Streaming and on-demand, Miami Book Fair Online offers a wide variety of author presentations and activities for all ages. Sign up at MiamiBookFairOnline.com to view events.
Miami, Nov. 13, 2020 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) 37th edition of Miami Book Fair (MBF), for the first time transformed into a free virtual event, will kick-off on Sunday, Nov. 15 with exciting programs that include acclaimed authors Margaret Atwood, Ann Patchett and Emma Straub. The following opening day events, along with a few others, will be the only ones to require either book or ticket purchase:
Sunday, Nov. 15, at 5 p.m.
An evening with Margaret Atwood
Internationally acclaimed author Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale) will discuss Dearly: New Poems, her first collection of poetry in over a decade, with New York Times Book Review Editor, Pamela Paul. Born in Ottawa, Canada, Margaret Atwood is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Her work has been published in over 45 countries in more than 20 languages including Urdu, Icelandic, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Japanese, and Hebrew, among others. Her latest novel, The Testaments is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. Said book is the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, the 1985 novel which inspired the award-winning TV series produced by streaming service Hulu, slated to premiere a fourth season in 2021. Other Atwood’s literary accolades include The Giller Prize (Canada), Premio Mondello (Italy), The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, The Frank Kafka International Literary Price, The PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award and The Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. Aside from her literary career Atwood is an instructor, environmental activist and inventor of the LongPen™, a robotic scripting device built with the mission of using the internet to deliver an author’s original signature on a book between any two locations on the globe. Book and ticket purchase required for admittance to this program. Please visit booksandbooks.com. Sponsored by Leslie Miller Saiontz.
Sunday, Nov. 15, at. 7 p.m.
An Evening with Ann Patchett and Emma Straub
In conversation with celebrated Broadway actor Julie White, American author Ann Patchett will discuss The Dutch House, a moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. Considered Patchett’s most powerful novel to date, the book has been named one of the best of the year by NPR, The Washington Post and Vogue, among many others, and boasts a spot in TIME Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2019. This special event will also feature New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub, author of Adult’s Here: A Novel, a warm, funny, and keenly perceptive story about the life cycle of one family–as the kids become parents, grandchildren become teenagers, and a matriarch confronts the legacy of her mistakes. This is a special ticketed fundraiser event. Purchase price of $50 includes access to program stream and a signed book of your choice. Half of all proceeds goes directly toward funding Miami Book Fair programming. Event is free for members of Friends of the Fair. Please visit MiamiBookFairOnline.com.
Monday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m.
An Evening with Nicole Krauss
In conversation with author Lauren Groff, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Nicole Krauss discusses To Be A Man: Stories. One of her strongest works of fiction to date, Krauss plunges fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed from the very beginning of time. Book and ticket purchase required for admittance to this program. Please visit booksandbooks.com.
Wednesday, Nov. 18
Jess Walter on The Cold Millions: A Novel
Author Jess Walter and Maris Kriezman of Lit Hub Radio’s “The Maris Review” discuss The Cold Millions: A Novel, an intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice, and betrayal that offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams with. Book and ticket purchase required for admittance to this program. Please visit booksandbooks.com.
Saturday, Nov. 21
Yaa Gyasi on Transcendent Kingdom: A Novel
In conversation with author Nell Freudenberger, Ghana-born Yaa Gyasi discusses Transcendent Kingdom: A Novel, a follow-up to her acclaimed national bestseller Homegoing. This new literary work is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief–a novel about faith, science, religion and love.Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief–a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi’s phenomenal debut. Book and ticket purchase required for admittance to this program. Please visit booksandbooks.com.
To buy books and tickets for all events, except An Evening with Ann Patchett and Emma Straub fundraiser, please visit the Fair’s partner bookseller booksandbooks.com.
For Miami Book Fair information, visit www.miamibookfaironline.com or call 305-237-3528 or email wbookfair@mdc.edu.
Follow the Miami Book Fair on social media @miamibookfair.
#MiamiReads, #MBFOnline2020
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.
Miami Book Fair contact: Lisa Palley, Palley Promotes, 305-642-3132 lpalley@bellsouth.net.