Exchange for Change founder Kathie Klarreich grew up in Ohio, lived for a time in California and Haiti, and then settled in Miami for the second time in 2023, where she’s lived ever since. She is a former journalist, a writer, an educator, and a longtime Friend of the Fair, as well as a mom to a 37-year-old daughter and 33-year-old son.
Do you remember your first Miami Book Fair?
I came to Miami in 1998 after 10 years of living in Haiti, when my kids were 11 and 7. The Fair was much smaller back then, including Children’s Alley, but after living in Haiti up to then – where everything was so difficult – it was Disneyworld to them. Seriously, I never got to a single author session because we ended up spending the entire day there. [laughs] That was my intro to the Fair, and I learned not to come back with my kids on a day that I wanted to see some authors myself! But I have such fond memories of that first visit, because it gave my children so much pleasure.
Why did you decide to become a Friend?
Being around like-minded people, who were intellectually curious and lovers of reading and writing, made me feel like I was home, and I didn’t want my home to go away.
What are your favorite FOTF benefits?
They all really feel like icing on the cake on top of the experiences you get to enjoy by being at the Fair.
How do you Book Fair – solo, or with family or friends?
Book Fair’s like a big buffet – I may have a plan of what I want but then I don’t usually follow it. Most of the time I go by myself, because the idea of having to accommodate other people’s tastes doesn’t …
Appeal to you?
No! [both laugh] I’m selfish in that respect because the Fair only comes around once a year. Besides, I know I’ll always run into friends while I’m there.
What’s an MBF moment or experience that really stands out for you?
Russell Banks was presenting in 2015 or 2016, and his book was about sex offenders and them not having a safe place to live after they’d been convicted [and served their time]. I had just started my nonprofit, and at his book signing I said to him “Hey, I just started this organization and I think the people we work with could really relate to what you’re talking about – would you consider coming and talking to my students?” And he did; he came multiple times and eventually joined our advisory board. That was the start of a friendship that lasted until he passed away.
Tell me about Exchange for Change.
We teach writing and communications and leadership skills to incarcerated individuals, with a dual mission of bringing their voices to the public to help dispel myths about who makes up that population.
You eventually compiled some of those writings into a book that you presented at Book Fair several years ago, and I know you presented stand-alone works in the years before and since.
Yes, we started doing readings at the Fair at The Porch [now known as Off the Shelf], which was a big deal. It’s often difficult for someone to be proud of a family member who is in prison; here they were able to get up on stage and perform their works and feel so proud of them for writing these pieces. I think the first edition of the book was published in 2018.
What compelled you to start Exchange for Change?
Everybody has a story, and I, as a journalist and a teacher, didn’t want to tell people’s stories anymore – I wanted them to be able to tell their own stories. One person teaching one class reaches X number of students, but an organization with lots of teachers reaching lots of students has a much bigger impact.
Interview by Elisa Chemayne Agostinho; responses have been edited for space and clarity.
