We may live in an increasingly digital age, one now further complicated by the rise of AI. But the printed word in books still exerts a powerful draw, as these festivals show: Miami Book Fair International The 41st Miami Book Fair — Nov. 17-24 — will feature a wide variety of authors in both fiction and nonfiction genres and celebrate the love of reading and love of … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2018-19: Books
South Florida has a perhaps surprisingly strong books culture, and not just because it has been home to major writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Zora Neale Hurston. It also is home to Books & Books, a remarkably successful Miami-based chain of independent bookstores, and as the Miami Book Fair it helped found has grown, newer players have appeared on the scene to celebrate … [Read more...]
George Saunders: On Lincoln, writing out of need, and empathy
American writers may have made a poor showing in the Nobel sweepstakes these past few decades, with only the joke award to Bob Dylan last year to show for all their scribbling. Yet since the Man Booker Prize, Britain’s shiniest literary trophy, was opened to Yanks (and anyone else writing in English) in 2013, American writers have shouldered their way to prominence. George … [Read more...]
Arts Preview 2017-18: The season in books
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...]
Politics weighed heavy on vibrant Miami Book Fair
On the way to the Miami Book Fair on Saturday, I was making the usual small talk with the Lyft driver when he suddenly began complaining about Donald Trump. You can’t believe anything Trump says, he offered in his rough English. He’s already going back on promises to working people. He’s not going to create jobs. He’s not going to build a wall, and he’s not going to make … [Read more...]
Sanders tells Miami Book Fair crowd to keep fighting
Speaking to a sell-out crowd that obviously wanted to feel the Bern again, Bernie Sanders brought a message of hard work and hope to the Miami Book Fair Saturday evening, delivered in tones of tough love. “I understand people are distressed,” Sanders said, referring to the election of showman billionaire Donald Trump to the White House last week. “But despair is not an … [Read more...]
Toobin: Comey email notice was about ego, not politics
Not known as a comedian, Jeffrey Toobin was nonetheless consistently funny Thursday evening at the Miami Book Fair, where he came to talk about this latest book, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst. Effusively praising the book fair — “It’s not just a Miami institution, it’s a national institution!”— he mentioned the … [Read more...]
Novelist Brooks brings news from King David’s court to Miami Book Fair
After hearing from topical comedian Trevor Noah Sunday and Democratic strategist James Carville last night, book lovers at the third evening of the Miami Book Fair might have been looking for some literary relief from politics when the widely admired historical novelist Geraldine Brooks took the stage Tuesday. And so it was — until Brooks opened her mouth and spoke. “It’s … [Read more...]
James Carville urges fellow liberals to ‘fight like hell’
James Carville came to the Miami Book Fair on Monday night, and he was, as you might imagine, fighting mad. A longtime Democratic political consultant close to the Clintons, he did not look like or talk like a man willing to give President-elect Donald Trump a chance. “This country is going to get the best ninth-grade civics education ever,” Carville said. “We are in … [Read more...]
Trevor Noah discusses South Africa, but not election, at Miami Book Fair
Trevor Noah, best known as the host of The Daily Show, opened the 33rd edition of the Miami Book Fair with a surprisingly somber appearance Sunday evening that included almost no direct comment on the shocking and bruising results of the recent U.S. presidential election. Yet his anecdotes and observations of growing up during the last years of South African apartheid held … [Read more...]