Miami Book Fair – Day 1

November 19, 2006

Barack Obama


The Miami Book Fair has been described as the largest and best literary festival in the United States. It is hard to argue that assessment as over 300 of the finest writers in America show up to read from their latest works. Held on the campus of Miami Dade College in downtown Miami, the week long festival culminates with the huge street festival and congress of authors which features simultaneous author presentations in 7 locations around the campus on Saturday and Sunday as well as a huge street fair featuring booths from all manner of publishers, book sellers and an eclectic collection of social and civic organizations. There is also an International Pavilion, a large Children’s Alley and plenty of entertainment including an annual performance by the rock band, “The Rock Bottom Remainders” which features authors such as Dave Barry, Stephen King and Amy Tan.

This year, we headed up to Miami on Friday afternoon and checked into the wonderful and inexpensive South Beach lodging, The Clay Hotel, which is located on Washington Street, 2 blocks from the beach and 2 from the Lincoln Road Mall. We are frequent guests at The Clay which is actually the Miami Youth Hostel but also offers great private rooms in an awesome location for a fraction of the typical South Beach price. The club Mansion across the street was featuring a performance from the recently ex- Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin “Fedex” Federline. As much as I wanted to go for the curiosity factor, Kathy & Marta vetoed that idea and we headed down to Lincoln Road for some shopping and a nice dinner at one of the many outdoor cafes that line the mall.



Saturday morning, we were up early and at the fair to see our first presentation, the great and venerable White House correspondent Helen Thomas. Famous for her phrase, “Thank You, Mr. President”, Thomas has covered every President since JFK and has written a number of books recounting her time as White House Bureau Chief. She appeared with Myra McPherson author of the new book, “All Governments Lie”.
Among the other authors we saw Saturday were Kurt Anderson & George Kalogerakis of “Spy” magazine, Dave Barry, Jonathan Franzen, John Berendt, Nora Ephron, Leonard Pitts and Katheryn Russell-Brown. I also attended a reading celebrating a collection of short stories set in Miami and featuring 17 different contributing authors called, “Miami Noir.” The contributors include such writers as James W. Hall, Barbara Parker, John Dufresne and Tom Corcoran. After each session the authors take time to sign books and chat with their fans. It provides an excellent opportunity to learn the back story on how writers perform their craft.

Miami Noir Authors

Helen Thomas

The highlight of Saturday was the appearance of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. The Senator created something of a mad scene as the organizers had to move his appearance into the much larger Gusman Theatre to accommodate the huge demand for admittance. In fact there were probably a couple of thousand people who couldn’t get in due to the large throng. Obama, who may well run for President in 2008, did not disappoint. He gave a speech that sounded more like a political stump speech than a book promotion and he wowed the diverse crowd with his smooth charm and ability to sound sincere rather than like some political hack. He was engaging, intelligent, responsive and very enjoyable and would make a formidable candidate should he run.
After a long day at the fair, we headed back to South Beach to the bar at the famous Delano Hotel. There we met the mysterious Tony, in town to attend the NASCAR race which his company sponsors and spent a fun evening in the cool little bar.



http://www.miamibookfair.com