Miami Book Fair 2025 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 Sunday Street Fair crowd. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025
The Jazz Collective belts out "How High the Moon." Photo by Bob Morison
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 5:00 PM
This year my biggest scheduling conflict regret is not the four sessions I wanted to attend at 11:00 this morning. It’s that The French Horn Collective performs at 6:30, wrapping up the festivities on the Off the Shelf stage. Alas, my weekend at the Fair must wrap up before then. At least The Jazz Collective got an early slot today. —Bob Morison Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 4:10 PM
Authors James Barrat (The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything) and Adam Becker (More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity) spoke at the "Instability & Inherent Danger of AI" panel this afternoon. Pardon me, but Sam Tanenhaus' 2PM talk was just too engrossing to rush away from, so I missed the moderator's name as he introduced himself. In addition, as the reader shall see, I didn't come to this panel with a bias, but sure left with one. Barrat opened the panel, saying: "They're not telling us the truth about how dangerous artificial intelligence is." Becker visibly choked at Barrat's bombastic opening, and when the moderator, at last, cut off Barrat and permitted Becker a word, he responded: "AI isn't a science. It's a hoax, and not dangerous," which caused Barrat to ratchet up his claims, and to go full "skynet" by claiming that artificial intelligence works and the computer scientists behind it don't even understand why: "It's all a black box to them." Barrat then asserted that AI is more dangerous than nuclear fission, that physicists never believed nuclear chain reactions were possible, and all were taken by surprise the day the Trinity bomb went boom! Now, I only got a "C" in high school physics, but I once toured the Manhattan Project's Hanford site in central Washington State, and read a displayed copy of the now-declassified letter that Dr. Albert Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt, imploring him to develop the A-bomb. Needless to say, I was skeptical of Barrat's claim. Becker, who obviously earned better than a "C" in high school physics, responded that only one prominent physicist refused to believe that nuclear chain reactions were possible: Ernest Rutherford. The vast majority of physicists were convinced otherwise. 
James Barrat and Adam Becker on AI. Photo by Leslie Lyshkov
Barrat then switched his spiel to AI "hallucinations" that reveal AI software's malicious intent. Becker countered that AI (i.e., large language models) do not think. They string words together. Only because they have access to immense text databases can they create an appearance of thinking. It's no more than an alignment of words based upon probabilities. No hallucinations, just statistics.
Becker began explaining why the investors behind OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), and Elon Musk (Grok) push a technology they know won't work as promised. Their goal is to control humanity's future, which is artificial intelligence's true danger. I leaned forward in my chair because this is why I came here. I had no chance to hear more. Barrat hollered "greed," and spouted off about politicians with their hands in the cookie jar, Citizens United, and our hopelessly corrupt institutions: "As we sit in this room, AI is taking control of power plants and nuclear weapons." We're doomed, and the people who permit this are too dumb and greedy to understand they're slitting their own throats." The moderator waited until Barrat finished and called for the audience Q&A. I sat in the middle of a row, too far to reach the microphone in time. For the remainder of the hour, folks asked Barrat to validate the premise of multiple Hollywood science fiction movies, and he confirmed the validity of all. Nobody asked Dr. Becker a question. Outside the presentation room, the audience lined up to chat with Barrat and to ask him to sign the books they had just bought. Becker sat beside him with nothing to do. When the crowd finally cleared, I presented Becker with the one book he sold that afternoon. Reading it would be my only chance to learn why he flew to Miami from Silicon Valley. One hundred years on, and H.L. Mencken is still right: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." —Leslie Lyshkov 
Pillar wraps welcome Fairgoers. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 4:07 PM
And that’s a wrap! I end the day with a second lap around the fairground premises to find any more familiar faces. After walking up and down since morning, I’m hungry for a burger. Best to check the food trucks around the premises. Signing off. —Joel Estevez Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 3:33 PM
AI is everywhere these days, and the Book Fair is no exception. I count four author sessions on AI, all appropriately held in Miami Dade College’s AI Center. Which raises the question: Do these authors use AI in writing their books, and does that make them memoirs? The last of these sessions paired James Barrat (The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything) and Adam Becker (More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity). As you can tell from the titles, they come at AI from different angles. Barrat is concerned about what happens when AI is smarter than us and what the growth of AI means for employment (as AI eliminates jobs) and the environment (as data centers devour electricity, waste water, and pollute). With all the glaring flaws of generative AI, we may be walking into a big trap. Becker sounds the alarm that the circus is being run by crazy clowns who think people should be living on Mars (per Musk) or in orbit (per Bezos). He finds the human-technology merger (gospel in AI Land) to be ridiculous and asks how systems can be smarter than people when they can’t properly think to begin with. The authors seem to agree that nobody really understands what’s going on. Not just you and me, but also the people building AI systems and especially the tech bro CEOs running AI companies, most of whom aren’t technologists or engineers. They’re businessmen. They discussed the need for some sensible regulation of AI. But how do you regulate something so undefined? AI is the umbrella term for a bunch of technologies being put to unprecedented and unpredictable use. And regulation won’t happen anytime soon in the U.S. because the motivations of the administration and the CEOs are so perfectly aligned. Nobody cares about productivity or public safety or even overall economic prosperity. The only objective is to make lots of money fast. When the authors went full geek and started re-litigating the validity of Moore’s Law, I exited stage left. With my fill of bad news. —Bob Morison 
A selection of items at the Miyoneko stand, a local merch shop that usually attends the Fair and local conventions. Photo by Joel Estevez
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 3:32 PM
In honor of fellow friends who couldn’t make it to the Fair, I went merch hunting. One of the non-book stands named Miyoneko is full of merch regarding anime and manga. A few animated pins, knitted animals, and tote bags for the road never go wrong in my book (literally). —Joel Estevez 
Moderator Fernand Amandi and Sam Tannenhaus on William F. Buckley.
Photo by Leslie Lyshkov Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:55 PM
Sam Tanenhaus (Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America) described his first encounter with William F. Buckley, Jr. to interview him for the book he was then writing, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (1997). Invited to Buckley's upcountry estate, Tanenhaus, from inside his Queens two-bedroom apartment, nervously asked what he ought to wear. "Beach attire," answered Buckley, who lived a stone's throw from Franklin D. Roosevelt's Hyde Park estate in the Hudson Valley, which is sixty miles to the nearest ocean. Tanenhaus covered the phone receiver and turned to his wife: "What is beach attire?" "I'll handle this," she said. Tanenhaus said Buckley and his wife Patricia exuded noblesse oblige. Every Sunday morning, the estate staff, including its Blacks and Latinos, would join the couple and share a ride in their limousine to the local Catholic church. Buckley also knew and was cordial to everyone in the United States who mattered, from Joseph McCarthy to Eldridge Cleaver. Tanenhaus is convinced that Buckley, through his editorship of the National Review (1955-2004) and his presentation of television's Firing Line (1966-1999), was the key figure who rebuilt the conservative movement after the ignominy of President Hoover's administration (1929-1933), the embarrassment of the US Senate's Army-McCarthy hearings (1954), and Barry Goldwater's disastrous presidential run (1964). Over time, Tanenhaus came to recognize that Buckley's on-camera behavior was a performance, and his specialty was the ad hominem attack. Only two public figures got the better of Buckley in an on-camera debate: James Baldwin and Gore Vidal, and from then on, Buckley avoided appearing on-camera with either. —Leslie Lyshkov 
The moderator asks a question to Gary Shteyngart, Ed Park and Iddo Gefen.
Photo by Carlos Martin Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:52 PM
Iddo Gefen, Ed Park and Gary Shteyngart spoke on the inspiration for their most recent work. Park’s book of short stories, An Oral History of Atlantis: Stories, was written over the past 25 years. Gefen’s, Mrs Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory: a Novel, was inspired by an image of a woman in the desert holding a martini. Shteyngart never thought he’d have children. His son and his experiences like watching Kramer v Kramer and wondering how the story would be told from the child’s point of view inspired his most recent work, Vera, or Faith: a Novel. —Carlos Martin
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:34 PM
Simon Winchester (The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind) and Carl Zimmer (Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe) shared some fascinating facts and observations about the air and its movement. The average human lungs contain about five pounds of stuff we've breathed (as measured in Winchester’s school days on a summer job dissecting corpses). The air is full of life, thousands of organisms with each breath. We exhale most of them, but Zimmer calls lungs a microbiome. Gaia is trying hard: the ocean organism that generates oxygen into the air (Prochlorococcus) is the most common life form on earth, and its population increases with warming water. Unfortunately, the downsides of ocean warming are winning the battle. The Chernobyl disaster was detected (outside the USSR) in Sweden because the now-radioactive wind happened to be blowing to the north rather than the usual east. Droplets of spray atop ocean waves can make it into the clouds, where stuff inside them seeds rain. There are bacteria in every raindrop. Bird flu is migrating through dust in the air, and resistance to antibiotics is being spread by “airmail." The Japanese scientist who discovered the jet stream convinced nobody of its existence, because he wrote his scientific papers in Esperanto. The rural Frenchman who first generated electricity with wind couldn’t give the excess power to his neighbors because they all preferred the traditional coal-generated kind. At times bordering on TMI, but the conversation was thoroughly engaging. —Bob Morison 
Shell mosaics by Zaiasart. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:30 PM
At the “Mosaics… and More by Zaiasart” booth, a seashell mosaic--made of what looks like genuine shells--caught my eye. If Miami was a mosaic, that would be it! —Emily Chaffins 
Mini book collections at Storykeeper Studio. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:25 PM
The Storykeeper Studio booth is a display of miniature book decorations. I spotted some of my favorites, like a tiny Anne of Green Gables corked in a bottle and a J.R.R. Tolkien-themed bookshelf about the size of my hand. What tiny books do you think should be on the shelves? —Emily Chaffins 
Valentino's staff showcase their selection of pastries. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:20 PM
Walking by the array of breads and pastries at Valentino’s Artisan booth--from hazelnut chocolate croissants to ham and cheese brioche--my stomach was growling! —Emily Chaffins 
Joel Estevez enjoys a conversation with Adam Aleksic, aka Etymology Nerd.
Photo by Joel Estevez Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:17 PM
Second panel of the day, with another familiar face: Adam Aleksic (also known by his social media handle, Etymology Nerd) in Building 2, the AI center for the campus. Bought my second book at the Fair: Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic. I decided it was worth getting the signature and having a brief conversation with Aleksic about his social media work and its discussion in higher education. It was a dream come true to finally meet someone I’ve only known from my YouTube Shorts algorithm. —Joel Estevez Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 2:15 PM
Shauna-Gaye Hart’s puzzle booth features unique jigsaw puzzles depicting Caribbean scenery! —Emily Chaffins 
Shauna-Gaye Hart showcases her puzzles. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 1:48 PM
Simon Winchester (The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind) has written about volcanoes, earthquakes, oceans, geology generally, and many other subjects. But he said the hardest sell to publishers was a book about the wind. Too invisible, too everywhere. Glad he succeeded. —Bob Morison 
The audience enjoys an origami and storytelling presentation. Photo by Carlos Martin
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 1:14 PM
Results of my annual stroll down Writer’s Row, where individual authors promote and sell their books, in search of interesting titles. ◇ Juxtaposition award goes to adjoining booths offering A Two-Week Journey to Happiness and Path to Peril. ◇ Lots of bad behavior this year: Dark Justice: White Collar Crimes, Miami Outlaw: Kid to Kingpin, and Gold Bar Bob: The Downfall of the Most Corrupt Senator. ◇ Got me going in circles is Disorder vs Desire: Deviating from Society’s Perception of Sexual Deviation. ◇ I hesitate to ask about Red Light Properties: Unfinished Business. ◇ No argument here department: Listen to Nature. ◇ And hands-down winner of title of the year is Holy Guacamole: Chickadee's Got Taco Fever. —Bob Morison 
Sam Tanenhaus (right) is interviewed for C-Span. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 1:07 PM
Sam Tanenhaus, former editor of The New York Times Book Review, did a C-SPAN interview in the middle of the Book Fair! The hardcover version of Tanenhaus’ book, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, is 1,040 pages! —Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 1:03 PM
In “Writing History & Heroes: Middle Grade Fiction,” emceed by Daniel Jones from the Miami-Dade Public Library System, authors Kate Messner, Daniel Nayeri, and Sherri L. Smith gave the audience the behind-the-scenes scoop on their books. Nayeri’s book, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story, received the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The story came about when he discovered that his homeland of Iran had been deeply enmeshed in the Second World War because of petroleum. “Because Iran was neutral, leaders of the Allies went there, and Nazi spies started showing up,” explained Nayeri. “There were refugees that were Polish, Jewish. It made me interested because I was a refugee to the US.” Sherri L. Smith’s story, Candace, The Universe, and Everything, involves middle school, cosmic wormholes, and birdwatching! She developed the story throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. To a girl who asked, “What advice do you have for a teen writer who’s writing a book?” Smith passed on her teacher’s suggestion: “If it comes out of your mouth, it won’t come out on the page.” Cautioning about getting others’ comments before the manuscript is ready, Smith explained, “Keep the book to yourself to make it strong, and then share it with people who can help make it stronger.” Messner’s poetic novel in verse, The Trouble with Heroes, draws from her experiences as a mountain climber. Her young protagonist spends a lot of time in the mountains as he deals with loss. Middle schoolers “need books about grief,” said Messner. She observed that the works that all three of the authors were presenting were “funny,” adding that “We need space to grieve but we also need space to laugh and know it’s okay to feel all these emotions.” I’ll end on a great quote from middle-grade author Daniel Nayeri: “I think the purpose of art is to talk about, what is good? What is useful to us in life?” —Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 12:54 PM
I attended the "On Iran, Past and Present" panel with Scott Anderson (King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation) and Nilo Tabrizy (For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising), along with moderator Sonali Saha of MDC. I developed an interest in Iran because of the film masterpieces it produced a quarter of a century ago, e.g., Abbas Kiarostami's Where is the Friend's House? (1987), Bahman Ghobadi's A Time for Drunken Horses (2000), and Majid Majidi's Baran (2001). For anyone curious to see what Iran looks like, I suggest Albert Lamorisse's documentary film Le vent des amoureux (The Lovers' Wind, 1978). Also, one wishing to learn what's behind the women-led protests might watch Jafar Panahi's The Circle (2000). The difference between the journalists was stark. Anderson suggests yesteryear's image of on-the-ground journalism: All the President's Men (1976), His Girl Friday (1940), and Foreign Correspondent (1940). In comparison, Tabrizy's background was more akin to TV's The Office. It's no longer safe for journalists (or anybody) to visit Iran. Anderson and Tabrizy concurred that "Hostage taking is government policy." If the Iranian government needs something from abroad, foreign guests become trading pawns. Tabrizy works in a Washington Post cubicle. She corroborates cellphone imagery that circulates on the internet. Because VPN uploads strip metadata like time and location from data files, her task is to reestablish locations from street signage, commercial satellite imagery, and open-source documents. (Hint: when you live in an authoritarian state, get VPN.) Tabrizy was reluctant to take on this role. Her family immigrated to Canada when she was a child, and because they were devout Muslims and apolitical, it had been safe for her to visit Iran. Nevertheless, when the women's protests broke out over Mahsa Amini's murder by Iran's morality police, she was the only one in the newsroom who spoke Farsi and faced a choice: Help her newspaper to tell this story or make no sacrifice on her part and continue to be able to "summer" in Iran. She chose the former. 
Scott Anderson and Nilo Tabrizy at the Iran: Past & Present panel.
Photo by Leslie Lyshkov Anderson, on the other hand, seems to long for imprisonment in Tehran's Evin Prison. Only their refusal to issue him a travel visa keeps this from happening. An old gumshoe journalist, he brought anecdotes to tell. Among the best, US embassy hostage Michael John Metrinko, the only State Department officer in Iran who spoke Farsi, was scheduled to brief senior officials in Washington about circumstances in Iran, which he knew were bad. The briefing, however, was cancelled because his security clearance was not high enough to permit him to attend the event at which he was to speak. And six weeks later, when Tehran's embassy was overrun, Metrinko was held hostage for 444 days.
While in Iran, Anderson saw many examples of American hubris, seemingly a systemic flaw of being a "superpower." The fact that the Soviet Union collapsed first merely suggests their hubris was greater. Near the end of the hour, Anderson said sanctions don't work and, in effect, enhance the regime's power, because, to survive, the populace is forced to become more dependent on the government. Tabrizy concurred. There are two sets of rules in Iran: one for "us" (the regime faithful) and one for "them" (everybody else). Sanctions affect the broad populace, not the favored few. She mentioned, too, that the recent Air Force bombings have stoked wide outrage against the United States. No country wants to be bombed. During the Q&A, someone asked the panel for their opinion on the restoration of the Pahlavi dynasty. Anderson found this laughable. Iran has no constituency that favors monarchy. —Leslie Lyshkov Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 12:46 PM
Bought my first book of the Fair! An already-autographed copy from a former professor of mine, Julie Marie Wade’s Other People’s Mothers. Made sure to have her sign it twice for safe measure. —Joel Estevez 
Andrew Furman, Jim Daniels, and Julie Marie Wade. Photo by Bob Morison
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 12:31 PM
This panel featured three great writers reading from and discussing their new books of autobiographical essays. Jim Daniels (An Ignorance of Trees: A Memoir in Essays) read from an essay on the swing set in his childhood backyard outside Detroit in the 50s. To the kids swinging, it represents exhilaration, potential, even flight if they let go of the rusty chains and launched themselves into the dusty yard. But it also foretells the mechanical monotony and contortionist repetition of the auto assembly line jobs that awaited most of them. Andrew Furman (Of Slash Pines and Manatees: A Highly Selective Field Guide to My Suburban Wilderness) read about a testy breakfast table exchange with his wife interrupted by the first seasonal appearance of an outlandishly colorful painted bunting at the feeder outside the window. The bird lives in a realm bigger than mundane human spats. We eavesdrop on birds that don’t sing for us. Julie Marie Wade (Other People’s Mothers) read from an essay capturing a middle schooler’s fascination and disorientation visiting a friend’s home that is much more improvisational and far less straight-laced than her own. Pizza delivery is among the revelations. An audience member asked how many projects the authors have going at once. Wade said she has one big pot and several smaller ones on the stove at any given time. Furman said his main pot is pretty big, but he has some small sauté pans simmering. Daniels always has at least three pots going because he writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and if he loses energy stirring one he can switch to another and see it afresh. The Book Fair programmers were at their best putting this session together. —Bob Morison 
Designer Julie Brumlik shows off a Gutenberg-themed card.
Photo by Emily Chaffins Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 12:30 PM
Did you know that you can study how to make pop-up cards? At the OpenCardNow.com booth, I chatted with Julie Brumlik, a pop-up card designer who learned the “craft” during her time in Vietnam (no pun intended!) “Pop-up cards are handmade sculptures for the special people in your life,” said Brumlik, who has ten years of experience under her belt. One of her offerings, a Gutenberg Bible pop-up card developed in tandem with designer Ray Marshall, has earned accolades and has even been featured on TV. Talk about an “eye-popping” booth! —Emily Chaffins 
The view from the Fair's garage. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 12:10 PM
A stunning view of the city from the Book Fair parking garage! —Emily Chaffins Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 11:58 AM
When moderator Elana Broitman asks about the panelists' expectations for peace in Ukraine, Alexander Vindman (The Folly of Realism) calls it "a live topic," given the ever-changing peace plans and counterplans. "In the long term, Ukraine has more staying power," he says, "though Russia is making slow progress right now." Mikhail Zygar (The Dark Side of the Earth) is more pessimistic. "Putin doesn't want any peace. All of his proposals are just a fantasy." A sobering thought for a Sunday morning. —James Barrett-Morison
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 11:55 AM
At the "Russian Force and Folly" panel, moderator Elana Broitman, senior advisor at The Roosevelt Group, spoke with Mikhail Zygar (The Dark Side of the Earth: How the Soviet Union Collapsed But Remained) and Alexander Vindman (The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself about Russia and Betrayed Ukraine). I come to this event better prepared than for others I will attend, having family born in Russia, speaking a little, and, for a few years, being employed to work alongside Russian and Ukrainian nationals. Unbeknownst to Americans, Vindman's book title exactly signals where his sentiment lies. Most Russians would say "на Украине," and any Ukrainian speaking in Russian would say "в Украине." Vindman's book title conforms to the latter, not the former. Zygar claims it was the Soviet people who brought down the Soviet state, which is half true. Armenians, Estonians, Georgians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Moldavians, Russians, and Ukrainians brought down the Soviet state. The Soviet Union's other seven republics (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) didn't so much leave as the state above them dissolved. Zygar next relates an anecdote about how one babushka bravely stood up to a high-ranking Red Army officer as the coup against Gorbachev was underway, persuading him to withdraw his troops from Moscow's city center. No surprise here, the boldest folks in Russia are grandmothers. Referring to the United States, Vindman says, "Our realism wasn't realistic enough." He then makes an exception for Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. To this, I agree. Meanwhile, the audience reacts aghast. Too few Americans realize that the greatest setback the Soviet Union experienced wasn't the Berlin or Cuban Missile Crisis; it was American rapprochement with mainland China. Vindman goes on to say that the United States suffers because its views are always transactional and short-term. Yep, I concur. Vindman suggests the West would have deterred Russia from invading Ukraine if it had demonstrated a stronger resolve up front. I'm not so sure. He also says if the West backs up Ukraine for one more year, it will be Russia that sues for peace. Again, I'm not sure. Of course, he is a former US Army intelligence officer and would know better. Zyga, wrapping up the discussion, says, "Once Putin is gone, Russia will change." Immediately, I recall the appropriate Russian response: "From your lips to God's ears." —Leslie Lyshkov 
A brightly-costumed performer. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 11:33 AM
I tune in to the panel on Russia and Ukraine, broadcasting on BookTV. Alexander Vindman, former NSC director of European Affairs, calls the Russia-Ukraine war "one of the most dangerous, largest wars since World War II." His book, The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine, zeroes in on the US's "misplaced hopes and fears" of Russia's direction over the last few decades, leading to the current geopolitical snafu. Co-panelist Mikhail Zygar is a Russian TV network founder, now living in exile, and his books take a personal look at those involved in modern Russian history. His latest, The Dark Side of the Earth: Russia's Short-Lived Victory over Totalitarianism, challenges the "stereotypes about how the Soviet Union collapsed," which he calls "terribly wrong and outdated." When Vindman describes the naïveté of US leaders, Zygar says they tuned out of the realities in Russia once the USSR was no more: "We're now on the fifth season... and we missed all the important characters and events." Zygar says his reason for a more individual-focused approach to history is because "very complicated political decisions are always explained by the individuals taking those decisions." Vindman praises this approach, adding that "storytellers do a better job than policymakers" at capturing nuance. —James Barrett-Morison 
Elana Broitman, Mikhail Zygar, and Alexander Vindman. Photo by Leslie Lyshkov
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 10:57 AM
This year, obligations have kept me away from Miami for Book Fair weekend. Not wanting to miss out, I make sure to try out BookTV on CSPAN2, which broadcasts a mix of interviews and Chapman panels both Saturday and Sunday. After a quick input of my cable-provider credentials, I'm in. —James Barrett-Morison Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 10:49 AM
Why do the tallest people insist upon sitting up front? I am seated behind a man who must be 6'6" (198cm). —Leslie Lyshkov Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 10:43 AM
The last day of the Fair starts with a bang! The crowds keep getting larger and larger as we get closer to the afternoon. I find myself gravitating towards the Booklegger's Library trailer, parked next to the fair’s South Entrance. I love the idea of an entire trailer being used as a mobile library, and I’m tempted to pick a book up. —Joel Estevez 
The Street Fair viewed from eight stories up in the Friends of the Fair lounge.
Photo by Bob Morison Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 10:08 AM
The Friends of the Fair lounge is once again in the Tuyo restaurant space on the eighth and top floor of the Miami Culinary Institute building. Serving up bagels, muffins, and croissants for breakfast; sandwiches/wraps and salad for lunch; and coffee, soft drinks, water, and cookies all day. A great place to relax and regroup above the fray. And sometimes to frantically figure out what author session to attend next. —Bob Morison 
The fountains by Children's Alley on Sunday. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 5:30 PM
“How did I get born when my parents were supposed to be murdered before they coupled?” This was how Art Spiegelman described the animating question that drove him to write his graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. —Roberto Manzano Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 5:17 PM
The Fair’s biggest venue was packed for local favorites Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen delivering an ad-lib graduate course in low comedy. Much of their subject matter and language was, alas, unsuitable for a family blog. Barry described his new book, Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up, as his rebuttal to all the teachers who told him “You can’t joke your way through life.” And probably to the English teachers who said, “Enough with the colons." Hiaasen revealed his approach to character development in his new opus, Fever Beach: A Novel. Start with defining questions: How low is the bar? How strange do you have to be to get kicked out of the Proud Boys? The book has already been nominated for banning in Brooksville, FL, and Hiaasen and his publisher are eagerly awaiting confirmation so they can issue a press release. The authors thanked Florida—and Miami specifically—for continuing to provide such a target-rich environment for humorists. They’re excited by the new target, the Trump Library. But Barry is puzzled: "What books would it have?" They concluded the session with the world premiere of a new country song based on a true story of a Florida woman reptile smuggler pulled over for bad driving and found to have, in addition to a trunkful of turtles, a small alligator hidden in her yoga pants. —Bob Morison 
Shimmering butterflies at OpenCardNow. Photo by Emily Chaffins
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 4:58 PM
When Laurie Gwen Shapiro first embarked on her book project about Amelia Earhart, people tried to discourage her. They said that she wouldn’t find anything new about the aviator who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 when she was 39 years old. “Yeah, hold my beer,” Shapiro said in defiant response to the naysayers. Nevertheless, her journey would be long and demanding, requiring five years of interviews and diligent research, including visiting 30 different cities, digging through archives at Purdue University and Radcliffe College, and listening to 200 hours of audio tape interviews conducted by an aviation investigator in the 1970s. Shapiro also had to wade through propaganda from story gatekeepers vested in conspiracy theories about Earhart’s death and myths about her being a better pilot than she actually was. “I just cared that it be true,” Shapiro said about her book The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon. “You have to be a journalist—you can’t be a fangirl.” Shapiro came away with a mostly positive view of Earhart, who she described as ambitious, shrewd, and good, as well as a pilot whose skills improved over time: “It’s a story about her life, not her death.” —Roberto Manzano 
"Legends and Icons” panelists Marisa Meltzer, Scott Eyman, Laurie Gwen Shapiro, and Daniel Pollack-Pelzner. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 4:44 PM
The “Legends and Icons” panelists all probed into what makes their subjects tick and how fame shapes them and their stories. But from very different angles. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner (Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist) interviewed over 100 people Miranda identified as having shaped his life and work. From teachers and mentors to Broadway luminaries to the elementary school bus driver who rapped as he drove. The book is about “how to learn from those around you.” Laurie Gwen Shapiro (The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon) relates how Putnam (of the publishing house family) worked to make Earhart famous. And feeding that fame pushed her beyond her capabilities as a pilot. Her disappearance wasn’t a mystery. Almost certainly, her plane simply went down. Scott Eyman (Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face) said he never planned a book on Crawford until he saw her home movies (featuring a mysterious lover) from the late 1930s that showed her animated in a way that her public persona had almost completely constrained. The book aims to reclaim the humanity of Crawford. Mommy Dearest doesn’t tell the whole story. Marisa Meltzer (It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin) described Birkin as “an aside in her own life.” The British actress (Blowup) and singer was a muse to famous artists in many fields, including fashion (hence the Hermes Birkin bag), but she’s largely been seen in terms of the many men in her life. The book asks: What was she like in her own head? And it tries to “get beyond the flattening that film, press, and fame can do.” Four fascinating lives is a lot for one Book Fair session, but this one really clicked. —Bob Morison 
Glover’s Bookery ready for action. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 4:31 PM
The last discussion I attended for the day was Read with Jenna Book Club Picks, moderated by Zibby Owens, the founder of Zibby Media. The authors and their books on the stage were Emma Knight, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus; Jessica Soffer, This is a Love Story: A Novel; and Ariel Sullivan, Conform: A Novel. The core of this panel was love: Romantic, platonic, and motherly love. What stuck out to me in this discussion was not just about their books and writing process, but about how their love for their children motivated them. Not only do they want to succeed as writers for themselves, but also for their children to find inspiration and passion in the things they do. I also found their side conversation about editing humorous, because yes, Soffer, I also hate that Microsoft Word wants to rewrite all of my sentences. —Zabrina Barbian 
Fairgoers gather at the info booth in Section A. Photo by Leslie Lyshkov
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 4:30 PM
Writing is usually a lonely, solitary endeavor, but Naomi Shihab Nye and Marion Winik found an unusual way to make a collaborative project out of a book that they co-edited. The longtime friends also kept a promise to honor a woman whose prolific letter writing they had admired for decades. The result is a kind of epistolary celebration and commemoration: I Know About a Thousand Things: The Writings of Ann Alejandro of Uvalde, Texas. Alejandro died six years ago when she was 64. Before her death, Shihab Nye and Winik had proposed organizing her letters for a book. “It’s a skinny little book but it’s the essence of Ann,” Winik said. I sensed a bit of that powerful essence when Winik played on her phone a recording of Alejandro speaking: “I’ve wanted to say yes to life over and over again.” Her words felt more meaningful when I learned that Alejandro suffered from chronic pain for much of her adult life. Her letters reveal a woman deeply engaged with her world in the Texas Hill Country, where she lived on a ranch and worked as a high school teacher. Last year, on the baltimorefishbowl.com website, Winik described how she and Shihab Nye edited their book, a meticulous process that required thoughtful culling and curating. “We went through thousands of pages, found all the best sentences and paragraphs and wisecracks and arranged them into thematic sections like Land, Motherhood, Loss, Sports,” she wrote. “It occurred to me that Ann sort of represents all the talented writers who for one reason or another live and die without recognition. Maybe by lifting her up like this, we somehow acknowledge them all.” —Roberto Manzano 
Kristen Arnett and Jade Chang reading the preview of each other’s works.
Photo by Joel Estevez Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 4:28 PM
Before the fiction panel ends, I ask Arnett and Chang, “What is the material that you dread writing about the most?” Arnett responds, “If there is a topic that I am dreading, it means that I am supposed to be writing about that topic, addressing my issue with it.” Chang answers with something similar, “If a topic is uncomfortable for you, the best thing to ask is why. It could make for a good novel.” I find their commentary illuminating and insightful. I hope later panels are as well. —Joel Estevez Continued in the next column...
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2025 Miami Book Fair Poster,
featuring poster art by New World School of the Arts student Ian Teresa-Calleja The FBR Blogging TeamReporters
Elisa Baena Zabrina Barbian James Barrett-Morison (Editor) Hannah C. Emily Chaffins Joyce Englander Levy Joel Estevez Kamila Izquierdo Charlotte Kaplan Leslie Lyshkov Roberto Manzano Carlos Martin Bob Morison Christopher Pineiro Katherine Shehadeh Lynne Barrett (Florida Book Review Editor) 2025 Miami Book Fair In-Person & Online
The 2025 Fair is back bigger and better than ever, featuring both in-person and virtual events! You can see the full 2025 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 BookTV broadcasts of Saturday and Sunday panels, and from 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. 22, 2025, continued
Orchids galore at the Life is a Koconut tent. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 3:58 PM
Joan Crawford had freckles? Who knew? Not the Hollywood cameras. Home movies capturing her makeup-free reveal the secret. Matters not, says Scott Eyman (Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face), it’s still "the face that all cameras adore.” —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 3:56 PM
Attended the fiction panel in Building 8 room 8203 with Kristen Arnett, Jade Chang, Kate Fagan and Kate Folk. Both Fagan and Folk were no-shows, but I think we were in good hands. Arnett says, “Yeah, the others couldn’t show. We ate them.” Their banter and humor are a treat for the ears. Despite the smaller panel, the panel was not lacking! —Joel Estevez Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 3:50 PM
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner (Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist), a Shakespearean scholar by trade, said that if there’s an American Shakespeare among us today, it’s Miranda. —Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 3:30 PM
I wanted to check out the Women in Comics panel moderated by Margaret Stohl, writer of Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics. On stage with her were Charlie Jane Anders, Nnedi Okorafor, and Emily Lockhart. The world of comics has been predominantly male-centered, but these women made their marks when they had the opportunity to create within the worlds of Marvel and DC. They had a long conversation about not just the process of working on a comic book, which is considerably different than working on prose, but also on the reception of their work. Okorafor recalled that when her comic book’s cover was released, she wasn’t aware of how much blatant racism it would get. But she also said that as an ambitious creative, she just had to not let it influence her work and move forward. When it became time for the Q&A, I went ahead and asked what their experience was like working within the framework of a comic book with an already established world. Lockhart answered that at the end of the day, it’s still her work, and she had quite a bit of freedom to carry out her vision. Okorafor also commented that it can be frustrating to know that her characters and story can be discarded by the next comic writer, but it’s what she’s done that matters to her. —Zabrina Barbian Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 3:05 PM
I picked up a copy of Amy Larocca's book, How to Be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time, from the Books & Books outpost. I headed over to say hi to Larocca, and to get my new book signed. As we were catching up, Larocca told me about our mutual friend Bess Wohl's new Broadway play, Liberation, which she said I absolutely must go see immediately. So, I ended my day at the Miami Book Fair full of inspiration from authors in all the worlds I love and inhabit from poetry, to children's, to journalistic non-fiction and wellness, and with new cultural events to look forward to. If I hadn't packed my day so tight, I'm sure I would have had more time to chat and run into people, but the Book Fair is sort of an introvert's dream come true, and I enjoyed that rather than talking, I mostly listened in on many enriching conversations all day. —Joyce Englander Levy 
Florida places panelists Lawrence R. Samuel, Craig Pittman, Les Standiford, and Patrick Alexander. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 2:54 PM
The Florida panel featured local places. Lawrence R. Samuel’s Making Miami (and Miami Beach) tells a history driven by real estate development (from shady to significant) and waves of newcomers, from WWII veterans in the 50s, to Cubans in the 60s and again 80s, to people from all of Latin America throughout this century. A self-described optimist, Samuel said a vibrant city can be ever more so, provided we can tackle housing, transportation, and global warming. Les Standiford’s Coral Gables: From Bankruptcy to Beauty is the story of “the closest the country has to a successful planned city." George Merrick tried to build the perfect place to live, and it’s largely endured for 100 years. Standiford especially celebrates the remarkable resuscitation of The Biltmore Hotel, a shambles when he came to town. Also celebrating the city’s centennial is Patrick Alexander’s Coral Gables: The First Hundred Years. Merrick was selling tropical romance and created a city as garden. “From Homestead to Jupiter is all one urban development with no sense of countryside—except for Coral Gables.” Alexander sings the city’s praises as a cultural Mecca (with a shout-out to Books & Books), and clearly loves the city’s idiosyncrasies. With utter disregard to modern technological precision, the four sides of the city hall clock tower still tell four different times, all incorrect. Offering a pan-Florida view is Craig Pittman’s latest, Welcome to Florida: True Tales from America’s Most Interesting State. Pittman continues to mine the strangeness that is the Sunshine State in highly entertaining fashion, this time providing backstory to new arrivals. About the rise and fall of Big Citrus. The fall and rise of the alligator population (but don’t cull them, since they’re our best defense against the pythons). About how, when crazy developers go up against nature, the latter always wins. And who knew that Yeehaw Junction was originally Jackass Junction? Which is how I will refer to it henceforth. —Bob Morison Editor's note: You can read Bob Morison's review of Pittman's Oh, Florida! on our Nonfiction page. 
Fairgoers visit the Crazy Vinyl Records booth. Photo by Hannah C.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 2:30 PM
The panel for the persistence of mythology was all friendly laughs and conversations about what myth means for literature and culture. Harmonisa Rosales led this conversation with her book, Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic, alongside panelists Kwame Mbalia, George O’Connor, and Ivy Pochoda. The dynamic between the authors was similar to a group of friends, teasing each other and talking about mythical storytelling. They all agreed that myths were and still are a core part of childhood; they make kids curious and venture into different passions and histories, but not all kids can look at myths and feel like they are representative of their roots. Reclamation. That’s what Rosales said mythology is to her because when she started her craft ten years ago, it was for her daughter to see herself in a story that tells about her own cultural folklore. Her intent was “to connect us back to our roots,” spending much of her writing journey piecing together tales that have been lost to time and colonization. It was an engaging conversation about how they go about storytelling and why they believe it’s important and impactful to have stories. Children are inspired when they are met with the fantastical. And adults, too. As O’Connor commented, his Norse mythology series was him “working my way through childhood as an adult.” —Zabrina Barbian 
The Persistence of Mythology panelists Ivy Pochoda, George O'Connor, Harmonia Rosales, and Kwame Mbalia. Photo By Zabrina Barbian
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 2:29 PM
I just met fellow blogger Christopher Pineiro. He’s checking out for his last day after attending a poetry panel. Heading to a poetry reading of my own in Building 8, room 8303, "Bilingualism & Balance: Poetry in Translation," with poet translators Stine An and Lupita Eyde-Tucker, translating the works of Yoo Heekyung and Oriette D’Angelo respectively. —Joel Estevez Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 2:15 PM
Since I have circled something I'd like to go to every hour, I am late once again to a discussion that started at 2:00 PM. This is a talk on wellness. The reason I am drawn to it is because I recognize the author, Amy Larocca, who recently published her book, How to Be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time. She interviewed me for this book in 2019, and I am happy to see it has come to fruition. I agree with a lot of what she and her co-speaker are talking about in terms of guru culture, why it's so appealing (and appalling), and how to spot the red flags of a more dangerous organization. I find it particularly interesting when Larocca, who is a former fashion editor for New York Magazine, talks about the moment when her industry switched from being consumed by fashion to being consumed by wellness, because I had felt their shift first-hand from the other side, when all of a sudden the fashion and entertainment industry came flooding into my yoga studio in New York City around 2015. —Joyce Englander Levy Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 1:53 PM
Like zombie horror? And comedy? While browsing the author booths, I was drawn to Luz Evan Kanin’s series “Mindless Among Us,” which makes for short and fun reads. They're a series of ongoing novelettes following two girls who are just trying to get to work. —Zabrina Barbian
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 1:10 PM
I'm very hungry, but the food court is all the way over there, and I really want to get to Building Eight to hear the panel of National Book Award Honorees for Poetry, including the winner, Patricia Smith. I pick up some pistachios in a vending machine, and I make it to the poetry reading a little late. I take one of the last seats. There are nine panelists and eighty-one attendees. Everyone reads one or two poems, and I think it was an incredible breadth of human experience they all cover. If all you read was their nine books this year, you would be a much more well-rounded human. —Joyce Englander Levy 
Mark Dunkelman and Chris Hughes discuss government and the economy.
Photo by Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 12:34 PM
At first glance, I thought Mark J. Dunkelman’s Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back might be about the scourge of low-quality and quickly obsolete consumer goods. But Dunkelman has bigger fish to fry. He finds our country no longer capable of building the infrastructure we need to thrive. That wasn’t always the case. In the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority brought a whole region into the 20th century through rural electrification. But then big centrally controlled projects became heavy-handed and unfeeling—look at what highway construction did to the South Bronx and the Overtown section of Miami. Now the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Everyone has to have a say, opponents of projects have endless means of appeal and delay, and nothing big can be done quickly or on budget, if at all. Chris Hughes, in Marketcrafters: The 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy, has another view on what works and doesn’t. Hughes is one of the three founders of Facebook, “the one who didn’t drop out of Harvard.” He went on to become an economist. He said we need to get over the illusion of “free markets.” The government shapes markets to achieve commercial purposes. Think about health care, transportation, defense—through investment and regulation, the government runs about half the economy. Sometimes it does a decent job. With occasional exceptions, interest rates and monetary policy maintain price stability. But government manipulation also fails in big ways, as with housing and health care. Both authors are looking for a better middle ground. For Dunkleman that means listening to what people need, authorizing responsible people to make decisions, and having efficient, not endless, means of appeal. Focus on the best overall outcomes and relearn how to get things done. For Hughes it’s about having clear and specific objectives (in housing construction, for example), institutions that are accountable and inventive (we need a surge in modular housing construction), and well-placed development funding. The goals are an affordable economy and a non-wasteful government. Here’s hoping. —Bob Morison 
Fairgoers enjoy the beautiful weekend weather. Photo by Hannah C.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 12:05 PM
I am a little bummed to miss Keith McNally talking about his book, I Regret Almost Everything, which is happening in the Auditorium. But I'm also happy to be escorting my nine-year-old son through the literary world. I'm with him in The Art Lab, which is packed with adolescent kids. There is a group of middle schoolers all wearing matching t-shirts to announce they're part of a book club. I feel happy for them. The panel consisted of Shannon Messenger, the author of the series Keeper of the Lost City; Kwame Mbalia, the author of Jax Freeman and the Tournament of Spirits; and Scott Reintgen, author of The Rise of Neptune (The Dragonship Series #2). My son thinks it's cool cool how the authors built their worlds first, and then their characters arrived like "the last piece of a puzzle" as Mbalia put it. —Joyce Englander Levy
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 12:00 PM
As a lover of horror and thriller novels, I had to be present at the panel hosting some unique and promising horror authors. The speakers and their novels for today’s panel were Quan Berry, The Unveiling; Stephen Graham Jones, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter; and Paul Tremblay, Horror Movie: a Novel. The authors discussed what it means to be a horror writer in a world where horror is growing in popularity as a literary genre. One thing that stuck out to me came from Graham, that the identity of a horror writer “comes from years of being an outsider.” The craft of horror writing comes from writing about what scares you. Berry’s book explores race and the elements of horror in different spaces. She said that hypocrisy was a theme she wanted to write about, contemplating the idea that “you have one face but really it’s something else” in order to address modern fears and cultures. Graham also made an interesting comment about how horror has recently been making jabs at the entitled, asking the question: How do we rebalance society? Stating that the genre is meant to “reflect our collective anxieties,” Tremblay puts it together nicely. The horror genre is about revealing the truth, the awful truth. Horror is meant to be difficult to grapple with and to ask the uncomfortable questions. The panel was an insightful conversation about horror and its space in the literary community, and how it speaks to society. But it was also a great conversation for the authors to speak about their relationship with their writing and their processes. —Zabrina Barbian 
Many chapeaux for sale at Sappa Headwear. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 11:37 AM
Coffee is a must at any book event. Spillmug in the food court had some great options for coffee and matcha. Take your caffeine preference, your choice of milk, and add a flavor for the occasion. Personally, I grabbed a dulce de leche iced coffee before heading to some panels. —Zabrina Barbian Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 11:35 AM
I texted my husband to see where he was. He was driving in circles in the parking garage trying to find a spot. I got in line to pick up bracelets for him and the kids. I regretted not picking them up earlier, when there was no line. But he found a spot, and we made it through. My twelve-year-old son had brought a friend, and we told them to get lost, and have fun. We then walked to the Art Lab in Building One to wait in line with our nine-year-old son to hear Shannon Messenger, the author of the middle school-aged series, The Lost Keeper. While my husband held our place in line, my little one made his own piece of paper, and he leaned on a palm tree to watch a magician perform on a stage that looked like a giant barrel. We scoped out the tent where he would be able to get Messenger's autograph, and he showed me how he brought his well-loved first book in the "Lost Keepers" series with him. —Joyce Englander Levy
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 10:50 AM
New York transplants were out in force to hear Gene Pressman discuss They All Came to Barneys: A Personal History of the World’s Greatest Store. Pressman was co-CEO, creative director, and head of merchandising and marketing for Barneys New York for over a quarter century, leading the store his grandfather founded in 1923. Joining him were his co-author, journalist Matthew Schneier, and Simon Doonan, nominally the moderator but really a ringer. Recruited by Pressman, he served as a creative director at Barneys and was famous for his window displays. Pressman left Barneys in 1998 and said it was finally time to tell the story. “We had the craziest talent on the planet” and an organizational DNA of collaboration, invention, and sense of humor. Barneys’ tag line (including on clothing labels) read “Taste Luxury Humor.” On Pressman’s watch, Barneys pioneered variety in both products and store layout. They started the women’s department in 1976, wading into a fashion world much less predictable than men’s. They built the Barneys label to the point where it made up half of women’s sales. Then they brought Armani to New York and transformed men’s fashion. The downtown store became a celebrity destination. Pressman reflected on how times have since changed. Fashion, like other arts, has consolidated to be controlled by a few firms. The industry has become “financially focused, safe, unexciting.” Stores are real estate plays, without points of view or distinctive experiences. And prices have gone crazy. Nonetheless, people still love to shop where they can have fun and not be bored. What a great way to start my Book Fair weekend. —Bob Morison 
Matthew Schneier, Simon Noonan, and Gene Pressman recount the history of Barneys
in its heyday. Photo by Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 10:50 AM
There were so many nuggets that came out of the Q&A led by poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi. Things Tracy K. Smith said like: "Love is a civic choice." and "A poem is a pursuit." and "Poems exist to be talked about. What do you notice?" and "See six things everyday. Not the obvious." Things Naomi Shihab Nye said like: "My mom used to tell me to 'be my best self', and then I would walk to school and think not only what is my best self? But also, what is my worst self? And, what is my middle self?" And, "We have a chance in poetry to honor our best self." And, "We can keep reminding each other that domination is not the goal." And, "Poetry is happily the thinnest genre," which got a great laugh from the audience. —Joyce Englander Levy 
Caribbean-themed jigsaw puzzles from Puzzles by SG. Photo by Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 10:30 AM
Naomi Shihab Nye took to the podium, and she talked about poetry as a tool for survival. She opened up about her latest book, Grace Notes, which she wrote in the ten months after her mother passed away. Her mother was a painter, and she said, when she paints, she becomes her mother. This resonated with me, for I too commune with my deceased father by doing the things I remember him doing. Nye spoke with warmth, and her sense of humor was full of compassion, such that her voice held the enthusiasm of a child, the truth of a woman, and the depth of a tribal elder. —Joyce Englander Levy Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 10:10 AM
Poet and Harvard professor Tracy K. Smith walked up to the podium in an unbuttoned navy blue blazer, with a long, navy pleated skirt, and navy blue sneakers, and I thought it was the perfect balance of sophisticated-chic and comfortable. She read from her new book, Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times. As Smith read, I realized this book is the chance to get to know her as a teacher as much as a poet. She highlighted the importance of poetry as a means for asking questions that can take a lifetime to unravel. —Joyce Englander Levy 
Vintage books in display crates at Glover's Bookery. Photo by Hannah C.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 9:55 AM
Naomi Shihab Nye walked into the Auditorium in Building One. As she found her way to the stage in a comfortable blue and white striped dress, white sneakers, and her signature side ponytail she said, "Hello friendly people." In her introduction she continued to bring a sense of community and levity to the room when she talked about how grounding it feels, and how much more at peace she is, when she is at a book fair, hearing authors speak, rather than listening to the breaking news. —Joyce Englander Levy Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 9:50 AM
This year the exhibitor tents don’t have the customary large signs across the front flaps of the tents. Harder to know at-a-glance what’s on offer. But then again maybe more people are drawn in to find out. —Bob Morison
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 9:15 AM
Gorgeous weather for Book Fair Saturday! Upper 70s, sunny, some clouds. And more of the same tomorrow. The weather gods bless this year’s proceedings. —Bob Morison Friday, Nov. 21, 2025
The Steamy Lit event at Lost Chapter. Photo by Kamila Izquierdo
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 7:04 PM
My friend and fellow writer Kamila Izquierdo won two tickets to "An Evening With Mercedes Ron on Tell Me Softly." Not familiar with the author or her YA romance sagas, I immediately agreed to be her plus one. This is my favorite part of the Book Fair: unexpected literary discoveries. Tell Me Softly will be available on Prime Video starting December 12th. The panel included Ron, María Contreras (Amazon's head of movies and scripted international originals), Fernando Lindez, Alícia Falcó, and Diego Vidales (the stars of Tell Me Softly). The story is about a girl falling in love with two brothers, and the actors' in-person chemistry was undeniable. We got a sneak peek at a clip from the movie, and I left convinced to watch it once it's out. While the event conversation happened in English, the audience Q&A was mainly in Spanish. Not a Spanish speaker myself, I was content watching the audience members' joy and excitement as the panel answered their questions. I'm also not a romance reader, and the session inspired me to buy a book and get it signed by Ron and the cast. —Charlotte Kaplan 
Two new fans (Izquierdo and Kaplan) get their books signed by Mercedes Ron and
Diego Vidales. Photo by Charlotte Kaplan Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 5:27 PM
The Miami Dade Public Library has an RV stocked with library books, and let me tell you, it had some of the best AC I felt at the whole Fair. If you're looking to cool down, check it out! —Charlotte Kaplan
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 4:56 PM
I had a lovely time overall this afternoon, and though I only browsed the street fair and did not get the chance to attend any author events, I would go back in the future if I am in town. With the roads closed off to regular traffic, walking through the street fair with hundreds of books on either side of me is a true kid-in-a-candy-store experience for book lovers. —Hannah C. Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 4:28 PM
I came across a few booths with poets and their poetry books and got the chance to speak to two of them and hear about their work.
Seating at the Reading Garden. Photo by Charlotte Kaplan
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 4:06 PM
For Book Fair enthusiasts who prefer to avoid large crowds, arriving late on Friday afternoon might be ideal. The school groups have dispersed, and entry remains free. There's plenty of room to browse books peacefully and have meaningful conversations with local vendors. Or, feel free to settle in at the Reading Garden, located at the corner of NE 2nd Ave. and 3rd Street. --Charlotte Kaplan
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 3:49 PM
I meandered through the area and browsed several booths, including one where Storykeeper Studio was selling miniature bookcases filled with miniature books, another where Amorcito Boutique was selling handmade earrings, and another with children’s books and puzzles about mermaids and dinosaurs. Eventually I made my way to Books & Books, which had one of the largest selection of books out. There was a table dedicated to poetry, where I saw one of my favorites, Devotions by Mary Oliver. I bought Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats. The books seemed to be organized by genre. In the self-help section, I saw several bestselling titles that I recognized, like Bessel Van Der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. —Hannah C. 
A historic New York Herald at Bookleggers. Photo by Hannah C.
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 3:31 PM
As a first-time Miami Book Fair goer, I had little idea of what to expect, besides lots of books. All I went in with was an open mind (and an open wallet). I went on Friday afternoon, the first day of the street fair weekend. Colorful tents lined each side of the street in the sectioned-off area for the Fair with vendors, most selling books and some selling other handmade items, like jewelry and other small trinkets. My first stop was at Glover’s Bookery and Bookleggers Fine Books, where I picked up a first edition copy of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and marveled at well-preserved paper copies of The New York Herald from 1863. —Hannah C. 
National Book Award for Young People’s Literature panel: moderator Ebony LaDelle and finalists Ibi Zoboi, Maria van Lieshout, Hannah V. Sawyerr, Daniel Nayeri, Mahogany L. Browne, and Maria Dolores Aguila. Photo by Bob Morison
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 11:17 AM
The only daytime author session on Book Fair Friday features, appropriately, finalists for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Dubbed “Teens Read,” the event is focused on high school students, and attendees receive a handout profiling the 10 Book Award finalists and their books, with space suitable for note-taking. Six of the finalists were on hand to read from and discuss their work. Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, welcomed the crowd and introduced moderator Ebony LaDelle, author of Love Radio. ◇ Maria Dolores Aguila’s A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez explores Depression-era discrimination against Mexican Americans. ◇ Mahogany L. Browne’s A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe has a lead character possessed by a ghost. ◇ Daniel Nayeri's The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story (the Book Award winner) follows orphaned siblings in British-and-Soviet-occupied Iran. ◇ Hannah V. Sawyerr’s Truth Is has a slam-poet facing very difficult relationships and decisions. ◇ Maria van Lieshout’s Song of a Blackbird, set in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam in 1943, is narrated by said bird. ◇ Ibi Zoboi’s (S)KIN has a young witch who sheds her skin and becomes a fireball with each new moon. So we have witchery and possession alongside more realistic contemporary and historical fiction. Three of the books are novels written in verse or vignettes, a fourth rendered with graphics and historical photographs. The audience applauded the variety and mastery on display. And Q&A brought out what the books have in common—young protagonists learning how to see themselves and the confusing, challenging, chaotic worlds around them. —Bob Morison 
High school students await the start of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature panel. Photo by Bob Morison
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 9:22 AM
Friday at the Book Fair, admission is free and young people rule. The crowd grows with each arriving school bus. Children’s Alley gets boisterouser and boisterouser. And seasoned exhibitors like Glover’s Bookery, with their great selection of used books, are ready at the opening bell. —Bob Morison Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 9:18 PM
My classmate Christopher Pineiro goes up to the microphone and asks Arthur Sze if he ever feels a responsibility to write political poetry. Sze says that our only responsibility as poets is to “write at our deepest level.” —Elisa Baena Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 8:35 PM
Arthur Sze finishes reading from Into the Hush and takes a seat next to fellow poet and educator Campbell McGrath. Now begins my favorite part of any literary event--when one writer picks another writer’s brain in front of an audience. McGrath asks Sze to tell us about his early relationship with poetry. We learn that Sze wrote his first poem at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because he was bored during a calculus lecture. He transferred to the University of California, Berkeley and started translating ancient Chinese poetry. Sze says he “translated ancient Chinese poetry to learn the craft”--but ultimately felt constricted. The conversation shifts to his current writing process and Sze tells us that he has gotten more comfortable with revision as he’s aged. Sze says he will have 60 or 70 drafts of a poem before it is "completed." This sounds wild to me, but I’m not a poet. I’ll be taking my first poetry class next semester. —Elisa Baena 
Fairgoers and Street Fair exhibitors start to fill in early Friday morning.
Photo by Bob Morison Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 8:06 PM
Arthur Sze, the United States’ 25th Poet Laureate, read selections from his most recent book of poems, Into the Hush, followed by a brief conversation with poet and FIU professor, Campbell McGrath. Giving some insight into his poems, Sze discussed his poem which took the form of a letter to Tao Chen. Chen, as Sze explains, was a 4th century Chinese poet, whose work is amongst Sze’s translations and an inspiration for his own poems. Sze described his process for this poem, starting with a line from Chen and then continuing on with his own letter to Chen, who Sze described as “one of the great Chinese dropouts.” An interesting description for a figure to take so much inspiration, Sze explained how Chen once held a government job and plugged away like most people, before building a house in the country, planting chrysanthemums (because who among us?) and writing poetry. This, according to Sze, was “what he was known for.” A slender man in a salmon button-down shirt, Sze told the packed auditorium about his own background between poems in the voice of a jaguar and other surprising points of view, including a pencil eraser. Like Chen, Sze started out on his own path to work in which he may not have been as suited. He explained his journey from attending MIT and his science focus to his radical transfer to U.C. Berkeley, where, much to the early dismay of his parents, he shifted his life to follow his passions. All of this, of course, led him here, to Miami, Florida on a warm Thursday night to share his passions and poems at the opening of the 2025 Miami Book Fair. —Katherine Shehadeh Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 8:05 PM
I came to the Miami Book Fair on Thursday evening to see U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze in conversation with Campbell McGrath. I am with two of my neighbors, a husband and wife who are also writers. The wife and I dressed up like proper Cuban ladies for the occasion (white linen, beaded necklaces, red lips). My neighbors save me a seat as I park and I walk in just in time for the reading. I notice that much of the audience has white hair and wonder if they also have a 20-something neighbor to chauffeur them to Downtown Miami. Sze begins by reading several of his poems from the collection Into the Hush. My favorite poem is “Jaguar Song,” which is written in the voice of a jaguar. Sze calls this one of his many “voice experiments” like the similarly titled poem “Eraser Song.” It is written in the voice of a pencil eraser, which I find hilarious. I like poetry best when it is playful. —Elisa Baena 
Oscar Fuentes. Photo by Christopher Pineiro
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 6:00 PM
From the parking lot on 5th Street, I walk past the fire station of Downtown Miami, south toward MDC’s Wolfson Campus. Cutting south down NE 2nd Avenue, I pass between rows of familiar, vibrantly colored canopy tents as vendors prepare for the start of the street fair on Friday. But tonight, things are still cool as I enter the bottom floor of Wolfson Building One. I spot some friendly faces and join the line outside of the Art Lab, waiting to be let into “Poetry City: An Invitation to be Part of Miami’s Literary Soul.” It is a showcase of Miami poets, headlined by Oscar Fuentes, also known as “The Biscayne Poet,” featuring readings by Miami-Dade Poet Laureate Caridad Moro-Gronlier and more. Directed by JC Gutierrez, with backing music from the Sam Hart Jazz Trio, each poet performs one of their own poems as well as a poem by a late Miami poet: a celebration and coming together of Miami’s poetry history and legacy, filmed by Aaron Glickman and Alec Jerome as part of Fuentes’s upcoming documentary, Poetry City. Fuentes takes the stage, and for the next hour we are treated to a veritable feast of sound and language, being transported through Miami via the voices of its poets, past and present. Poems by Everglades champion Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, Florida’s second Poet Laureate Vivian Laramore, and the 1990s “Bicycle Poets” are given new life on the stage as they are performed in tandem with new poems by Fuentes and Moro-Gronlier, as well as by Miami poets Trey Rhone, Nicole Tallman, and Arsimmer McCoy. In this moment of poetic ritual, shared by performers and audience alike, we reaffirm Miami’s poetic history and present, cementing Miami’s status as a “Poetry City.” Arsimmer McCoy closes out the show with an utterly unparalleled poetic performance, delivering instructions for the day of her funeral, for the procession through Miami. We are reminded of our place as poets within the legacy of this city, which, thanks to moments like this, will carry on strong. —Christopher Pineiro |
