Four Florida Poets: A Reading

Carolina Hospital is the author of The Child of Exile: a Poetry Memoir; the novel A Little Love, under the pen name C. C. Medina; and No Excuses! A Brief Survival Guide to Freshman Composition. She edited Los Atrevidos: Cuban American Writers  and A Century of Cuban Writers in Florida. She also co-translated the poetry collection by Tania Díaz Castro, Everyone will Have to Listen, and participated with 13 South Florida authors in the New York Times’ best-selling novel Naked Came the Manatee. Her work has appeared in numerous national publications, such as the Norton Anthology of Latino Literature; Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Occupy the Workplace; Bedford/St. Martin’s Florida Literature, and Longman’s Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. She teaches at Miami Dade College, where she has been awarded three Endowed Teaching Chairs. Hospital’s latest collection of poetry, Key West Nights and Other Aftershocks (Anhinga Press) is a haunting, intimate journey through a landscape of loss and redemption.

M.J. Fievre is a Haitian-American poet who lives in Miami and writes in English and French. She’s been described by Edwidge Danticat as “a prodigious talent.” She earned her MFA at Florida International University and is author of a memoir A Sky the Color of Chaos. M.J. is also Program Coordinator for ReadCaribbean at the Miami Book Fair. Her latest book Happy, Okay?: Poems about Anxiety, Depression, Hope, and Survival (Books & Books Press) is an exhilarating exploration of depression, anxiety, grief, and loss. Paloma is faking it. On the outside, she’s A-Okay: she’s electrified at work; there is a cadence in her step as she walks her dog; she posts memes on Facebook; and she keeps up with most relationships. Looks can be deceiving, however: Inside, Paloma is just going through the motions, and she feels like things are spiraling out of control. But when things are at their darkest, dawn arrives with clarity and focus, and with it, healing. Paloma learns to value small glimmering moments of joy rather than searching for constant happiness, thus building hope for her future. A manifesto for life. The poems in this book address the emotional contradictions of depression, anxiety, grief and loss, guiding the reader down a path to healing, fortitude, and life-sustaining joy.

Oscar Fuentes, aka the Biscayne Poet, was born in Manhattan, relocated to the Magic City at age seven, and spent decades living a stone’s throw from Biscayne Boulevard, Miami’s famed corridor, known for its Mimo architecture and mid-century motels, which has been the source of Fuentes’ inspiration. Fuentes frequently collaborates with other artist in other genres, including photographers and musicians. He has appeared at innumerable events, vintage typewriter in hand, to produce poetry on demand. Fuentes’s new collection, Welcome Home: Poems inspired by the 1 Hotel South Beach, pays homage to an iconic Miami Beach hotel.