The Book Fair Made Its Return To Downtown Miami
The Miami Book Fair made its in-person return to Wolfson Campus Nov. 14-21, bringing with it authors, artists and performers from around the world.
During the eight days of festivities, attendees roamed the colorful tents that lined the streets of downtown Miami, hunted for the popular lemonade and arepa stands and food trucks, explored events like Poetry on Demand with The Biscayne Poet and indulged in musical storytelling with Haitian descent Inez Barlatier at the Children’s Alley.
“The Book Fair is super cool. I love it,” said Amanda Rodriguez, as she maneuvered her way through the Street Fair on Sunday in search of a smoothie. “My dad loves books. I love reading and so do my siblings. So it’s always been a super fun place for me to be.”
The Book Fair kicked off its in-person schedule with the popular Evenings With event on Nov. 14 featuring award-winning journalist and documentarian Sebastian Junger. He shared stories about his one-year journey walking the railroad lines of the East Coast with three of his friends.
Other speakers who appeared later in the week included Amor Towles, author of Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow, Jean Becker, the former chief of staff to former United States President George H. W. Bush, who spoke about her book The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush’s Post-Presidency and American novelist, gay activist and AIDS historian Sarah Schulman.
“Sarah Schulman is iconic,” said Bobuq Sayed, who attended the Evenings With event on Nov. 15 featuring Schulman. “I’m thankful for the queer programming.”
Sophia Martinez, an Eduardo J. Padrón Campus student, reveled in the buzz and excitement the Book Fair brought.
“It was fun to come back after the pandemic took away MBF in-person last year,” said Martinez, who attended Cynthia Barnett’s presentation on Nov. 19 about her book The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans. “I love getting to see author conversations and having the opportunity to ask them questions. Everyone is here to have a good time and bond over the love of one thing—books.”
Although some of the events were interrupted by persistent rain showers throughout the week, the inclement weather didn’t prevent guests from purchasing books, reading, chatting with authors and indulging in a creative atmosphere.
“I’m so happy to see so many books, so many people together and knowing that the physical need to hold a book hasn’t gone away,” said María Cristina González, the author of La Trituradora y Otros Cuentos and a member of the Hispanic Heritage Literature Organization. “It’s all about the experience of having a physical copy of a book in your hands.”
Staff writers Carolina Soto, Nicole Molina and Ilian Borrero-Aguirre contributed to this story.
