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November 2015
A Little Swamp Romance
“Once upon a time…in a land very near…was a swamp that was not actually a swamp but a living river. . .” Join Alma Dance Theatre and Christina Pettersson for a vaudeville-esque extravaganza utilizing shadow puppetry, video projection, live dance, live narration, and musical accompaniment in this charming example of magical-realism.…
Homenaje a una vida creativa: Matías Montes Huidobro
A tribute to Cuban author Matías Montes Huidobro with selected readings from his poems and plays. Presentación del libro Claves literarias de las letras cubanas: del areíto a la independencia (Editorial Persona) por el autor cubano Matías Montes Huidobro. Se le hará entrega del Primer Reconocimiento por la Trayectoria Literaria, otorgado por la Feria del Libro de Miami, seguido de una lectura de poemas selectos y escenas escogidas de sus obras dramáticas. Moderado por Ernesto Fundora.…
An Evening With Tom Brokaw
Sponsored by The Buoniconti Fund and NBC6. Tom Brokaw served as anchor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. During his career, he covered Watergate, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and 9/11. Brokaw has won every major award in broadcast journalism, including two DuPonts, three Peabody Awards, and several Emmys, including one for lifetime achievement. He also authored the best-selling book, The Greatest Generation. Brokaw had, by any measure, led a fortunate life — until he received the diagnosis that he had contracted a form of blood cancer.…
Martí con nosotros: José Raúl Vidal y Franco con Josefina Ezpeleta
On the legacy of Cuba’s foremost poet, writer and patriot, José Martí. José Raúl Vidal y Franco, ensayista, crítico y profesor cubano, investigador de la obra martiana, es el autor de varios libros sobre el apóstol nacional, incluido su último trabajo: José Martí: a la lumbre del zarzal. Josefina Ezpeleta, poetisa y editora cubana, directora de la editorial Voces de Hoy, presenta la edición bilingüe de La Edad de Oro / The Golden Age,…
A Sound Trip through the Florida Film Archives
Come for the beer and bites; stay for a sound-and-image trip through Florida with a multidisciplinary installation by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami Dade College and Obsolete Media Miami.…
Paris is Still Burning
Inspired by the legendary documentary film “Paris is Burning” and the queer counterculture it documents, this performance showcases prominent contemporary queer poets of color whose work explores social, racial, and economic injustice. This performance launches the Olympia Theater’s “In the Lobby Lounge…ETC” series. With: Dawn Lundy Martin, Justin Phillip Reed, David Tomas Martinez, and Danez Smith. In collaboration with Reading Queer…
Beer Pairing and Bites with 180º Bistro on The Porch
Beer and bar bites go hand-in-hand, like your morning croqueta and café. Chef Ryan Martin of 180˚ Bistro prepares small bites that pair perfectly with the refreshing beers from Biscayne Bay Brewing.…
A Special Evening With 2015 Man Booker Prize-winner Marlon James
Marlon James‘s break-out recognition as the recipient of the prestigious 2015 Man Booker Prize is no surprise to those familiar with his career. Born in Jamaica in 1970 and a graduate of the University of the West Indies, his first novel, John Crow’s Devil, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for first fiction, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. The Book of Night Women won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award,…
A Man and His Typewriter
Oscar Fuentes (a.k.a The Biscayne Poet) writes improvisational poetry on his antique typewriter, at your request on The Porch. …
Novela corta cubana a vuelo de pájaro con Jorge Enrique Lage
The Cuban novella from a new perspective. Presentación de la antología La zona & la mezcla: Nueve novelistas cubanos, preparada por el escritor cubano Jorge Enrique Lage, editor de la revista El cuentero y de la editorial Caja China, y autor de Carbono 14, una novela de culto, y La autopista, the movie. Presentado por Ladislao Aguado.…
An Evening With Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson is one of the most admired and discussed British novelists of her generation. Beginning with her first book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against conventional values, Winterson has explored the boundaries of physicality and the imagination, gender polarities, and sexual identities. In her latest novel, The Gap of Time (Crown/Archetype; $25.00), she reimagines Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale. Winterson takes us from 2008 London to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia in this spellbinding story of newfound love,…
World’s Smallest Poetry Reading: An O, Miami Party
In celebration of Eight Miami Poets, a new volume of young and emerging poets in Miami-Dade County published by Jai-Alai Books, O, Miami is aiming small – Guinness-World-Record-for-Smallest-Poetry-Readings small. Each poet in the book will read their poems one at a time to one person at a time from inside specially made booths. Wait your turn with drink specials and a used-book exchange by Bookleggers.…
El arte y los libros: Luis G. Fresquet, Sergio Castiglione y Gisela Savdie
Art makes its way to the Book Fair through caricature and photography. Luis García Fresquet, el reconocido diseñador gráfico, ilustrador y caricaturista cubano, es el talento tras la leyenda de Yo, tú, él y el humor y Don Ufano: un humor situado en la galaxia. Sergio Castiglione, arquitecto argentino y galardonado fotógrafo, nos invita a descubrir su libro Espejos urbanos – Otra forma de mirar Buenos Aires, donde observa a la ciudad porteña desde un punto de vista original.…
An Evening With Alexandra Fuller (cancelled)
Due to personal reasons, Alexandra Fuller has had to cancel her appearance at Miami Book Fair. Please check back for more details. Alexandra Fuller has written five books of non-fiction, including her widely praised and award-winning debut, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood. Fuller has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers including the New Yorker Magazine, National Geographic Magazine, Vogue and Granta Magazine. Her reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review;…
DJ Lolo, Bookleggers and games on The Porch!
Scene-maker and SWEAT Records owner, DJ Lolo, sets the groove for a dance party on The Porch, as Bookleggers set up their mobile library/exchange. Your first book is free, exchange a book for another, or buy extras for just $2! …
Live Music: Oriente
Oriente’s signature sound features funky, guitar driven tumbaos, blazing harmonic brass, and explosive Afro-Latin percussion – fusing Cuban roots with blues, jazz, Caribbean, and Brazilian influences.…
Dos poetas premiados: Reina María Rodríguez y José Kozer
Recipients of the Pablo Neruda Poetry Award, Reina María Rodríguez and José Kozer share their work and their experience. Ganadores del Premio Pablo Neruda de Poesía, los poetas cubanos Reina María Rodríguez y José Kozer comparten un recital con lo mejor de su obra. Presentador: Alejandro Rios.…
An Evening with Robert B. Reich
Sponsored by The de Groot Foundation. Perhaps no one is better acquainted with the intersection of economics and politics than Robert B. Reich. The Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, Reich is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century.…
Swamp Noir: How Swampy Can You Get?
Wade through the literary muck of steamy South Florida. The Friends of the Library, along with local authors Oscar Fuentes and Julie Tyler, present Swamp Noir, a curated night of poetry performances, film, and live jazz-fusion by the Swampsters. Connect with Miami’s mainstream and underground cultures, and exercise your literary sensibilities by writing your own shadowy Swamp scene.…
Historias cubanas de tiempos oscuros: Gerardo Reyes y Fausto Canel
An evening of Cuban stories during dark times as the island faces an uncertain future, with Gerardo Reyes and Fausto Canel. Una noche de historias sobre la Cuba de ayer y hoy. Con el periodista colombiano Gerardo Reyes, director del equipo investigativo de la cadena Univision. Ganador de los premios Emmy y Peabody Award, además de un Pulitzer junto al equipo del periódico The Miami Herald por el mejor trabajo investigativo en 1999,…
An Evening with Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley’s illustrious career includes her novel A Thousand Acres, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She has written several works of nonfiction, including Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel and The Man Who Invented the Computer. She has also published a five-volume horse series for young adults. In 2001, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2006 she received the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature.…
Swamp & Porch Opens
The Swamp and The Porch open strong with music, food trucks, giant outdoor games and Biscayne Bay Brewing beers! Come relax after work or grab a drink before your Evenings With session.…
CircX Cabaret Show
“One part circus, two parts burlesque, a pinch of class and a dash of trash.” Incorporating mime, street theater, and burlesque, CircX’s unique brand of interactive antics and theatrical circus artistry is provocative and outrageously funny. Be on the lookout for CircX’s beautifully bizarre characters strolling through the crowd before the show. (for mature audiences) Sponsored by…
Una noche con Laura Restrepo en el Hot Sur
This event will be live streamed. Click here to watch. In Spanish with translation into English. (An Evening With Laura Restrepo) Sesión inaugural del Programa de Autores Iberoamericanos con la escritora colombiana ganadora de los premios Alfaguara de novela 2004 y Grinzane Cavour 2006. Laura Restrepo cubrió, como periodista, el comercio ilegal de drogas y recientemente recibió el Distinguished Professorship at Cornell. Ha viajado con Doctors Without Borders a Yemen para cubrir la crisis de los refugiados, y ahora comparte su novela más reciente,…
Opening Event With Patti Smith
Sponsored by the Green Family Foundation. This event will be live streamed. Click here to watch. As one of the early pioneers of New York City’s dynamic punk scene, Patti Smith has been creating her unique blend of poetic rock and roll for over 35 years. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith is considered the “punk poet laureate.” In her National Book Award-winning memoir Just Kids, she offered a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel.…
Arts & Drafts with The New Tropic on the Porch
Join The New Tropic for a crafty night with delicious beverages on The Porch. A local artist will lead a creative workshop, teaching the tricks of the trade. You’ll walk away with a finished piece of artwork! Space is limited and requires a ticket. Info at miamibookfair.com and thenewtropic.com…
Kick-off Party – Miami Book Fair 2015
Now it’s official. Members of the Book Fair Board of Advisors, Board Chair Mitchell Kaplan, President of Miami Dade College, Dr. Eduardo Padrón, and Book Fair staff kick off the 32nd Fair with music from DJ Patrick Walsh, poetry on demand from Miami Poetry Collective, Biscayne Bay Brewing beer and a community BBQ!…
Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community
Sponsored by the Green Family Foundation. Carl Juste’s compelling and dynamic images from Haiti and Cuba take over the walls at The Swamp! A Haitian-born American who grew up in Miami, and whose mother was born and spent her childhood in Santiago de Cuba, Juste uses his unique perspective to aim his lens at the space where the metaphorical borders of Cuba and Haiti melt into each other. With his eye pressed to the viewfinder, he focuses on two of the most geopolitically contentious nations in the Caribbean.…
Outdoor Games
Wind down after work on The Porch every day during Miami Book Fair and play some games! The New Tropic is bringing giant outdoor games for happy hour fun during the week and throughout the street fair weekend! Come make new friends and challenge them to giant Jenga, Connect Four, a beanbag toss and more! Bring your pals out for a game of bocce ball while you sip a beer from Biscayne Bay Brewing and wait for your next author presentation.…
Outdoor Games
Moments in Motion
Bathing beauties, birthday parties, news flashes and tourist traps – there’s no telling what you’ll see between acts at The Swamp: Moments in Motion is culled from thousands upon thousands of hours of unique film and video images from the collections of the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives at Miami-Dade College.…
Giants in the City by Irreversible Projects
You won’t be able to miss Giants in the City on The Porch! Come snap a selfie in front of large-scale inflatable sculptures created by local artist Alejandro Mendoza. Giants in the City transforms communities through art, fosters urban vitality, promotes cultural exchange and inspires individuals to build more prosperous communities.…
Ilan Stavans and Paquito D’Rivera on Jazz and Don Quixote
(presented in English with translation into Spanish) Sponsored by WDNA 88.9 Serious Jazz. This event will be live streamed. Click here to watch. Ilan Stavans is an essayist, cultural commentator, and teacher known for his insights on language and culture. Stavans’ latest book, Quixote: The Novel and the World (W. W. Norton & Company; $26.95), is a groundbreaking cultural history of the most influential, most frequently translated, and most imitated novel in history, now celebrating its 400th anniversary.…
David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas-author David Mitchell’s latest, Slade House, is a reality-warping new version of the haunted house story. Co-presented with Books & Books. For more information on this author and event, visit booksandbooks.com. Voucher required: Your purchase of an event voucher from Books & Books entitles you to receive (1) one copy of the book SLADE HOUSE and serves as entrance for (2) two people to the talk on November 5th. The talk will be followed by a book signing. …
David Mitchell
Diana Nyad
In her inspiring memoir, Find a Way, Diana Nyad recounts her record-breaking swim from Cuba to Florida — at the age of sixty-four — and of her extraordinary quest to live life at the highest level, in and out of the water. Co-presented with Books & Books. For more information on this author and event, visit booksandbooks.com. Voucher required: Purchase of the voucher entitles you to one copy of the book and (2) two entries to the talk &…
Diana Nyad
October 2015
Tim Weiner
The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author provides a shocking and riveting look at one of the most dramatic and disastrous presidencies in U.S. history, in One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon. Co-presented with Books & Books. For more information on this author and event, visit booksandbooks.com. Free and open to the public.…
Tim Weiner
Party Like a Book Star at Our Mural Site in Wynwood
Internationally acclaimed artist, Didi Contreras, is creating “Three Muses,” a masterpiece mural to celebrate books and reading. Join us at the wall for an Art Walk party. Corner of 25th Street and NW Second Ave. Credit: 2015 Carl Juste / Iris PhotoCollective Vibrant street art has become a Miami signature and a symbol of our city’s creativity and diversity. This year’s Fair poster features “Three Muses,” the Book Fair mural created by Miami Dade College alumna Diana “Didi” Contreras, located at 2501 NW Second Avenue,…
Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson-creator, Rick Riordan, puts a unique spin on Norse mythology, in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 1: The Sword of Summer. Co-presented with Books & Books. For more information on this author and event, visit booksandbooks.com. Book purchase required: Your purchase of the new book, MAGNUS CHASE & THE GODS OF ASGARD, BOOK 1, THE SWORD OF SUMMER ($19.99 + tax) from Books & Books starting July 20, entitles you to receive (1) one voucher that can be exchanged for (1) one autographed copy of the book + a foam shield,…
Rick Riordan
Cindy Crawford
In Becoming by Cindy Crawford, the international supermodel chronicles her life and career, sharing stories and lessons learned, and featuring her most memorable images. Co-presented with Books & Books. For more information on this author and event, visit booksandbooks.com. Vouchers required: Purchase of a voucher entitles you to receive (1) one autographed copy of the book and (3) three entries to the event. Bring yourself + 2 friends!…
Cindy Crawford
September 2015
AIRIE Billboards Over The Porch
This season, artists will begin re-wilding Miami through AIRIE’s Wild Billboards project, initiated with support from the Knight Arts Challenge just in time for the National Park Service’s centennial year. Porch denizens will get to experience some of these billboards close up – they will be installed on the perimeter of the space. The billboards—photographs by AIRIE fellows Franky Cruz and Rebecca Reeve, demonstrate responsible stewardship for our local and global communities. Reeve used curtains to represent our “social fabric,” which served as visual connectors to the familiar when photographing landscapes in the Everglades.…
Salman Rushdie
From one of the great writers of our time comes Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, an epic war between light and dark, in which beliefs are challenged, words act like poison, silence is a disease, and a noise may contain a hidden curse. Co-presented with Books & Books. For more information on this event, visit booksandbooks.com. Vouchers required: In exchange for your purchase of Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights ($28 + tax) at Books &…
