Not so long ago, Palm Beach County readers had no choice, if they wanted to enjoy a book festival, but to drive to Fort Lauderdale or Miami. That’s no longer true. While events like Miami Book Fair International or the Literary Feast in Fort Lauderdale remain powerhouse attractions, Palm Beach County has a pair of well-established book and events right here: the Palm Beach … [Read more...]
Leaning in for grief: Facebook exec Sandberg explores pain of loss in ‘Option B’
When Sheryl Sandberg lost her husband, Dave, to a heart attack two years ago, the story attracted broad interest because of her position as a top executive at Facebook. In this new book, Sandberg describes in poignant detail her consuming sadness. “The fear of forever without Dave was paralyzing,” she writes. When she told their children, ages 7 and 10, that their father … [Read more...]
Young writer’s stories of Florida raise her profile
Recently, Sarah Gerard started a new job at Books Are Magic, a Brooklyn bookstore owned by novelist Emma Straub. That was about the same time Gerard began touring in support of her second book, an acclaimed collection of essays titled Sunshine State. Gerard’s first book, the novel Binary Star, was a success, too, with rapturous reviews in The New York Times, and elsewhere, … [Read more...]
Author tells compelling story of struggle with depression
Daphne Merkin begins this compelling new book with these words, “Lately I’ve been thinking about the allure of suicide again.” Merkin has battled depression since she was a child. She has moved in and out of psychiatric hospitals and therapists’ offices, while gulping down countless bottles of anti-psychotic drugs “just to get through the day.” A voracious … [Read more...]
Historian Meacham optimistic Trump can be more presidential
By Dale King Citizens seem destined to continue protesting, arguing about and fretting over the status of the American presidency and the capacity of newly installed office holder Donald J. Trump to lead the nation. In the midst of this turmoil, an expert in presidential history, Jon Meacham, visited Boca Raton on Monday evening as part of Festival of the Arts Boca’s … [Read more...]
For writers Greene and Egan, time is of the essence
Time weighs heavily on the mind of both theoretical physicist Brian Greene and Pulitzer-prize winning author Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad. Both writers are part of the Author & Ideas Program at this year’s Festival of the Arts Boca, which runs from March 2-12 in Mizner Park. For Greene, author of The Elegant Universe and Icarus at the Edge of … [Read more...]
Lapham: History’s lessons may help us save our democracy
Lewis Lapham is not impressed by the anti-Trump demonstrations that have erupted since the inauguration. Democracy, says the former editor of Harper’s Magazine, has been under “systematic assault by a kind of plutocracy, a government for the rich by the rich,” for 30 years. Donald Trump, he says, is a symptom of of anti-democratic trends long brewing, not the cause of … [Read more...]
Author celebrates the wonders of books, reading
At a time of growing reliance on smartphones and electronic devices, we need a strong reminder of the importance of reading books. In Books for Living, Will Schwalbe celebrates multiple genres, including cookbooks, memoirs, novels, poetry, children’s stories and ancient texts. His well-received previous book, The End of Your Life Book Club, related the decision by the … [Read more...]
‘New Yorker’ cartoon editor offers caption contest before Boca festival
After these many decades as an elegant magazine of literature, politics, and culture, The New Yorker harbors one vestige of its origin as a humor magazine. That, of course, is the New Yorker cartoon. Droll and wry rather than laugh-out-loud funny, The New Yorker cartoon is not for every taste. Once that taste is acquired, however, the cartoons lurk amid the gray columns of text … [Read more...]
Charles Simic’s happy obsession with writing poetry
Some of the most perceptive commentary written since the shock of the presidential election has come on the daily website of the venerable New York Review of Books, under the byline of Charles Simic, who, in his day job, is a former U.S. poet laureate and the winner of many top literary prizes, including the Pulitzer. Given that Simic’s most recent book, The Life of Images, … [Read more...]