Upcoming Events

Brandon Hobson’s The Devil Is a Southpaw: A Novel is a haunting novel of obsession, pride, and forgiveness. Told through Milton’s darkly comic – and possibly unreliable – account of his friendship and rivalry with gifted Cherokee artist Matthew, the story revisits their harrowing youth in juvenile detention and the lingering traumas of incarceration, pride, and survival, brought to life by Hobson’s visceral prose and original artwork. The stresses of acting on a TV show, the pressures of an elite high school,…

Anjanette Delgado presenta El sexilio, un texto delirante, transgresor e íntimo que conecta la violencia patriarcal con la violencia colonial en Puerto Rico; y Antonio Sajid llega con La sombra púrpura del cielo roto, una novela que recorre medio siglo de historia puertorriqueña y explora temas como las identidades queer, el deseo y la corrupción. En conversación con la escritora y editora Dainerys Machado. Compra El sexilio – Delgado Compra Las noventa Habanas – Machado Compra La sombra púrpura del cielo roto – Sajid  …

No one is ever turned away at Don Manuel and Doña Lila’s home in Uno Más, One More: A Latino Retelling of an Old Scottish Ballad, illustrated by Olivia Sua. But one day, as their “casita” overflows with friends and loved ones, the house collapses. Then their friends get to work and rebuild it. It’s a tale about kindness, community, and giving back. Grades K-3. SPONSORED BY Buy Uno Más, One More: A Latino Retelling of an Old Scottish Ballad – Silvia López…

Karen Russell’s The Antidote: A Novel tells the story of the fictional Uz, Nebraska, and begins as a historic dust storm ravages the town. But Uz is already collapsing, not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought, but because of its own violent history. Patricia Lockwood’s Will There Ever Be Another You: A Novel chronicles a young woman’s descent into illness and insanity amid a global pandemic. Struggling with grief and a mystifying disease,…

On the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, three authors discuss the challenges of telling the stories of their parents and lovers, examining love, loss, and identity across genres and generations. Becoming Ghost documents Cathy Linh Che’s parents’ experiences as refugees who escaped the Vietnam War and then were cast as extras in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, placing them at the margins of their own story. The 14 pieces in Andrew Lam’s Stories from the Edge of the Sea explore love and loss,…

Sunday, November 23 @ 1 p.m. Children’s Alley – Innovate! Canopy What makes a comic a comic, as opposed to a picture book or novel? What are some of the things that make up a comic (like panels, word bubbles, and gutters), and what are the things that make up a story (like a protagonist and conflict)? Join bestselling author-illustrator George O’Connor for this exclusive digital comic-making workshop to find out! Using your prompts, he’ll create a group comic story and then lead everyone in picking its components – like character,…

Adam Aleksic’s Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language is a captivating exploration of how internet algorithms are changing language and communication. Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through a new linguistic landscape, while illuminating how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. In Unfinished: The Role of the Artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Emmy-winning composer Lucas Cantor Santiago reflects on his journey from technology skeptic to collaborating with AI to complete Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.…

Mark Kurlansky’s Cheesecake: A Novel follows one Manhattan block as an ancient recipe – and a conniving landlord – reshape the Upper West Side. In 1970s New York, a Greek family revives Cato the Elder’s cheesecake recipe to attract more upscale customers to its restaurant, sparking obsession, real estate battles, and neighborhood upheaval. In conversation with Marion Winik, co-editor of I Know About a Thousand Things: The Writings of Ann Alejandro of Uvalde, Texas.  …

In James Grippando’s Grave Danger: A Jack Swyteck Novel, Jack’s new client fled from Iran to Miami with her daughter and is accused of kidnapping by her husband. To stop him from taking the girl, Jack must build an international case – but everything isn’t what it seems. As secrets, politics, and pressure from Jack’s wife, Andie, threaten the case and their marriage, they both must navigate a web of deceit. In Dwyer Murphy’s The House on Buzzards Bay: A Novel,…

One summer. Forty-six mountain peaks. A second chance to make things right. In The Trouble with Heroes, Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a seventh grade boy finds his path to healing. The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri is the harrowing true story of two orphans on a treacherous journey across mountains to bring education to isolated children with a chalkboard and a satchel full of textbooks.…

Offering analysis and key interviews, John Masouri‘s Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies chronicles reggae’s most tumultuous and influential decade. The music flourished against a backdrop of political upheaval, gang warfare, Black Nationalism, racial and class discrimination, and grinding poverty. Brutal and revelatory, it gave birth to DJs, dub, rockers, and early dancehall.   Buy Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies – Masouri…

What stories can flowers tell? Inspired by artist Henri Matisse and the beauty of Florida’s native blooms, this workshop invites you to create your own vibrant bouquet – no watering needed! Using torn and cut paper in an array of colors, you’ll craft stems, leaves, and petals that fit perfectly into a paper hand, traced from your own arm. Along the way, you’ll explore the shapes, textures, and colors of our local flora, learning how art can be both playful and inspired by nature.…

In Jesse Browner’s Sing to Me: A Novel, young, resourceful Hani sets out for the ruins of Troy after his father and sister vanish. With only a brilliant, brooding donkey beside him, Hani must rely on his wit, humor, and spirit to survive civilization’s collapse in this story of loss, resilience, and hope. Megan Giddings’ Meet Me at the Crossroads: A Novel is the story of Black teenage twin sisters in the Midwest, whose world is changed one summer morning by the appearance of seven mysterious doors that seemingly lead to another world.…

In Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality, Deborah N. Archer reveals how America’s transportation infrastructure – highways, roads, bus routes, even sidewalks – became tools to sustain segregation after Jim Crow. From multilane roads blocking access to white neighborhoods to suburbs designed to exclude, Archer traces a hidden architecture of inequality while offering a vision for a just system. Joining Archer in conversation is Oscar Corral, documentary filmmaker and co-director and co-producer of INTERSTATE.…

Think you have what it takes to participate in the ultimate STEAM challenge? Join us on stage to battle it out! Using the engineering design process, you’ll navigate a building task in a race against other participants.…

Welcome to the infinite world of origami! In Japanese, “ori” means to fold and “gami” means paper. Using origami, music, and audience participation, artist Kuniko Yamamoto will provide a magical introduction to Japanese culture and the art of simplicity through Origami Tales. Mythological character masks and puppets, amazing flowers, and a dragon – all made from origami – will set the stage as she shares heartfelt stories of ancient Japan.…

El autor colombiano Gilmer Mesa presenta Aranjuez, una novela que, a partir de los recuerdos de un narrador atravesado por la ausencia del padre y el peso de la violencia urbana en Medellín, ofrece un retrato conmovedor de la vida diaria en una comunidad frágil, abordando temas como la memoria, el duelo y la dignidad en medio de un contexto áspero y profundamente humano. En conversación con el escritor Nélson Hincapié.   Compra Aranjuez – Mesa…

This is a free event that requires a ticket for entry. The headlines are filled with news of hurricanes, tornadoes, and cataclysmic fires affecting America. And a report released in 2022 by atmospheric scientists at the University of Northern Illinois warned that winds are expected to steadily strengthen in the years ahead. In The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind, Simon Winchester explores how wind plays a part in our everyday lives. Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air – and thousands of living things.…

Discover rhythms from around the world with Miami’s own songstress, Inez Barlatier. Children and families can join in on drum rhythms and songs as she teaches you where the songs and rhythms originate and how to play them!…

These novels-in-verse speak truth into the world. Based on a true story, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez by Mária Dolores Águila is a vivid and uplifting middle-grade novel about one child’s courage to stand up for what is right. Told through searing free-verse, journal entries, and interspersed fill-in-the-blank poetry prompts, Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr reminds readers there is always hope when a teen fights for her right to determine what happens to her body,…

In AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash In on Artificial Intelligence, journalist Gary Rivlin closely follows founders and venture capitalists and brings readers into the world of AI development in Silicon Valley. In a narrative shot through familiar names such as Musk, Zuckerberg, and Gates, Rivlin gives readers a deep understanding of what’s around the corner for AI. Stephen Witt’s The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip tells the astonishing story of how Nvidia,…

Dennard Dayle’s How to Dodge a Cannonball: A Novel is a satire of the Civil War that follows Anders, a teenage idealist whose shifting roles – from Union flag twirler to Confederate soldier to member of a Black Union regiment – force him to question identity, loyalty, and belonging. Through doomed charges, draft riots, and shifting allegiances, Dayle explores what it meant to be American during the war. In Rickey Fayne’s The Devil Three Times: A Novel,…

Written over the span of a decade, Green of All Heads is a work of formal range and emotional urgency. In the coinciding wakes of tragic loss and new motherhood, Aracelis Girmay examines the entangled temporalities of an aging parent and newly born children. In A Sharper Silence, Michael Hettich reaches into the wilds to find some measure of the eternal that might wedge itself between himself and the unthinkable: the death of his beloved. He calls upon memory as if to rewind their lives together and forestall the inevitable.…

In writing Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, biographer Sam Tanenhaus had extraordinary access to his subject. William F. Buckley Jr. himself chose him to tell the full, uncensored story of his life and times, granting him extensive interviews and exclusive access to his most private papers. Tanenhaus’ account reveals the vast and often hidden universe of the man and the modern conservative revolution.   Buy Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America – Tanenhaus  …

Kulcha Shok Muzik Feat. Dj Lance-O, Youth Movement & Jah Movement…

Christian Davenport’s In Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race is an account of the science fiction dreams that may soon become reality. From SpaceX launchpads to China’s moon-mining ambitions, Davenport delivers a riveting, behind-the-scenes account of the global battle to shape humanity’s off-planet future. Faiz Siddiqui’s Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk offers a portrait of a man once frequently heralded as a modern-day Edison who took a new place in the public consciousness with his desire to disrupt not just the automotive and space industries but the policies that shape our nation.…

Join us for a panel with three highly regarded Jewish American poets as they reflect on the life and work of midcentury poet Hyam Plutzik (1911-62), a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize whose poetry came to fruition at a time of cultural change set against the historical rupture of the Holocaust and World War II. Rodger Kamenetz, Jacqueline Osherow, and Maxim D. Shrayer were part of a collective of 18 scholars working over a period of 15 years with editor Victoria Aarons to create  Hyam Plutzik and the Mosaic of Time – a collection of essays and selected poems.…

In Miami’s Art Boom: From Local Vision to International Presence, journalist and art critic Elisa Turner draws from more than 100 of her best profiles, reviews, and stories to capture the evolution of Miami’s visual arts community before and after the inaugural Art Basel Miami Beach in 2002. Joining her to discuss how their careers moved forward during the years chronicled in the book – and what the future may hold in these challenging times – are María Martínez-Cañas,…

This panel explores health in Haitian communities, encompassing mental wellness, physical care, and cultural factors that shape healing. Dr. Judite Blanc, Ph.D., contributes expertise in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, highlighting trauma, family structures, and well-being. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Charlot, M.D., draws on his dual background as OB-GYN and writer to blend science and social resilience. Dr. Angelo Gousse, M.D., of Gousse Urology, brings practical insight into delivering critical care in underserved Haitian communities.…

Jorge Ferrer presenta Entre Cuba y Rusia. Contra la memoria y el olvido, una reflexión sobre el mito de la revolución y su carga de esperanza y destrucción. En Cubensis Alejandro Ríos reúne una selección de columnas que representan una mirada íntima y reflexiva sobre la identidad cubana y sus múltiples matices. Luis de la Paz llega con Crónicas miamenses, una foto en la que se intenta atrapar una parte de la cultura de Miami entre finales del siglo XX y los primeros años del XXI.…

Deadly rivalries and deadlier love tip the scales between freedom and destruction in Fortress of Ambrose, the explosive finale of the New York Times bestselling House of Marionne series by J. Elle. In Nadine Gonzalez’s Only Lovers in the Building, Liliane is spending the summer in Miami Beach, Florida, after her legal career comes to a humiliating end. She soon meets university professor-on-sabbatical Benedicto Romero, the resident tortured poet, and they begin to spend their days together reading romance novels by the pool – while trying to make sense of the sizzling chemistry between them.…

The Books for Free crew is taking over the tent, reading and chilling throughout the day. So grab a beanbag and settle in for a storytime session with your new B4F BFFs! Grades K-3.   SPONSORED BY…

Heather Clark’s The Scrapbook: A Novel begins in the late 1990s with Harvard student Anna, who falls for Christoph, a visiting German student, and follows him to his home country. Their romance unfolds amid family legacies – including those of Anna’s grandfather, an American GI, and Christoph’s, a Nazi soldier. Traumas of the past and the aftershocks of fascism haunt them, reverberating through to the present. In Maggie Stiefvater’s The Listeners: A Novel, it’s January 1942 and the aristocratic owners of the elegant Avallon Hotel &…

This is a free event that requires a ticket for entry. In Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Capehart shares powerful stories of identity, resilience, and self-discovery. From growing up between New Jersey and rural North Carolina without a father to embracing his voice as a gay Black man and rising through journalism, Capehart’s memoir is an inspiring account of identity, opportunity, and finding one’s voice along the way.…

In The River’s Daughter: A Memoir, leading whitewater guide Bridget Crocker traces her journey from a turbulent childhood in Wyoming after her parents’ divorce to rafting some of the world’s fiercest rivers. Amid danger, loss, and betrayal, the river becomes her teacher, showing her the possibilities of transformation through nature. In Trauma Plot: A Life, Jamie Hood tells the story of three decades marred by sexual violence and the wreckage it leaves behind. Hood invokes infamous figures,…

The YMU Signature Jazz Trio delivers a refined yet vibrant performance that captures the essence of modern jazz. With rich vocals, dynamic rhythms, and tasteful guitar interplay, the trio brings energy, elegance, and groove to every stage!…

Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History is Rich Benjamin’s account of the coup that ended his grandfather’s Haitian presidency, the secrecy that shrouded his family’s resulting wound, and his efforts to know his mother despite her painful past. Benjamin describes the emotional pain of his childhood and explores the turmoil that shaped his family, bringing a powerful story to light. In Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss, and Occasional Wars, Peter Godwin longs for his childhood in Zimbabwe,…

Iddo Gefen’s Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory: A Novel, translated by Daniella Zamir, begins with the title character drinking a martini in a crater in the Israeli desert. Her adult son, Eli, navigates handling his wacky mother, a missing hiker, and a possible romance with Tamara, a visitor to their family hostel. Then the Lilienblums build a company around its matriarch’s invention, making comedy out of startup culture and family secrets. In Ed Park’s An Oral History of Atlantis: Stories,…