Miami Book Fair

November 25, 2019

The Rock Bottom Remainders 

Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry

Miami Book Fair

The largest literary event in the country is thankfully held each year at Miami Dade College in downtown Miami and it remains one of my favorite annual events. I have been attending it now for about 30 of the 38 years that it has been held and have watched in awe and wonder as it has grown into one of the premier events of its kind held anywhere, greatly expanding from the original two day street fair model to an expansive 10 day- long celebration of the written word.

David Marannis

 

For us the fair means attending what is now a three day street fair and presentations by the more than 300 authors who attend the fair each year, which makes trying to decide which authors to go and see a difficult proposition since there are often 8-10 really amazing presentations happening at the same time.

Marc Caputo

Phil Caputo

I have always tried to share my love for the book fair with friends and there are a number of Key West residents who make the trek up each year to participate and almost always these days there are authors that I know personally making presentations throughout the weekend. My work with the Key West Literary Seminar has introduced us to so many fantastic writers, many that we call friends and many who have or will be among those represented at the fair.

Dave Barry

 

I also try and tell my friends how special it is to attend the fair and this year my friends Howard and Najada and their sons attended their first book fair, which was really cool. It was great to get the perspective of first time visitors and I forget sometimes just how massive and overwhelming that experiencing the fair can be, Because they were there with their kids, I spent more time in the wonderful Children’s Alley than ever before, which is truly a wonderful aspect of the fair that I doubt I appreciate enough.

 

What I truly love about the fair is the incredible diversity it celebrates, both with the writers that are selected as well as with the demographics that Miami provides. Miami is as wonderfully diverse and vibrant as any city in America and is a city that once drove me crazy, but that I have grown to love and appreciate as much as anyplace else in the world. It is truly a dynamic and diverse city that is getting better and better all the time and I would like to think that MDC and the Book Fair have been a part of the positive changes in the city.

 

Peter Asher

What really makes the fair special tough is the authors who are on hand to share their work with the crowds that come out to hear and see them. The written word is still enjoying a healthy lifespan if the attendance and enthusiasm of the book fair is any indication. I was able to see a number of remarkable presentations starting with one by Peter Asher, the British guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and record producer of such acts as James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.

With Peter Asher

with Guy Picciotto

He was here promoting his new book about his time working with and being close friends with the Beatles. In keeping with a rock n roll theme, I also checked out a presentation by famed photographer Glen E. Friedman who has just rereleased an updated version of his classic book of photos of seminal punk rock band Fugazi. He gave a presentation along with Fugazi lead singer Guy Picciotto. 

We also enjoyed presentations with Phil Caputo, who was interviewed wonderfully by our friend and former Key West resident, journalist Marc Caputo, as well as Carl Hiaassen and Dave Barry and more. It was an incredible two days that we enjoyed so much. Perhaps the best part is what is becoming an annual tradition is dinner with our friends the Strunk family from Key West, while we rarely see them in Key West, they always come to the book fair and for the past couple of years we have had an amazing night out at the Bengal Indian restaurant which is a short walk from the fair. As much as enjoying famous authors is fun, spending quality time with good people is what life is really all about.

Carl Hiassen 

Scott Turow

On the way back from dinner, we were able to catch the performance by the band made up of authors known as the Rock Bottom Remainders. Fronted by the likes of Dave and Sam Barry, Carl Hiaasen, Leonard Pitts, Scott Turow and more the band “played” a collection of funny covers and this year for the first time an original tune written by Barry. They are a total hoot and so much fun to watch. Not good at all, but great nonetheless. 

 

https://www.miamibookfair.com/

“Ever feel like the land is swallowing you whole, Sierra? That all of this beauty is wrapped around you so tight it's like being in a rattlesnakes mouth?" ― Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Sabrina & Corina: Stories

November 24, 2019

Kali

 

Tom Skerritt

Julia Phillips

Sarah M. Broom

“Ever feel like the land is swallowing you whole, Sierra? That all of this beauty is wrapped around you so tight it's like being in a rattlesnakes mouth?" ― Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Sabrina & Corina: Stories

This week was a big week for our author friend Kali, her first book a collection of short stories called “Sabrina & Corina” had been longlisted for the National Book Award for fiction, meaning that the people at the National Book Foundation thought it was one of the ten best fiction releases out of all the books released in the past year. This week her book made the cut as one of the five finalists and she was invited to the huge ceremony in New York City where the award was given out, better yet, the day after the award ceremony the winners and finalist were flown to Miami where we would get to see her for the first time since the book was released and the accolades poured in.

Kathy and I watched the entire ceremony on a live stream with a mix of excitement and trepidation. It was so cool, hosted by veteran actor Ben Vereeen and very much in the mold of the Oscars as the various categories were announced and the winners took the stage to accept. Our fellow Key Wester, Edmund White won a lifetime achievement award and we really enjoyed the entire ceremony right up until the final announcement that the winner for fiction was…Susan Choi for her novel, “Trust Exercise”.

Susan Choi

While we were disappointed, the achievement that our friend had reached was still pretty amazing and it was a life changing event for her and we were so excited and proud to see her named as a finalist along with the likes of Choi, Marlon James, Laila Lalami and Julia Phillips. To see one of your friends dreams realized in front of your eyes is a pretty special thing and we could not be happier and more proud of Kali and the fact that she was coming to Key West to stay with us where we could share even a little in her monumental week was really cool.

Before heading up to Miami though, we had some events here to attend and it has been a crazy busy week even in advance of heading to the Miami Book Fair. The week began when we attended Drag Queen Bingo at the 801 Caberet for the first time ever. Our friend QMitch has been hosting this weekly event for charity for years and we have always told ourselves that we need to get out and see it as we love Mitch and love supporting charity.

QMitch

 

The beneficiary this month is Little Pink Houses of Hope which is a charity that Kathy and many of our friends have been involved in supporting so it seemed like the perfect time to finally get out to 801 to see the uproariously funny and entertaining bingo. Now as expected, we are kicking ourselves for not getting out to see this sooner and vow to return again to what is truly a unique and fun Key West experience.

 

This week also marked the eighth annual Key West Film Festival, which we really enjoy but sadly always corresponds with the book fair and since most of the events overlap, we are unable to attend a lot of the Film Fest events. This year we did make it to the Tropic Theater to attend the 40^th anniversary of the film “Alien”, which seems shocking in and of itself. One of the stars of the film, Tom Skerritt was on hand at the Tropic to receive an award from the Film Fest and to do a Q & A before the screening about the film and his long and illustrious career in the film industry.

Tom Skerritt 

 

We were out again the next evening, this time to an author presentation at Books & Books at the Studios of Key West where author Dani Shapiro did a reading and presentation on her new memoir, “Inheritance”. Shapiro was in South Florida for the book fair and tacked on an appearance at Judy Blume’s local bookstore for a good and grateful crowd. 

Dani Shapiro 

Judy Blume

Shapiro was great in recounting her story of finding out way more than she bargained for upon taking a DNA test that literally turned her world upside down. It is a fascinating take and while I have not yet read the book, it looks to be a fascinating read. Friday afternoon, Kathy and I were on the road to Miami for the first book fair event, the annual evening with the National Book Award winners and finalists where our friend Kali joined about 20 others from all the different categories for an evening of short readings that gave the audience a teste of the breadth and scope of the finest writers in America.

Carolyn Forche

It was so great to see her share the stage with so many literary luminaries and to seem right at home with the wonderful, diverse and beautiful group of writers who were on hand. We did not get a lot of time to interact during the book fair itself as she and the other authors were whisked off to fancy dinners and parties during their spare moments, but knowing that she was headed to Key West to spend a few days staying at our house after the fair made that all ok.

Lisa Lucas of the National Book Foundation

Marlon James