Miami Book Fair 2020 Blog
2020: The Miami Book Fair Online
EDITOR'S NOTE: Photos from past FBR Miami Book Fair live-blogs are here to give you a sense of what the in-person experience has been like.
In addition, some links to panels may no longer be functional. You can still get a sense of what panels were like from our coverage below. 
2020 Commemorative Miami Book Fair Poster, created by award-winning
childrens' book author and illustrator Dan Santat. Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, 5:30 PM
The online Miami Book Fair is not the same. Things I miss: ◇ The crowds enjoying the street fair and running into friends at many a turn. ◇ Arriving really early, strolling the uncrowded fair, and chatting with vendors setting up their booths. ◇ Excellent three-author panels where I impulse-buy all three books and get them signed. ◇ Holiday shopping at the used-and-antiquarian booksellers. ◇ The Porch, where anything can be happening. ◇ The Friends of the Fair lounge with its always warm welcome. ◇ A quick restorative at the Biscayne Bay Brewing stand. ◇ Arepas (don’t tell my cholesterol coach). Then again, something marvelous has happened this year: No more angst and frustration when two (and often more) sessions I want to see are overlapping or simultaneous. I’ve viewed twice the number of sessions that I usually make in person, and been able to enjoy more variety. Still have a dozen more that I plan to watch. Untold riches for me, and people around the world can enjoy the richness of MBF. —Bob Morison Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, 4:00 PM
To say 2020 has been different is an understatement. In the U.S. alone, the pandemic has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands, the jobs of millions, and forced others to work and study from home. Large-scale events have been outright cancelled or have adapted and transitioned to a virtual space. Even with all that has happened, and what is still to come, it's good to know that the Miami Book Fair, albeit remotely, can remain one constant in this time of COVID. I love the Miami Book Fair in person—I mainly miss it for the food, to be honest—but every year I do lament my inability to be in two places at once and having to sacrifice one panel over another or skip a panel to have lunch. With MBF Online, I enjoyed having the option of viewing panels that were released at the same time and not worry that I needed to pick and choose. I hope that by this time next year, we can safely gather in Downtown Miami for another Miami Book Fair, and keep some of the online elements introduced this year. But until then, watch MBF Online! Stay safe and sane! —Giselda Aguiar Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, 3:00 PM
Poet Campbell McGrath, whose latest most excellent book is Nouns and Verbs: New and Collected Poems, did yeoman service to this year’s Book Fair online. He conducted conversations with four U.S. Poets Laureate, including Joy Harjo, the current and first Native American Laureate. She described the role of poetry among the Native Nations long before Europeans arrived and discussed her crossover activities as poet and musician. Her new anthology is When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. The past Laureate discussions are with Juan Felipe Herrera, Robert Haas, and Billy Collins. To put the Laureateship in context, McGrath also interviewed Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress (and the first professional librarian in 60 years to hold the post), and Robert Casper, who directs the Library’s office of poetry and literary affairs. They discussed the Laureate roles and selection process. Finally, McGrath talked with Kevin Young about his new and definitive anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, which Young describes as “a long conversation among poets.” They discussed how “putting pen to paper can be an act of protest,” the historical connections between Black music and poetry, and the vibrant contemporary Black poetry scene. —Bob Morison 
A bird's-eye view of the 2014 Street Fair. Photo by Jan Becker
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, 2:14 PM
This is not your typical Book Fair present-the-book session. More like eavesdropping on the conversation of two people who didn’t know each other but have a lot of common interests and experiences. The occasion is Paul Theroux’s On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey, for which he drove the length of the U.S.-Mexican border. His interlocutor is novelist (The House of Broken Angels) and Tijuana native Luis Alberto Urrea. They talked about the richness of Mexican culture, the unique culture along the border, and how little Americans know of it. Very little Mexican literature is translated into English, but Mexicans read a lot of American work in translation. Some people are in the know—Mexico is the most popular destination for American expats [currently about 1.5 million, just looked it up]. And yet politicians demonize the neighbor next door, a neighbor “on the same road," as Theroux says. A few travelogue points came up. Road trips in Mexico are fun—there’s always a great place to eat and friendly place to stay. Mexicali has the largest selection of El Chapo t-shirts. The enlightening and enjoyable conversation ends with each describing an upcoming book and the two making arrangements to stay in touch. Replay is here. —Bob Morison Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, 12:40 PM
M.T. Anderson's The Daughters of Ys retells, in graphic novel format, the story of the mythical city of Ys and how it sunk under the sea. Gabby Rivera's b.b. Free tells the story of b.b. in a post-plague world in which some people want to bring back the old ways of hierarchical power. Lisa Brown's The Phantom Twin is about a sister who is haunted by her deceased conjoined twin. The "Strange and Striking Fantasy" panel's moderator, Heidi MacDonald, wrapped the discussion by asking each author what their journey was transitioning from one art form—prose writing in the case of Rivera and Anderson and only illustrating in Brown's case—to graphic novels. Anderson and Rivera gushed over their collaborators who drew their stories, Brown adding that she was jealous since she was her own illustrator. The panel ended with each artist discussing their future projects. Watch the fun convo here. —Giselda Aguiar Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, 12:00 PM
The "Strange and Striking Fantasy" panel features M.T. Anderson (The Daughters of Ys), Gabby Rivera (b.b. Free), and Lisa Brown (The Phantom Twin). Moderator Heidi MacDonald started the conversation with Rivera, whose book, which came out in 2019, is set 100 years after a plague. They joked that Rivera had prophetic powers. All three books deal with discrimination or othering in one way or another, prompting MacDonald to ask, "Why does society blame the girls?" Rivera poignantly stated that if people in power admitted to and accepted the ugly truths, it would allow for healing. —Giselda Aguiar Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 5:00 PM
I became interested in "The Darkness Comes—The Horror of Noir" panel when, at the virtual kick-off event the Miami Book Fair had this year on October 8th, one of the MBF staffers recommended Katie Skelly's graphic novel Maids about the Papin sisters. Knowing the story and loving graphic novels, I wanted to hear more. The panel consisted of Ed Brubaker, Julia Gfrörer, and Skelly with Alex Segura (Black Ghost) as moderator. Brubaker's Cruel Summer tells a multi-generational crime story about criminals and their children who seem to be going down the same path. Gfrörer's Vision: Book 1 is essentially a ghost story of a 19th-century spinster and her relationship with a haunted mirror. Skelly's Maids tells the story of the Papin sisters who murdered the family they were maids to in 1930s France and their subsequent arrest and trial. The authors started off talking about noir and what makes noir, almost a continuation of the conversation in the "Miami Noir: The Classics" panel. Eventually the discussion covered how/why they chose to tell their stories as graphic novels, what they're reading now, and what are their next projects. Watch their full discussion here. —Giselda Aguiar Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 4:00 PM
One interesting topic discussed at the "Bigotry as a Monster: Black Heroes Beyond the Black Panther" panel was the state of comics today. Brandon Thomas (Excellence) spoke about the need of structural changes, mentioning the DC Future State, and single issue/20-page vs. "bumper editions" with two or three issues. "I feel like this 20-page pamphlet style is going to ultimately be the death of us," Thomas said. "I think that's why you're seeing a lot of movement, now, with original graphic novels." As someone who doesn't read comics often and prefers graphic novels, I found the entire conversation fascinating, getting a glimpse behind the curtain of the comic industry, including corporate vs. indie, and hearing these artists' views on the current climate within the industry. Watch four friends and collaborators talk about comics and beyond here. —Giselda Aguiar 
Comics archway at the 2018 Book Fair. Photo by V. Calderin
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 3:00 PM
"Bigotry as a Monster: Black Heroes Beyond the Black Panther" was moderated by Khary Randolph, although he stated he wouldn't be moderating but having a conversation with authors David F. Walker (Bitter Roots series), Kwanza Osajeyfo (Widows and Orphans), and Brandon Thomas (Excellence), who was in the "Love, Commerce, War: Sci-Fi Adventure Thrillers" panel yesterday. The conversation started with Randolph asking, "How are y'all feeling about 2020?" "2020 has been living to its expectations because there haven't been any," Osajeyfo said, laughing. "If the bar is this low, I'm just going to step over it and keep going." Thomas added he sometimes feels "survivor's guilt" because he's doing well with so many offers to write comics coming in, alluding to a 10-year span in which he wasn't allowed to write for DC. (He didn't elaborate, much to the teasing of his co-panelists who asked to be told after the panel.) —Giselda Aguiar Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 2:00 PM
The “Maria, Maria: Hurricane Stories” session, part of the Book Fair’s “Read Caribbean” track, is a twofer. In the first and longer segment, M.J. Fievre, prolific author in French and English and the Read Caribbean coordinator, interviews journalist Maria Padilla and clinical social worker (and retired NYPD sergeant) Nancy Rosado, authors of Tossed to the Wind: Stories of Hurricane Maria Survivors. They described the ravages of Hurricane Maria when it traversed Puerto Rico, the failures of government preparation and response, and people's prolonged and painful recovery. “People can prepare for two weeks without electricity and other services—but not for a year.” The book's firsthand stories come from Puerto Ricans who evacuated to the Orlando area, where they faced a different set of difficulties, met with the combination of resilience and community. Padilla and Rosado felt they needed to document the hurricane experience before it's forgotten, and their passion for the project is inspiring. In the second segment, novelist and poet Geoffrey Philp interviews poet Celia Alexandra Sorhaindo, originally from Dominica, West Indies, and novelist Kereen Getten, originally from from Jamaica. Sorhaindo’s collection, Guabancex, is named after the supreme storm deity of the ancient Florida-and-Caribbean Tiano people. She said the poems mix “maelstrom and radiance, myth and reality.” Getten’s book for early readers, When Life Gives You Mangoes, centers around a young girl who has lost memory of the previous year, when a hurricane had hit. They discussed the Caribbean as a crucible, a melting pot of multi-cultural variety with, once again, resilience and community as the common ingredients. The replay is here. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 1:00 PM
The "Rick Riordan Presents" panels features J.C. Cervantes (Storm Runner #3: The Shadow Crosser), Kwame Mbalia (Tristan Strong Destroys the World), and Tehlor Kay Mejia (Paola Santiago and the River of Tears) with Dr. Keshia Abraham as moderator. Mejia's middle grade book is inspired by la llorona myth. Cervantes' Storm Runner series is based on Mayan mythology. Mbalia's Tristan Strong series depicts a world in which African American folk tales coexist with west and south African mythology. This is one of the funniest, sincerest, and thought-provoking panels I've seen so far. It'll make you want to stop and just listen. Some topics covered: ◇ Diaspora, identity, and assimilation ◇ Borders, both physical and metaphysical ◇ The power of anger (reminding me of Audre Lorde) and processing emotion ◇ The use of humor ◇ Shame The panel ended with each author reading a part of their novels. Watch it all here. —Giselda Aguiar 
Los Libros Mas Pequeños del Mundo at Book Fair 2016. Photo by Natalie Havlina
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 12:00 PM
Valerie Strauss and Roxanna Elden begin their "In Conversation" by discussing Elden's first book, See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers (2009), which was a work of nonfiction, as opposed to her latest book, Adequate Yearly Progress, a novel about teachers. Elden's personal journey as a teacher leads to a brief discussion of the myth of the "Super Teacher." (Watch Elden's presentation on the myth here.) Trigger warning: Elden and Strauss discuss cockroaches at one point. Elden brought up the fact that during NaNoWriMo in November, she would encourage students to participate by giving them extra credit and free food. The year she was my teacher, those of us who participated ate at a local Chinese buffet. (That restaurant has since burned down.) Watch the whole conversation, including a hint at the end of the possibility that the novel might become a TV series. —Giselda Aguiar Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 11:35 AM
Sarah Frey’s memoir, The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life — and Saved an American Farm, tells an engaging story. She grew up on a struggling 80-acre family farm in southern Illinois. Taught herself to drive trucks and farm equipment starting around age 5. Apprenticed delivering watermelons from the back of her mother’s truck. Intent on escaping the farm, she left in her mid-teens to start her own produce delivery business, and returned two years later to buy the farm when it faced foreclosure. Fast forward: Frey Farms has 15,000 acres on farms across seven states, Florida included. It’s the #1 producer of pumpkins in the USA. South Florida shoppers can get Sarah’s Homegrown fresh fruit juices at Publix. Frey says, “I was an entrepreneur before I was a farmer.” The poverty of her youth has guided her toward “compassionate capitalism” — local businesses serving their communities and enabling their employees to make a good living. Grow good produce and everybody thrives. This is part of the Book Fair series sponsored by the Knight Foundation and themed “Future of Democracy.” The replay is here. —Bob Morison Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, 11:00 AM
"In Conversation: On Adequate Yearly Progress" with Valerie Strauss and author Roxanna Elden starts off with a disclaimer: it was recorded before all the presidential votes of the 2020 election had been counted, so they ask viewers to forgive them over this strange moment. Disclaimer: I'm watching this recording while putting batteries in my little nephew's Christmas toys before I wrap them. I don't think this will affect my reporting. —Giselda Aguiar Friday, Nov. 20, 2020
Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, 6:00 PM
Since all three works under discussion at the "Love, Commerce, War: Sci-Fi Adventure Thrillers" panel have some dystopian or bleak elements—body hijacking technology in the case of Brandon Thomas' Hardcore Reloaded—the conversation led to some heavy topics and discussion of current events. The turn prompted moderator Conor McCreery to ask whether storytelling was becoming more cynical. Ann Nocenti (The Seeds) answered that underneath a story that may seem cynical is hope. The panel ended on a hilarious note when McCreery asked each author a question that connected back to the plot of their books: ◇ Who would Thomas bodyjack in real life? ◇ Which side of the wall—tech or no tech—would Nocenti live in? ◇ If Johnnie Christmas (Tartarus Vol 1) could have any secret relative, who would it be? Hear their answers and the whole panel discussion here. —Giselda Aguiar Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, 5:00 PM
Personally, it isn't truly the Miami Book Fair without seeing author Conor McCreery at one or more comics or graphic novel panels. This year, he moderated the "Love, Commerce, War: Sci-Fi Adventure Thrillers" panel, which had Johnnie Christmas (Tartarus Vol 1), Ann Nocenti (The Seeds), and Brandon Thomas (Hardcore Reloaded: Vol 2) as panelists. McCreery started off the discussion with, "What makes a good sci-fi tale?" "The possibility," Thomas said. —Giselda Aguiar 
A Book Fair staple, the classic arepa, at the 2015 Fair.
Photo by James Barrett-Morison Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, 4:15 PM
Four characters over the course of one day in Paris of 1927, alternating chapters until their stories finally converge. That’s the shape of Alex George’s The Paris Hours. With cameo appearances by the artists of the place and day, including Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein. Expertly interviewing is Carol Fitzgerald of the Bookreporter podcast series. She asked about the challenge of fitting all the present-day action into one day. George said, “Constraints can release other parts of the brain to be more creative.” George is also proprietor of Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, MO, and director of the Unbound Book Festival. The Paris Hours is on my list to Santa. The session is here. —Bob Morison Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, 3:45 PM
I can relate department: Alex George (The Paris Hours) said, “I don’t have a favorite restaurant in Paris. I just go to the place on the corner.” —Bob Morison Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 8:25 PM
The fastest five minutes of the Book Fair! A dozen authors read their contributions to Tom Virgin’s broadsheet collection, with broadsheets displayed. Watch for your favorites. Great art, great fun. Catch it here. —Bob Morison Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 2:30 PM
The "Virtual Pachanga: Las Musas Squad" with panelists Chantel Acevedo (Muse Squad: The Cassandra Curse), Alex Aster (Emblem Island: Curse of the Night Witch), Zoraida Córdova (The Way to Rio Luna), and Adrianna Cuevas (The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez) discuss their latest novels and Las Musas, a "collective of women and non-binary (identifying on the female spectrum) Latinx" writers. Aster's Emblem Island, where people are born with a marking on their skin indicating what they'll do in life, is inspired by a Colombian myth her grandmother told her when she was a child. Acevedo's Muse Squad is inspired by a trip to London's V&A Museum and the Greek myth of the nine muses. Cuevas, who based her protagonist Nestor on her son but with the ability to speak to animals, had fun writing about a Cuban American living in Texas. Córdova's The Way to Rio Luna is a reflection of her "always want[ing] to write about kids experiencing the world through a magical lens." The panel ended with each author reading a short selection from their books. Since reading and reviewing Acevedo's Muse Squad for The Florida Book Review, I've been looking forward to this panel, hoping to learn about other fantasy children/YA books featuring Latinx characters. I left not only learning about these authors' books but about the mentorship in Las Musas and the growing group of debut Latinx authors writing for children and young adults. Watch la Pachanga and a recording of the live Q&A (with great questions) with Acevedo here. —Giselda Aguiar Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 2:20 PM
“In memory’s blue sedan, it was almost as if time had dissolved.” Thus begins the title poem in Jesse Millner’s collection Memory’s Blue Sedan. Dissolved to the point where the poet can talk with Aunt Sarah before she was institutionalized, having tried to flag down a biplane in 1930 so the pilot could take her to Jesus. The poems Millner reads here are about looking back and seeing things perhaps differently, yet sitting “amazed at the confluence of history and the perpetual present.” And sometimes wanting “a different memory, filled with carnivals and circus clowns” and the affections of the bearded lady. The poems are delivered in crisp detail and haunting rhythm. When you have 16 minutes to enjoy and reflect, tune in here. —Bob Morison |
2020 Miami Book Fair Online Features
The Book Fair has an all-new website for MBF Online.
Register to view all the offerings, set up your profile, and select from the schedule of presentations that will begin to roll out on November 15th: miamibookfaironline.com In addition, the beloved street fair has been replaced this year by the Book Fair Marketplace. Visit over 100 virtual booths, including booksellers, presses, authors, charitable & religious organizations, and Fair sponsors. Here in Florida~
The 2020 Here in Florida map.
The Miami Book Fair's intereactive map of Florida takes you to the work of more than 40 Florida writers and artists on the new Miami Book Fair Online website.
The FBR Blogging TeamReporters
James Barrett-Morison, Reporter and Webmaster Giselda Aguiar Bob Morison Photographers Enjoy photographs from FBR coverage of Fairs past! Giselda Aguiar James Barrett-Morison Jan Becker V. Calderin Natalie Havlina Ed Irvin Gisela Kwon Bob Morison More bloggers will be listed as contributions come in. 
Crowds gathering on the first day of the 2019 Street Fair. Photo by Giselda Aguiar.
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, cont.
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 12:00 PM
"A Spectre-tacular Conversation: On Magic, Monsters, and Raising the Dead" presents panelists Kat Cho (Gumiho #2: Vicious Spirits) and Darcie Little Badger (Elatsoe). Cho's Wicked Fox and its follow-up Vicious Spirits uses Korean mythology and K-drama while Little Badger's Elatsoe—her debut novel—has a Lipan Apache protagonist on a quest to solve her cousin's murder. The conversation was fun and interesting as the authors discuss the role of place in their stories, shamans and possessions, ghost animals, and Korean drama recommendations. The panel made me curious to read these fantasies featuring Korean and Lipan Apache cultures that, during the video, I checked out the audiobooks on the Miami-Dade Public Library's OverDrive. Watch the full panel here. —Giselda Aguiar 
The food court at lunch time during Book Fair 2018. Photo by Giselda Aguiar
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 10:19 AM
Craig Pittman has been writing about Florida and its environmental issues for 30 years. He had plenty of material on the Florida Panther, but said he couldn’t write Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther until the story had an ending. This session is almost 90 minutes long, but Pittman is full of anecdotes and consistently entertaining. He said that part of the impetus to save the panther came in 1981 when the legislature asked Florida schoolchildren to select the official state animal and they chose a longshot—the panther. That forced the politicians to pay attention and provide funding for protecting a very endangered species. Pittman notes that "Public shaming of politicians is always entertaining.” He read the book’s prologue about the disheartening death of panther FP3, killed in the attempt to tag it. For all of his knowledge and experience of the state, Pittman say he has a “Florida bucket list” of things still to do, starting with camping overnight in the Dry Tortugas. For more on what he’s already seen and learned, you can read my FBR review of his Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country here. Book Fair replay is here. —Bob Morison Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, 9:14 PM
Author-editor interaction department: Nicholas Griffin (The Year of Dangerous Days) admitted that when he first delivered the manuscript at a couple of hundred pages too long, his editor’s response was, “Consider this first draft a throat clearing.” —Bob Morison Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, 9:10 PM 1980 — just another year in paradise? Not quite. It was the year of Miami’s triple whammy. The height of the drug trade and associated murder rate. The Mariel Boatlift that brought 125,000 Cuban refugees through, and largely settling in, South Florida. And the riots in response to four Miami police officers being acquitted after beating to death a Black insurance salesman and Marine, Arthur McDuffie, after a traffic stop. Nicholas Griffin’s The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980 |
