encouraging, while others clapped their hands, or slapped their thighs, or recorded video on their phones. At the end, also a cappella, Smith recited “The People Have the Power,” a welcome reminder, perhaps both sacred and naïve, which can’t help but have special resonance so soon after a deeply polarizing presidential election. She said her late husband Fred “Sonic” Smith inspired her to write it: “I did my best to give him good lyrics.” I could write about Smith’s Zen master-like demeanor—kind, warm, patient, engaging, open, firm, and direct. When a woman at the microphone for audience questions recalled how Smith sang “Because” nearly a decade ago, Smith asked, “What’s your question?” Then the woman asked if Smith would sing it again. Smith gamely took on what she called “The ‘Because the Night’ challenge.” Smith, a singer, writer, performer, and visual artist, was ostensibly here to discuss her latest book, A Book of Days, a collection inspired in large part by a year’s worth of Polaroid photos, cell phone pictures, and personal reflections from her Instagram account. Yet with a Smith appearance, it is never going to be just about her latest book. I could write about the story and process behind the book, but what most stood out for me was Smith’s interaction with several young women from the audience. They seemed to be in their early twenties. They earnestly asked Smith for advice, about writing and about life. Smith joked that she felt a little like Dear Abby. These young people expressed no youthful arrogance or insouciance. Here, in front of the so-called Godmother of Punk, they weren’t trying to be cool. They were plainly bashful, giddy, and star struck. They spoke of how she inspired them, about the honor of meeting her. Smith, now 77, wasn’t much older than those young women when she released her debut album Horses in 1975. Seeing Smith engage with those young women was as close as I was going to get to seeing Smith engage with her twenty-something self. They say rock is dead, but here it wasn’t. One of the young women invited Smith to her band’s concert later that evening. Smith said she wouldn’t be able to make it, but she made sure the audience knew where to go: Eddie’s Place on 8th Street at 9 p.m. Smith didn’t sugarcoat. After all, a writer’s life is hard. Life is hard. She said that “your motivation is the work at hand” and that it’s important to have a good collaborator. She spoke of imagination, of vision, and of discipline. She said that she made herself write every day. She reminded them that a ballet dancer and a pianist practice every day, and so should a writer. Smith reminded them that “the process belongs to you,” but that “once you put it in the world, it belongs to the world.” You have to work hard, she said, “without hope of recompense.” In a deeper sense, she reminded them (and all of us) that life is “like a graph—it goes up and down.” We will have great days and rough days, but should “accept them all.” Smith said that we’ll have to be ready for whatever we have to face. She quoted her favorite line from Jimi Hendrix: “Hooray! I awake from yesterday.” “I love being alive,” she said. —Roberto J. Manzano Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 7:15 PM
After much anticipation, the Rock Bottom Remainders take the stage! —Natalia Martinez 
The Rock Bottom Remainders mid-song. Photo by Travis Cohen
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 5:15 PM
Sun's getting real low, big guy. Coming to the end of Saturday's events. There's a panel on National Book Awards honorees soon, and a concert by the Rock Bottom Remainders at 7. Amy Tan has promised she will be disciplining the boys on stage. If I hadn't already read about it in Hard Listening, I wouldn't believe it. What a time to be alive. —Michael Rojas 
Sunset over the Book Fair. Photo by Michael Rojas
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 4:46 PM
Glory Edim's mention of the Berenstain Bears has led her co-panelists to share anecdotes about the children's series. Evan Friss (The Bookshop) describes Papa Berenstain as a bumbling father figure, "a predecessor to Homer Simpson." Pamela Paul (My Life with Bob) describes a study showing the books' moralizing lessons actually backfired when read—they spent so much time describing the joys of misbehavior that children reading them were less likely to behave well! The conversation turns to the impact of bookstores on culture. Friss says that if you walk into a bookstore and talk to a bookseller, you're likely to buy what they recommend: "That's power." Edim (Gather Me) adds that bookstores provide a community service as "a place where you congregate to make change and be exposed to new ideas." Donna Seaman (River of Books) adds that libraries and bookstores play complementary roles, and that both deserve and, now more than ever, need our support. Agreed! —James Barrett-Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 4:45 PM
Madeleine Blais’s book about Alice Marble is about more than the ups and downs of a tennis great from long ago. It’s also a history of tennis, a history of journalism, and practically a forensic investigation into some of the mysteries behind Marble’s life. In a deeper sense, Queen of the Court: The Many Lives of Tennis Legend Alice Marble tries to answer whether a writer, no matter how dogged and curious, can deeply understand another person, in this case, a very famous, successful, and celebrated athlete in her time (the 1930s) who had fallen into near obscurity by the time she died nearly 34 years ago. Blais said she had to rely on a lot of documentary research for her book. “I had to use a skill set I hadn’t developed as much as a reporter,” she said. “You can’t interview someone who’s dead.” Full disclosure, Blais, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, was my creative writing teacher many years ago. Because she couldn’t talk to Marble, Blais did the next best things to get to know her subject. She read many old newspaper articles written about Marble, which she said became a “sort of a history of journalism at the time." She read Marble’s autobiographies and other writings, though she came to view Marble as an unreliable narrator at best. She also interviewed those who knew her, including relatives, and Billie Jean King, who benefited from Marble’s coaching when as a teenager she was her student for several months. King recalled that Marble smoked while she coached. “You can meet the pupil they affected and meet them that way,” Blais said. Marble later fell on hard times and lived the final third of her life in Palm Springs, California, where Blais said that she became “almost a pet of the community.” In her later years, Marble spoke of a late husband and a stint as a spy, claims that Blais believes that Marble made up. Marble was a smart woman and Blais suspects that her “abject loneliness” may have contributed to her difficult to verify claims: “Why did this transformation happen? That’s part of the mystery of the book.” —Roberto J. Manzano 
Moderator Edward Nawotka with Donna Seaman, Glory Edim, Pamela Paul, and Evan Friss. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 4:28 PM
At the panel on "the Power of Books", Glory Edim asks of her co-panelists, "When did you first see yourself in literature?" Edim is founder of Well Read Black Girl (WRBG), originally a book club but now a major online platform for Black women reading books by Black women. She has asked the same question to many she's interviewed. Evan Friss, historian and author of The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, describes reading Kurt Vonnegut in high school, and the regret that he first experienced authors like Mark Twain as assigned school reading rather than on his own terms. "Beverly Cleary" is the first answer from Pamela Paul, whose My Life with Bob tells of her "book of books", a list of every book she's read since age seventeen. "I also read biographies," like those of Clara Barton or Dolly Madison, "as self-help books: if they became important enough to get a biography, then that could be a guide to how to become important too." Donna Seaman's answer is quick: "Little Women. I saw myself in Jo: she was a writer!" Seaman is now a writer's writer: her River of Books is about her time as editor at Booklist, but also about the experience of learning to read. "All my anxieties about the world could be remedied by books." When the panelists turn her question back to her, Edim says that in writing her memoir Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books that Saved Me, she had to turn that question on herself. She agrees that Little Women has a timeless impact, and adds the Berenstain Bears and Maya Angelou to the panel's list. —James Barrett-Morison 
What's a fun and lively Miami event without a little Peanut Butter Jelly Time?
J. Howard N the Experience performed for the crowd enjoying the vibes at Off the Shelf. Photo by Amelia Badri Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 4:25 PM
The Book Fair Guide writers had fun titling the “Courting Greatness & Getting the Scoop” panel matching two very accomplished journalists. Madeleine Blais’s Queen of the Court: The Many Lives of Tennis Legend Alice Marble is the biography of a once-famous tennis champion (both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open) whose career was cut short by the start of World War II. Missing the constant volley of attention, she later apparently made up major episodes in her life, including a wartime marriage and stint in the spy game. Stephen G. Bloom’s The Brazil Chronicles recounts his early days in journalism. Rejected stateside, he landed a job with the English-language Brazil Herald. Far from the backwater one would imagine, the paper was longstanding and served as a training ground for well-known ace reporters including Hunter S. Thompson. The authors discussed how journalism plays in writing full-length nonfiction. Blais talked about the challenges of capturing someone who was such a faulty narrator of her own life. Bloom presumably didn’t face that hurdle, but he supplemented his memory with an extensive set of research about the newspaper and its times. So what do a tennis star of yesteryear and an ex-pat newspaper have in common? The panel ended on a “Miami is a small world” note when an audience member offered that he was a tennis instructor who grew up in Rio reading the Herald. Gotta love the serendipity of the Book Fair. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 4:15 PM
In the “Stacey Abrams on Stacey Speaks Up: Picture Book” panel, Abrams starts by reading the first few pages of her new picture book. The heartwarming message of the book is immediately evident, as the eponymous protagonist freezes and loses her hunger at seeing her classmate unable to buy lunch. Abrams explains that her mother was a librarian with a specialty in children’s literature and that her father is dyslexic. She says, “He loves reading, but it is incredibly difficult, because he went without being diagnosed with dyslexia until he was in his thirties. He grew up in segregated Mississippi in the 1950s, and they just simply dismissed his capacity to learn. And so to have a librarian mother and a dyslexic father who was functionally illiterate until he was in his adult years meant that I grew up understanding not only the beauty of reading but the importance of storytelling, and sometimes we conflate those and we think they're the same thing.” She says, “What my mother really wanted us to understand was that there was knowledge to be found in those pages, and what my father instilled in us was that there was beauty in how you found the story.” —Griffin Cornwell
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:36 PM
And with that, word has come in that the panel I'm awaiting is summarily cancelled. Most got up to leave, having wasted thirty precious Book Fair minutes, but a solid number, including me, are sticking around for the 4 PM panel. —James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:24 PM
At the Rock Bottom Remainders panel, Stephen King, on whether he knows how bad his stories are going to end for his characters as he's writing them: "No... But it's like an ICBM missile. If you're in the right neighborhood, and there's a big enough explosion, then that's a success." —Michael Rojas Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:20 PM
It's the case of the missing panelists! I'm sitting in a room where the panel was supposed to start at 3, and we're twenty minutes in with no sign of panelists or moderator. Word is they're at the Fair, but nobody has eyes on them. We'll see what happens... —James Barrett-Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:15 PM
In a laugh-out-loud opening to the "Rockin' in the Book World--32 Years of the Rock Bottom Remainders" panel, Moderator Lisa Napoli asks Stephen King to tell the story of the band’s creation: “Okay, you got a fax, and then all of a sudden, this came about, so how did that happen?” King lifts a microphone and opens his mouth as if to tell the story. The crowd is silent. “Dave,” he says, turning to Dave Barry and handing him the mic. There is laughter from all directions. Barry then explains how Kathi Goldmark, “had this idea that she would get a bunch of authors together to play one time—one time—a fundraiser for, uh, literacy, or some cause.” He looks to his right and points to Amy Tan. “Amy once said we would do this to kill the whales.” After more laughter dies down, he says, “The idea was we were going to do this one time, but she sent faxes out to a whole lot of people, and all the people who said they’d be in this band became the Rock Bottom Remainders. And we did our one show. We were not good. We had a musical director, Al Kooper—” He cuts himself off, “We’re still not good. I should stress that.” He says that after their first rehearsal, Kooper said, “When we started out today, we stunk. Now we stink a little bit less. Maybe eventually we’ll just be a faint odor.” Barry hands the mic back to King, who explains that this was back in 1992. He says, “I said to Dave, this is really too good to just do it one time. I mean, we could do it again, or we could do it a bunch of times and write a book.” He says, “It’s like my wife says that lobster is an excuse to eat butter, and the way that I feel is that the book was an excuse to play shitty rock and roll.” —Griffin Cornwell 
Sharon Corinthian, Diannely Antigua, Merle Collins, and Geoffrey Philip in the Read Caribbean “History, Heroes & Healing” panel. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:13 PM
I took a break from the non-fiction beat to attend the excellent “History, Heroes & Healing” panel, part of the Book Fair’s "Read Caribbean” track. Diannely Antigua's Good Monster is a book of poems reflecting her experience of domestic, sexual, and religious (by a cult) abuse. She read a poem about the misguided advice offered by people who don’t understand trauma and mental illness. She said, “Poetry found me and helped me survive." Merle Collins described Ocean Stirrings: A Work of Fiction in Tribute to Louise Langdon Norton Little, Working Mother and Activist, Mother of Malcolm X and Seven Siblings as a combination of fiction and poetry “in historical scaffolding.” She read a poem about Little’s release from a mental hospital after two decades of confinement. Geoffrey Philp's My Name is Marcus is a graphic novel telling the story of Marcus Garvey—Jamaican social justice activist, Black nationalist, and Pan-Africanist. “A story that you can’t learn in school.” Philp described Garvey as a true prophet whose message was to free yourself from both physical and mental slavery. Philp walked in front of the audience to display the book, and he brought the panel to a fittingly bittersweet close by leading the audience a cappella in Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song." —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:12 PM
After spending some time sitting on the steps outside of the building (along with a host of other people), I managed to find my way into the "Rockin' in the Book World--32 Years of the Rock Bottom Remainders" panel. Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Sam Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Mary Karr, Stephen King, Ridley Pearson, Amy Tan, Scott Turow, and Alan Zweibel were joined by moderator Lisa Napoli for a lively panel. The Rock Bottom Remainders also burst into a surprise song they wrote about Moby Dick! —Bryane Alfonso 
The Rock Bottom Remainders performing their Moby Dick song. Photo by Bryane Alfonso
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:10 PM
Unlike the story of the typical child grasping at any pretext to evade going to school, in the case of the late civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis, when he was growing up in rural Alabama, it was the opposite scenario. According to historian David Greenberg, who was discussing his biography John Lewis: A Life, Lewis would hide under the porch of his house with his school bag to wait for the school bus. Lewis loved going to school, so he hid from his parents, sharecroppers who wanted him to stay home and help with the farm work. Greenberg said that Lewis, even as a child and one of 10 siblings, “possessed a rare determination to topple Jim Crow.” While growing up in Troy, Alabama, Lewis experienced the injustices and indignities of segregation. He had to eat ice cream outside of the local ice cream parlor. He had to sit in the balcony section of the local movie theater. Perhaps most cruelly for a child who loved to read, when he applied for a public library card, he was turned down. In 1960, when he was only 20 years old, he emerged as a leader of the sit-in movement. Three years later, he was elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC. Lewis suffered multiple injuries during protests, with the most serious on March 7, 1965, in what became known as Bloody Sunday. “Most famous of all was his assault in Selma, Alabama,” writes Kelefa Sanneh in a recent New Yorker article, “when his skull was fractured by a state trooper’s club and he was reduced to vomiting from tear gas; a few hours later, bandaged and lying in a hospital bed, he told a television news crew about the importance of nonviolent protest.” Greenberg also discussed Lewis’s long and successful political career, which began in the 1980s. Known as the “conscience of the Congress,” Lewis, a Democrat, represented Georgia’s 5th congressional district. “He had a second act and in some ways as great as the first,” he said. “What’s fascinating is that he brought the tools of protest to the arena of politics.” —Roberto J. Manzano 
Nicola Yoon and Jeff VanderMeer speak at The Pavillion. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 3:09 PM
Wonderful news! With the help of Diana Gonzalez, an employee of the Miami Book Fair, I was able to occupy a vacant seat and enter the Chapman room to see the Rock Bottom Remainders panel in person. There I witnessed a man from the crowd join the Q&A line and ask Stephen King to sign a part of his body, which King declined. —Natalia Martinez
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 2:51 PM
An overflow crowd is gathering on the steps of building 3 to watch the simulcast screens of the Rock Bottom Remainders panel in Chapman. Watch your step if you're making your way through! —James Barrett-Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 2:50 PM
Just nabbed a great selection of 60's sci-fi books and pulp fiction magazines from Glover's Bookery! They had an amazing selection of classics and antique books, like a bound collection of all of H.P. Lovecraft's works and tales! —Jose Norono
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 2:44 PM
More furry friends at the Street Fair! Pictured is Lily, the cutest and super friendly Boston Terrier. Next is Maggie, who, reportedly, loves to read! I saw both sniffing around the Smorgasburg food court. I also saw Mikey and Amelia, two buddies who were just chilling in their owners’ bags. (Who doesn’t love dogs in bags?) And then, finally, Tequila, who was sporting the cutest little pink bows in her fur. —Bryane Alfonso
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 2:42 PM
Lost track of time! Ran over to the Rock Bottom Remainders discussion panel only to discover that there was no more seating. Various fans of the literary band (including myself) who could not enter are sitting on the steps of Building 3, watching the panel as it is being broadcast live on C-Span. —Natalia Martinez 
A crowd of Rock Bottom Remainders fans watching as the panel is broadcast
outside the Chapman room. Photo by Natalia Martinez Continued in the next column...
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2024 Miami Book Fair Poster,
featuring poster art by New World School of the Arts student Nicole Samper The FBR Blogging TeamReporters
James Barrett-Morison (Reporter and Editor) Giselda Aguiar Yael Valencia Aldana Bryane Alfonso Amelia Badri Emily Chaffins Griffin Cornwell Roberto J. Manzano Natalia Martinez Bob Morison Jose Norono Michael Rojas Lynne Barrett (Florida Book Review Editor) More reporters will be added as contributions arrive! 2024 Miami Book Fair In-Person & Online
The 2024 Fair is back bigger and better than ever, featuring both in-person and virtual events! You can see the full 2024 schedule and learn about the in-person and online events at https://ww.miamibookfair.com/welcome-to-miami-book-fair/
Some in-person events are available to watch online after the Fair. You can find a list of online events from this and prior years at https://www.miamibookfaironline.com/browse/ Certain events require tickets to be guaranteed seating. Most in-person events are free with Fair admission, and virtual events are free and can be watched after the fact as well. To find information on all of this year's events, check out the downloadable fairgoers' guide via the MBF website. Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, continued
The food court under clear skies. Photo by Michael Rojas
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 2:06 PM
Food Court is full of all sorts of tasty treats: dumplings, burgers, ice cream, churros, and even fried oreos. There's even a lechón spot, if you're feeling that Miami vibe today! —Michael Rojas Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 2:05 PM
I have found sanctuary under the large canopies of the Miami Book Fair food court, where dozens of book-lovers feast on frozen lemonade, birria tacos, lechón, and other goods from local vendors. —Natalia Martinez Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 1:30 PM
Enjoying some great tacos followed by a milkshake here at the Book Fair food court! The food is delicious! Just looking at the lines proves it! —Jose Norono 
The Saturday lunch crowd at the food court. Photo by Jose Norono
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 1:15 PM
At the "Inside Parks and Recreation" panel with Alan Zwiebel and Jim O'Heir, actor and author of Welcome to Pawnee. O’Heir has the biggest smile as he spills bits and pieces of behind-the-scenes knowledge to the audience about his experiences working on the show Parks and Recreation. He says to the audience, “Then a show like Parks comes along and you’re changing the landscape. These people are my lifelong friends because of this show.” Welcome to Pawnee is Jim O’Heir’s literary debut. —Amelia Badri 
Jim O'Heir sharing some of his favorite memories from Parks and Recreation.
Photo by Amelia Badri Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 1:13 PM
On a brief break between panels, I duck into the shelter of the CoolHouse Greenery booth near building 2. The name is right, as the lush foliage makes the inside of the tent feel at least a few degrees cooler than the mid-70s outside. And the plants, though arranged neatly on tables and displays, give the booth a jungly feel. —James Barrett-Morison 
Foliage at the Coolhouse Greenery booth. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
O, Miami merchandise for sale. Photo by Natalia Martinez
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:54 PM
Brian Michael Bendis revealed he got called into a meeting with some Marvel movie folks just before the Andrew Garfield movies got underway. They sat him down in front a whole team of production staff and asked him one question that ultimately decided a key part of the film lore: "Organic webshooters, or mechanical?" He said mechanical, and we went back to classic Spidey. Well done. —Michael Rojas Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:50 PM
At Marie Howe's poetry reading and conversation with Denise Duhamel. She read many beautiful and incisive comments from her new book New and Selected Poems. Here are some selected lines: "Now we're angels. We move through time and space without our bodies. Which is wonderful, but dangerous." "What do you love more than what you imagine is your singular life? Are you willing to take your place in the forest again; to become loam and bark?" It was an excellent event! —Jose Norono 
Guyanese author Edgar Mittelholzer's book, Shadows Move Among Them,
that some say predicted the Jonestown event long before it occurred. Photo by Amelia Badri Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:45 PM
The Old Florida Book Shop booth has a little something for everyone. Browsing through the various sections you can find a $3 collection of Borges stories and a $10 print of a little-known Caribbean author such as Edgar Mittelholzer. If you like digging for book treasures old and new, this is a good place to start. —Amelia Badri Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:42 PM
Decisions, decisions at the Smorgasburg Food Court. Reading clockwise starting at 9:00 as you enter: lemonade, paella, tacos, açaí bowls, teriyaki, tenders & wings, sugarcane juice, hot dogs, bbq, burgers, ice cream, beef grill, po’ boys, empanadas, more ice cream, more lemonade, dumplings, frozen pina colada, frozen lemonade, sugar coated fruits, funnel cakes, coffee, more tacos, boba tea, soba bowls, coconut drinks, lechona. At the center of the court ruling them all is the Smorgasbar. In the middle of lunch hour, lines at all of them. I’m still looking for an arepa. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:40 PM
Brian Michael Bendis and Nate Powell are talking about plot and how different people come to it in different ways. Powell says he uses index cards to figure out events, cause and effect, and it's not until he can see them falling into a line that he realizes he's got a plot going. Charting and mapping stories in the professional world. Great to see craft knowledge in action! —Michael Rojas 
R. Derek Black and Elle Reeve. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:38 PM
I stopped in to see the "Extremists in our Midst" panel, featuring R. Derek Black and Elle Reeve. Black grew up in white nationalist movements, and was raised to become a spokesperson from age ten. "I was articulate and thoughtful," she says. That thoughtfulness came through in Black's description of her upbringing and her exit from the far-right movement. "After leaving, I felt ashamed, like I didn't have a place anywhere in public society." Her book, The Klansman's Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism, tells of finding that place and claiming it proudly. Journalist Elle Reeve says she started following the white power movement just as Black was leaving it, around 2013. Her initial question was, "how do they attract young people"? The answer led her to corners of the internet she never expected, from reappropriated memes to a Google chatbot hijacked by neo-nazis. It also led to her book, Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics. Black spoke of being raised in a white power culture that was aging and brittle, resigned to the fringes, until the alt-right movement and the pushback against Obama's vision of America attracted a new generation of disaffected young people to it. And now, Reeve says, "all the weirdest stuff, created by the strangest people you can image, has gone mainstream." The packed crowd appreciated their insight, as both books are even more relevant now, on the precipice of another turn in American political history. —James Barrett-Morison 
The National Book Award in nonfiction panelists: Jason De León, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, Deborah Jackson Taffa, Ernest Scheyder, Rebecca Boyle, and Eliza Griswold.
Photo by Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:33 PM
Each year, the National Book Award winners are announced shortly before the Miami Book Fair, but the Fair gets ahead of the game by inviting all of the longlisted authors to participate in panels on their respective genres—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people's and translated literature. This year, six of the ten nonfiction nominees took up the invitation. The panel was expertly moderated by Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation. The authors briefly read from and discussed their work. ◇ Jason De León, this year’s winner with Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Suffering, stressed the often-lost distinction between human trafficking (against people’s will) and human smuggling, which (cons and screw-ups notwithstanding) can be a sought-after service. ◇ Vanessa Angélica Villarreal read from Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders a section on the intriguing affinity between the southern border patrol and Game of Thrones. ◇ Deborah Jackson Taffa read from Whiskey Tender a section about driving in a trance to her mother’s funeral, and she discussed how memoir can be taboo among Native Americans. ◇ Ernest Scheyder read from The War Below: Lithium, Copper and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives the description of a lithium mining entrepreneur clueless, among other things, to the political context that may spell his doom. ◇ Rebecca Boyle encapsulated Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are as “The Moon says nothing about itself, but it says a lot about ourselves.” ◇ Eliza Griswold read from Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church a passage with angry pastors arguing fruitlessly as the communities they represent are fracturing. Seldom have I seen a large and diverse panel where everyone was so appreciative of and curious about everyone else’s work, not to mention very happy to be at the Fair. Sorry I couldn’t stay for the evening session with all the longlisters across genres in what was billed as a rapid read-a-thon. —Bob Morison 
Charles Kochman, Brian Michael Bendis, and Nate Powell. Photo by Michael Rojas
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:15 PM
At the "Fantasy Worlds: Survival, Spells & Sorcery - Fiction" panel (moderated by Charles Kochman, editor-in-chief of Abrams ComicArts), where Brian Michael Bendis and Nate Powell are talking about the power of comic books in storytelling. Powell says the X-Men gave him a lens through which to explore issues of racism, sexism, and power dynamics. I feel that; the X-Men and the animated series in particular have been very influential in my own life. (Isn't it amazing how we can learn sp much from the most unlikely of places?) —Michael Rojas Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 12:01 PM
Book Fair beer report. Estrella, Modelo, and La Rubia in cans for $10 including tax and tip. They're again plying Fairgoers with hard liquor and hard seltzer. Wine reportedly available but not yet in stock. Three locations: food court, by the Off the Shelf performance stage, and outside the SE corner of building 1. So an official Book Fair Pub Crawl has just three stops. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:49 AM
From Jen Karetnick, on what makes Miami worth writing about: "You know, walking around your neighborhood with an ostentation of peacocks makes this place look a little more magical. Although, you know, you can go to Western New Jersey and walk around with a flock of wild turkeys, so..." Don't forget about the Metrorail Shark, and the Garage Octopus, and Florida Man. —Michael Rojas Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:45 AM
The new Pavilion large-tent venue is very popular, featuring YA, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and combinations thereof. Between people queuing early for the next session and people in queue for book signings by the previous session's authors, there's foot traffic gridlock at the intersection of 2nd Ave and 3rd St. —Bob Morison 
Mateo Askaripour and Stuart Turton. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:44 AM
At the "Invisible Worlds" speculative fiction panel, Mateo Askaripour describes his second novel, The Great Hemisphere, in which a large underclass has become literally invisible. He says his publisher agreed to put out the book sight unseen, so he wasn't sure they would be on board with a novel so different than his first book, "until I got them on the phone and said, 'Hey, are you into this?'" Fortunately, they were! In Stuart Turton's The Last Murder at the End of the World, the few survivors of the end of the world live on a paradisiacal but strange Greek island, until a murder disrupts their peaceful life. When Askaripour asks, "why a Greek island?", Turton answers honestly, "I wanted a tax write-off!" He was planning to live in Greece for six months of research (and relaxation), until the pandemic cancelled those plans. Turton also talks about writing the boundary between speculative fiction and mystery. You can't write ten thousand words setting up your worldbuilding—"The reader wants a murder, and they want it now!" —James Barrett-Morison 
David Kirby, Jen Karetnick, and Ariel Francisco. Photo by Michael Rojas
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:40 AM
Celebrity sighting: I had to dodge out of the way of a white golf cart carrying none other than Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava! And her security entourage, of course. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:34 AM
At the "Florida's Past, Present & Future: A Poetry Reading" panel, poets David Kirby, Jen Karetnick, and Ariel Francisco are reading from their newest collections. Karetnick took the lead. Her poem "Mango" is sticky sweet and powerful. (She also has a cookbook that goes by the same name. You can pick it up at the University Press of Florida booth here at the fair!) From Francisco's poem "Insomniami," a heart line: "The high water mark is reaching for the sky and getting there." Kirby continues to be a wonderfully delightful, charming, and funny man. I recently wrote about sherbert and sher-bit, too, David. Small world! —Michael Rojas 
Florencia Franceschetti and Moon Unit Zappa. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:23 AM
Kicked off my Book Fair weekend with Moon Unit Zappa and Earth to Moon: A Memoir (which may have preemptively clinched best book title of the Fair). Legendary father, distinctive name, multifaceted career as actress, singer, and writer. The book wasn’t really overviewed, and moderator Florencia Franceshetti erred on the side of assuming the audience already knew the story. But it emerged in entertaining bits and pieces. Zappa was the "weirdo in a weird house" and never had a chance to be a kid. She called her parents by their first names. I take it chaos reigned. The memoir seems a tale of "collateral damage" with humor as a coping mechanism. How does she recall so much of her childhood so vividly? “Early trauma locks memories in place.” Because she’s a performer, I wish she’d read a passage or three (and I generally need to hear a sample before I impulse-buy the book). —Bob Morison 
Julie Marie Wade. Photo by Bryane Alfonso
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 11:13 AM
Julie Marie Wade’s panel on her new novella memoir, The Mary Years, was exciting and captivating. Wade spoke about how The Mary Tyler Moore Show shaped her life as she watched it over the span of 25 years, and how, when she attempted to sit down and consciously write about the show (thinking it would be an essay), she just couldn’t stop. She said, “I was writing The Mary Years for 25 years without knowing it.” Wade commented on how her favorite episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is constantly changing. The day before, it was episode 11, “Mary’s Insomnia” from season 7. But today, it’s “Put on a Happy Face” from season 3, episode 23. Wade read from a few sections of her memoir, and a quote that resonated with me is, “I had been dreaming of Miami, doodling palm trees in the margins.” —Bryane Alfonso 
The Moleskine Mobile. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 10:52 AM
Last year the custom embossing operation of Moleskine Notebooks was in the back room of a regular exhibitor tent. This year, they’re sporting a distinctive Moleskine Mobile. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 10:50 AM
Enjoyed a wonderful reading by Julie Marie Wade in Building 8! She read excerpts from her new non-fiction The Mary Years, an ekphrastic look at her life as it relates to The Mary Tyler Moore Show. A excellent book! Had a wonderful amount of fun. Some highlights: "It struck a chord of pleasing androgyny. More girls should embrace the boyish in them, as Moore did. Pun welcome." "We have to grow into our foibles, I think. Or at least have time to show them." —Jose Norono
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 10:22 AM
Captain Underpants makes a surprise appearance at the art wall. Also pictured: two grown-ups remembering how fun it is to be kids. —Michael Rojas Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 10:19 AM
Moon Unit Zappa: “Having the entire sexual revolution in your house, you had to have good beds.” —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 10:10 AM
Well, it looks like the first panel I planned to go to today is cancelled. Instead, I took the opportunity to survey the Street Fair, where many booths are still being set up. Popping into the Smorgasburg Food Court, the vendors are all set but few patrons are here ahead of the lunch rush. I enjoy the calm before the hectic peak hours that I know are on their way. —James Barrett-Morison 
The empty food court tables on Saturday morning. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 9:52 AM
First quick tour of the fair grounds included stopping to say hi to the proprietors of Glover's Bookery and Akashic Books, purchasing a new O, Miami dress baseball cap, and grabbing a breakfast pastry in the Friends of the Fair lounge in Tuyo. —Bob Morison 
A view of the Street Fair tents from Tuyo. Photo by James Barrett-Morison
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, 9:51 AM
As always, my first stop on Book Fair Saturday is Tuyo. Housed on the eighth floor, Tuyo is home to the Friends of the Fair lounge, where donors can grab a bite, relax, and enjoy views of the Street Fair and nearby Freedom Tower. And where I can plan my first sessions of the day—and would you look at that, it's time to run to my 10 o'clock! —James Barrett-Morison Friday, Nov. 22, 2024
Visitors relax at the Lost Chapter.
Photo by Emily Chaffins Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, 8:05 PM
Check out the "Lost Chapter" (Building 1 Rooftop, 4th Floor) for DJ music, food, and stunning views of the Miami city skyline! —Emily Chaffins Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, 8:00 PM
Great quotes from Amy Tan's talk on her book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles: ◇ "As my mentor told me, if you pay attention long enough, that becomes love." ◇ "I'm naturally drawn to stories and dramas. When I see disputes, babies, and courtship happening with the birds in my yard, I write." ◇ "When I first fed a hummingbird out of my hand, my thought was, 'This is the moment I've become Dr. Doolittle!'" —Emily Chaffins 
Amy Tan and moderator Kirsten Hines. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, 6:30 PM
I always appreciate it when authors are honest about their creative process and the challenges this inherently entails. At "An Evening with Amy Tan on The Backyard Bird Chronicles," Tan and moderator Kirsten Hines discussed Tan's process in writing this New York Times bestseller on bird watching. The book began as a nature journal that she "never intended to publish." "It was a very personal journal of vignettes" from bird watching, Tan shared, "with misspellings and words going off the pages, but it didn't matter—it was for me." The concept of making it into a book came about when her editor asked for progress updates on a current novel. The novel wasn't ready, so her editor proposed the idea of making the journal into a book. "I said, 'It's a mess, it has coffee stains," Tan recalled. "But he said, 'That's what we want, it's authentic.'" Since she also illustrated the book with drawings of birds from her own backyard, Tan also noted the amount of labor that went into the art. "I took drawing lessons. It didn't just come out of my pen. These drawings represent thousands of hours of practice." As a creative writer, I appreciate the reminder that creativity takes hard work and perseverance; just because a piece of art takes a long time to make or encounters rejection doesn't mean that you're never going to meet success. —Emily Chaffins 
Alicia Monsalve. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, 5:11 PM
I just met Alicia Monsalve from the Mujeres Inspiradas table. During the pandemic, she hosted "writing labs" Sundays via Zoom, because she "found out people needed to talk about what they were going through." Later on, she would compile a short story collection, Inficciones, made of many of the pieces participants wrote during that time. Contributing authors hailed from all over, including Miami, South Carolina, Los Angeles, Venezuela, Cuba, Columbia, and Mexico. —Emily Chaffins 
Miniature guitars at OK44. Photo by Emily Chaffins
"To me, the Everglades represents..." board at the Florida National Parks Association booth. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Charles Robertson and Don Daniels. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, 5:00 PM
The South Florida Writers Association is a Miami Book Fair staple—they've been tabling here since 1991. Don Daniels and Charles Robertson are manning the table today. The association is here promoting member books like every year. Daniels' and Robertson's own books are also on display. Robertson is the author of I'm Gonna Write a Book God Help Me and the new fiction release Pr1mis. Daniels' featured book is Rhyme And Punishment, poems and sonnets satirizing crime stories. These writers sure have a knack for coming up with intriguing titles! —Emily Chaffins
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, 12:14 PM
I always make sure to peruse my Miami Book Fair Guide (full 2024 version here) a couple weeks before the Fair, to plan which panels I want to attend. Though there are always a few last-minute changes to panelists, the guide is generally good enough for planning don't-miss panels, what time I'll want to arrive and depart each day, and when to take a lunch break. This year, as I turned to page 11, I was glad to read that the 2024 Fair poster was designed by a student at New World School of the Arts. Nicole J. Samper is pursuing her BFA in graphic design. At first glance, her poster seems to depict piles of books, but upon a closer look colorful pedestrians on the adjacent sidewalks reveal the stacks form building-scale edifices. Samper says, "When I found out I was selected it was like an out of body experience!" A well-deserved poster choice! —James Barrett-Morison |
