Upcoming Events
November 2024
BARBARA DRAKE-VERA ON CLIMATE CHANGE & CAREGIVING – MEMOIR
As a child, BARBARA DRAKE-VERA loved writing almost as much as she adored her father. But her successes sparked his rage, so for years, she silenced her voice. She was 49, a journalist and married, when her father was diagnosed with advancing Alzheimer’s. Taking him into her home, she began a process of self-discovery that uncovered a path toward personal and family healing. Melted Away: A Memoir of Climate Change and Caregiving in Peru is the story of how a writer at midlife reclaimed her agency,…
“MIAMI UNDERGROUND: WHAT WE DID IS SECRET” – PANEL
In the alt-culture scene of 1980s Miami, artists, music makers, and scenesters mixed in the few party and cultural spaces the city offered, creating multidisciplinary events we thought of as “just parties and shows.” During that decade, more and more creatives settled in Miami, joining the natives who’d kickstarted it all in the grittier parts of South Beach, the Design District, and other neighborhoods west. By the time Hurricane Andrew hit in ’92, Miami was already entering its 2.0 cultural phase and heading toward what it is today,…
FANTASY WORLDS: SURVIVAL, SPELLS & SORCERY – FICTION
In Phenomena Book Two: Matilde’s Quest: A Graphic Novel, BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS tells the story of a young boy, a mysterious girl, and a warrior. As they join forces to piece together the reason the girl was cast from her home, they start to become legend and folklore – and their mythology brings new threats. At first glance, Diamond Mine emerged in 1979 as Arkansas’s first punk band. But according to NATE POWELL’s Fall Through: A Graphic Novel,…
“OUTSIDE/IN: RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN CUBAN & CUBAN DIASPORA ART” – PANEL
Highlighting significant publications related to Cuban and Cuban diaspora art, GEAN MORENO, director of the Knight Foundation Art + Research Center; ELIZABETH THOMPSON GOIZUETA, curator at the McMullen Museum of Art; and artist and author CÉSAR E. TRASOBARES will discuss The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde, Carlos Alfonzo: Late Paintings, and Juan Francisco Elso: Essays on América. Each title shifts perspectives and offers new approaches to understanding modern and contemporary art,…
SNAKES, DRUGS AND ROCK ’N’ ROLL: MIAMI’S SERPENTARIUM & ITS WORLDWIDE IMPACT ON CONSERVATION
A wildlife conservation legend affectionately hailed as the “Snakeman of India,” ROMULUS WHITAKER has had a lifelong love affair with the “fierce creatures” that share our planet. Snakes, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll: My Early Years is the first volume of his memoir and brings to life the India of the 1950s and the U.S. of the ’60s, co-written with his wife, columnist and author JANAKI LENIN. Joining them are conservationist NAIA HANNAH HAAST and biologist JOE WASILEWSKI of the nonprofit King Cobra Conservancy;…
COURTING GREATNESS & GETTING THE SCOOP – NONFICTION
MADELEINE BLAIS’ Queen of the Court: The Many Lives of Tennis Legend Alice Marble is the colorful story of the legendary tennis star and international celebrity who in 1939 won unprecedented multiple tennis titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Blais presents Marble as one of our greatest female athletes – and a multihyphenate who left behind an inspiring legacy. In The Brazil Chronicles, STEPHEN G. BLOOM shares the wild, colorful history of the Brazil Herald newspaper,…
TWO ARTISTS TRAIN THEIR SIGHTS ON THEIR FAMILIES & LIFE – NONFICTION
Relics of the Heart: Stories of My Family is an exciting journey through the memories and experiences of OSCAR FUENTES’ family. Fuentes, “The Biscayne Poet,” weaves real, emotional remembrances, from simple to significant – sharing a meal, celebrating a birth, enjoying a vacation, facing the complexities of Alzheimer’s disease – that capture the essence of family life and the importance of the emotional ties that unite us. Joining him is blues musician and storyteller UNCLE SCOTCHY,…
“BELKIS AYÓN, PRINTMAKER” – PANEL
Published by DAVID CASTILLO, Belkis Ayón is a bilingual monograph focusing on the voice and work of the late printmaker that includes historical interviews with filmmaker Ines Anselmi and the late journalist Jaime Sarusky, providing insights into Ayón’s methods, style, and exploration of Abakuá fraternal society in Cuba. Ayón’s words reveal the significance of the society’s origin story, iconography, and practices in shaping her own visual language. Alongside these interviews, the book features full-page plates showcasing notable works created by the artist between 1989 and 1999.…
MIAMI HISTORIES & EVERYDAY HEROES – NONFICTION
CESAR BECERRA’s The Kaimiloa Project is the story of Medford “Med” Ross Kellum, who in 1924 was already an old man by the standards of the day. But ever since he first stood on the Key West piers as a child, he’d dreamed of following the great schooners to see unknown islands and cross vast seas. And he set off to do just that. Jewish Miami Beach, written by PAUL S. GEORGE, PH.D., and HENRY GREEN,…
PROTECTING FLORIDA’S PARKS & ECOSYSTEMS – NONFICTION
In Tampa Bay: The Story of an Estuary and Its People, EVAN P. BENNETT explores the environmental history of Florida’s largest open-water estuary – the focus of modern environmental struggles and action. In Florida Springs: From Geography to Politics and Restoration, CHRIS MEINDL offers a clear and comprehensive overview of the geography, history, science, and politics of the 1,000-plus freshwater springs in the state, and the issues they’re currently facing. And in IAN WILSON-NAVARRO’s Dry Tortugas: Stronghold of Nature,…
TAKING ANOTHER LOOK: RETHINKING HISTORICAL NARRATIVES
DAVID F. WALKER’s Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined, illustrated by MARCUS KWAME ANDERSON, is a graphic novel that proposes a radical retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This modern update follows Jim, an enslaved Black man searching for his kidnapped family alongside his sidekick, Huckleberry Finn, while highlighting a bond that transcends the gruesome racism of the Civil War era. In Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation,…
CELEBRATING BLACK CARIBBEAN MAKERS – PANEL
Through gorgeous images and powerful interviews with 65 artists of Caribbean heritage, MALENE BARNETT’s Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practices of Contemporary Black Caribbean Makers takes readers on an important journey through the world of Black Caribbean art. This is the first book where Caribbean makers are sharing the intimate stories of their artmaking process, and how their countries of origin influence and inform how and what they create. Joining Barnett are artists JUANA VALDÉS and CORNELIUS TULLOCH,…
“CAFECITO COMPARTIDO” – PANEL
Through poetry, interviews, and images, Daniela Perez Miron’s Ventanitas: A Window into Miami’s Coffee Culture, photographed by GESI SCHILLING, celebrates the lives of the people who gather at the city’s coffee windows for conversation and human connection. Joining Schilling are contributors EILEEN ANDRADE, CARLOS FRÍAS, TERE ESTORINO, and MIKE ROMEU; moderated by MELODY SANTIAGO CUMMINGS, executive director of O, Miami. SPONSORED BY Buy Ventanitas: A Window into Miami’s Coffee Culture…