Miami, Sept. 30, 2025 – This month, Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Book Fair kicked off activities as part of the national The Big Read program supported by the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) to promote literacy.
The Big Read aims to broaden our understanding of our world, communities and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Managed by Arts Midwest, this initiative offers grants to support innovative community reading programs designed around a single book. This year’s selection is “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, a novel told in vignettes capturing a year in the life of a 12-year-old girl in a small Chicago community marked by poverty and limitation, but alive with beauty and resilience.
Miami Book Fair will distribute complimentary copies of the book while supplies last. In addition, the Fair will host events inspired by the book. See highlights below:
Saturday, Oct. 11, 3 – 4 p.m. (Virtual)
Speak Up: Teen Creative Writing + Performance with Camille Gomera-Tavarez
Sunday, Oct. 12, 12 p.m. (In-person)
Writing Home: Telling Stories with Heart: A Creative Writing Workshop with Ruth Behar
Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 6:30 p.m. (Virtual)
First Draft: A Creative Writing Social with Nadine Pinede (In English and Haitian Creole)
Thursday, Oct. 16, 6:30 p.m. (Virtual)
Writing Home: Telling Stories with Heart: A Creative Writing Workshop with Ruth Behar
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2 – 3 p.m. (In-person)
Live Arts Miami + MOCA Songwriting Workshop with Guest Artist Inez Barlatier
Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 N.E. 125th St., North Miami
Through Nov. 13 (various days + times)
Miami-Dade Public Library Branch Book Discussions
View a complete list of Big Read initiatives hosted by Miami Book Fair here.
For more information about the NEA and Big Read, visit www.arts.gov
For more information about Miami Book Fair, visit www.miamibookfair.com, call 305-237-3528 or email wbookfair@mdc.edu.
Follow the Miami Book Fair on social media @miamibookfair.
About Miami Book Fair
Founded in 1984 by Miami Dade College and partners, Miami Book Fair engages the community through inclusive, accessible programs that promote reading and support writers year-round. The annual eight-day festival has grown into the largest and most comprehensive community-rooted literary gathering in the United States generating discourse on contemporary literature and current issues of international importance. Throughout the rest of the year, Miami Book Fair responds hosts an ongoing schedule of activities, including The Little Haiti Book Festival; creative writing and publishing workshops; author presentations; reading campaigns; and Read to Learn Books for Free, a partnership with The Children’s Trust that distributes more than 150,000 free books a year to children in Miami-Dade County. Miami Book Fair programming is made possible through generous support from the State of Florida and the National Endowment for the Arts; City of Miami; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; Miami Downtown Development Authority; and Friends of the Fair; as well as many corporate partners. Miami Book Fair: Building community, one reader at a time.