Miami, Nov. 3, 2022 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Book Fair, Nov. 13 – 20, will once again celebrate top authors representing the Caribbean. The Fair invites you to be part of the 2022 ReadCaribbean Panels, a series of events including author presentations, panels and music for audiences of all ages.
Kicking off the ReadCaribbean program is Original Roots: The Sound & Story of Jamaican Tradition at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12. This educational and cultural affair will feature The Tallaway Mento Band, The Jamaican Folk Revue and Jamaican Poet Laureate, Olive Senior (Hurricane Watch). Wrapping up this delightful evening is a panel discussion with Consul General of Jamaica to the Southern United States, Oliver Mair, and Jamaican dub poet, Malachi Smith. Location: Black Archives, The Lyric Theater, 819 NW 2nd Ave.
View other ReadCaribbean events below:
Becoming the Family Historian – Nick Douglas, author of Finding Octave: The Untold Story of Two Creole Families and Slavery in Louisiana, in conversation with family genealogist and Black Archives Board Chair Patricia J. Braynon and Miami Book Fair’s African Diaspora Genealogy/Family History Program Chair Marvin Ellis.
Thursday, Nov. 17 @ 7 p.m.
Location: The Lyric Theater, 819 N.W. 2nd Ave.
Out of Many, One People – Writers with ties to Jamaica celebrate the 60th anniversary of the island-nation’s independence. Reading from their own work, these gifted authors will ponder the past and present to speculate about the obstacles and opportunities that lie ahead. With Olive Senior (Hurricane Watch), Dionne Irving (The Islands), and Jonathan Escoffery (If I Survive You), in conversation with Tanya Batson-Savage, publisher.
In person. Saturday, Nov. 19 @ 1 p.m.
Location: MDC Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Room 8302
Changing Haiti Through Higher Education – Scholars from Haiti address the responsibilities that befall college students in the reconfiguration of this country’s present, whose past remains marked by violence and corruption. With academic Hérold Toussaint and agronomist Philippe Mathieu.
Sunday, Nov. 20 @ 3pm
Location: MDC Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Room 8302
In Haitian Creole, with English interpretation
Caribbean Myths & Realities – Four Caribbean writers discuss the unreality of reality and the truth of the fantastic in their work. With Jasmine Sealy, Barbados (The Island of Forgetting), Opal Palmer Adisa, Jamaica (The Storyteller’s Return: Story Poems), and Ayana Lloyd Banwo, Trinidad (When We Were Birds), in conversation with Myriam J.A. Chancy, Haiti (What Storm What Thunder).
Saturday, Nov. 19 @ 11 a.m.
Virtual event in English
Our Beautiful and Corrupted Islands – Writers explore the dichotomies that permeate life in the Caribbean, a vibrant and joyous place, riddled with corruption and violence. Pamela Mordecai, Jamaica (A Fierce Green Place, poems), Mac Donald Dixon, St Lucia (A Scream in the Shadows), and Celeste Mohammed, Trinidad and Tobago (Pleasantview), converse with Kellie Magnus, Read Jamaica. The panel will discuss the fascinating traditions and values that bind Caribbean people and the literal, metaphorical walls that divide them, including the struggle to overcome the consequences imposed by such artificial boundaries.
Saturday, Nov. 19 @ 1 p.m.
Virtual event in English
Children’s Lit in Cuba, PuertoRico and Haiti. Writers and illustrators explore visions for a more expansive future in Caribbean literature for young readers. With Terry Catasús Jennings and Raúl Colón, Cuba (The Little House of Hope), Lesléa Newman and Elizabeth Baez, PuertoRico
(Alicia and the Hurricane, author), and MJ Fievre, Haiti (The Ocean Lives There).
Saturday, Nov. 19 @ 3 p.m.
Virtual program in English
Writing Children, Writing Ourselves. Children’s fiction writers hailing from Jamaica unite to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the island’s Independence and explore the continuity and convergence of childhood and adulthood in the Caribbean. With Janet Morrison (A Different Me, A Better You), Jean Hawthorn-DaCosta (Leroy Adventures of a Yaad Boy), and Juleus Ghunta (Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows), in conversation with Opal Palmer Adisa (Portia Dreams).
Saturday, Nov. 19 @ 5 p.m.
Virtual program in English
Caribbean Layouts. Graphic artists and writers from Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Haiti provide perspectives on how to create better graphic novels and comic books honoring Caribbean sensibilities. This dynamic panel includes Jessica Oublié (France/Guadeloupe), Ralph Penel Pierre (Haiti) and Chevelin Pierre (Haiti), in conversation with professor Cae Joseph-Massena. With a special introduction from Anthoni Dominguez, director of Villa Albertine, Miami.
Saturday, Nov. 19 @ 7 p.m.
Virtual event in French with English subtitles
For Miami Book Fair information, visit www.miamibookfair.com, or call 305-237-3528 or email wbookfair@mdc.edu. The official fairgoers guide will be available online later this month.
Follow the Miami Book Fair on social media @miamibookfair.
#MBF2022 #MiamiBookFairOnline #MBFO2022
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.