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The Big Read 2022
March 1 – April 30
Miami Book Fair celebrates the stories that history leaves behind with The Best We Could Do, an illustrated memoir by cartoonist and author Thi Bui
Join our Big Read events in-person and online at MiamiBookFairOnline.com to receive a copy of this year’s Big Read book, while supplies last.
Past Events
April 2023
Art Workshop: Painting with Plants, with Artist Nicole Salcedo
The creativity of nature is vast and unending. I want to show attendees of this workshop how they can harness materials that are readily available, and create fun and experimental images. I will do this by showing them how to print/paint with leaves, branches, and rocks. Using these natural materials instead of traditional brushes yields fun and exciting imagery, and opens them up to a playful process where mistakes and messes are welcome. Painting with plant matter brings a focus onto the patterns of nature as well as the potential for a new relationship to these materials.…
April 2022
From Saigon to Miami: An Evening of Contemporary Vietnamese Literature and Art
Join us for a virtual presentation celebrating the launch of In My Ear, Your Voice Still Flickering // Bên tai tôi, giọng người vẫn chờn vờn, a special-edition three-volume zine featuring contemporary Vietnamese literature and art. Vietnamese writers based across Vietnam and around the world contributed fiction and poetry in English or Vietnamese, along with translations to make the zine fully bilingual. Vietnamese artists contributed original artwork in response to each piece. Authors Phan Nhiên Hạo, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Andrew Lam,…
Conversation with Tung Nguyen and Kathy Manning, authors of Mango and Peppercorns: A Memoir of Food, an Unlikely Family, and the American Dream
Through powerful narrative, archival imagery, and 20 Vietnamese recipes that mirror their story, Mango & Peppercorns: A Memoir of Food, an Unlikely Family, and the American Dream, is a unique contribution to culinary literature by life-long collaborators Tung Nguyen and Kathy Manning. Although they come from different worlds, together they created magic in their award-winning Miami Vietnamese restaurant Hy Vong. Kathy ran the front of the house while Tung created masterful dishes in the kitchen. Mango and Peppercorns is the story of Tung’s journey to America and the friendship with Kathy that would change her life.…
First Draft: A Literary Social with Joshua Nguyen
A guided writing prompt with a twist. Because writing is thirsty work. Have a drink. Write a story. Have another drink. Write a better story. Miami Book Fair presents First Draft, a series of informal writing events that turn happy hours into great stories. You’re inspired. But you’re also thirsty. Bring your own drink and log in for a First Draft event and a guided writing prompt. Share your writing. You never know what you might knock out as you knock one back!…
2022 Big Read Keynote Address: Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Viet Thanh Nguyen
“I began to record our family history…thinking that if I bridged the gap between the past and the present, I could fill the void between my parents and me.” —Thi Bui in The Best We Could Do Join us for a virtual talk and Q&A with this year’s Big Read featured author, Thi Bui as she discusses this award-winning graphic memoir. Before she began to work on The Best We Could Do in 2005, Thi Bui had never drawn a comic in her life.…
March 2022
Speak Up: Creative Writing + Performance (Spring 2022)
Saturdays, February 12 – April 9 / 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EST Join us online for Speak Up, a FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series for teens (ages 13-19). In this FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series, teens will partner with experienced teaching artists to empower the creative writing process, from drafting to performance to publishing, to boost literacy and empower youth in Miami through community-based writing activities. The program is open to all teens (ages 13-19) and is as free of charge as it is free of homework.…
(Re)Imagining Home: A Bookmaking Workshop with Mia Leonin and Nereida Garcia Ferraz
Join visual artist Nereida García Ferraz and writer Mia Leonin in a bookmaking workshop that weaves together memoir and the visual arts to explore travel, migration, and community. Engaging in image transfer, drawing, and book design techniques, we will map out new connections between our personal histories and our collective experiences. Participants will write, draw, paint, paste, and collage. Creating in community, we will forge new connections to each other and Miami. No writing or artmaking experience necessary. Participants can bring the following materials for collage: Maps,…
Speak Up: Creative Writing + Performance (Spring 2022)
Saturdays, February 12 – April 9 / 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EST Join us online for Speak Up, a FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series for teens (ages 13-19). In this FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series, teens will partner with experienced teaching artists to empower the creative writing process, from drafting to performance to publishing, to boost literacy and empower youth in Miami through community-based writing activities. The program is open to all teens (ages 13-19) and is as free of charge as it is free of homework.…
Speak Up: Creative Writing + Performance (Spring 2022)
Saturdays, February 12 – April 9 / 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EST Join us online for Speak Up, a FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series for teens (ages 13-19). In this FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series, teens will partner with experienced teaching artists to empower the creative writing process, from drafting to performance to publishing, to boost literacy and empower youth in Miami through community-based writing activities. The program is open to all teens (ages 13-19) and is as free of charge as it is free of homework.…
2022 Big Read Kickoff: Storybook Picnic / Picnic de Libros
Storybook Picnic / Picnic de Libros is a bilingual, family day program featuring storytelling, theatre, music, arts and crafts, dance, and picnic baskets full of books, free to keep, with the goal of encouraging literacy while exposing kids to the richness and variety of the cultural traditions in our diverse community. Produced by the Koubek Center and Fundación Cuatrogatos, with the support of Miami Book Fair. As part of Big Read programming, storytellers will interpret the picture book A Different Pond written by Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Bui.…
The Big Read 2022: Miami-Dade Public Library Branch Book Discussions
Join us for a discussion of this year’s title, The Best We Could Do, an illustrated memoir by Thi Bui. A program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Program made possible by Miami Book Fair. Space is limited. Please contact the branch for more information. March 12, 10:30 a.m. ET (virtual) Coral Reef Branch Library March 16,…
Speak Up: Creative Writing + Performance (Spring 2022)
Saturdays, February 12 – April 9 / 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EST Join us online for Speak Up, a FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series for teens (ages 13-19). In this FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series, teens will partner with experienced teaching artists to empower the creative writing process, from drafting to performance to publishing, to boost literacy and empower youth in Miami through community-based writing activities. The program is open to all teens (ages 13-19) and is as free of charge as it is free of homework.…