Biggest & Best Ever: Miami Book Fair International Turns 20

The 20th Miami Book Fair International opened on the evening of November 3 with pyrotechnics both literal and figurative. Hundreds gathered at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus to kick off the eight-day festival with performances by African drummers, tango dance champions, rappers, and a fireworks display. Shortly after the ceremony, Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison and Cuban/French novelist Zoe Valdes ignited crowds with readings at the Central Baptist Church and at the Chapman Center on the Wolfson Campus, respectively.

According to Dr. Magda Vergara, the fair's executive director, this year's Miami Book Fair was the largest ever, attracting over 400,000 people and including author appearances, panel discussions, a mammoth street festival, and international pavilions showcasing the arts, cultures, and literature of Mexico, Europe, North America, and Central America. Over 300 exhibitors, 270 programs in English, and 80 programs in Spanish were featured, as well as many A-list authors such as Madeleine Albright, Martin Amis, Mitch Albom, and some with initials other than M.A. -- Mario Vargas Llosa, Joyce Carol Oates, Walter Mosley, Garrison Keillor, and Anne Garrels. Some authors participated in the "Evenings With…" programs; others did readings and signings in English, Spanish, and French; and more participated in dynamic panels. All events requiring tickets were full houses.

Vergara told BTW that new ideas were implemented this year: "The Children's Alley had new themed areas with popular books and characters; we had a concert pavilion with consolidated performances. The new Spoken Word Café drew many people, and we had a hundred more authors than last year. The weather was also perfect." The Miami Book Fair International is now under the umbrella of the newly established Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College.

The fair's national profile was increased significantly by the taping and airing of 10 nonfiction panels on C-SPAN2's BookTV. Many Book Sense 76 authors, including Howard Zinn, David Maraniss, Tracy Kidder, Robert Dalleck, Eric Schlosser, David Von Drehle, Neal Pollack, and Augusten Burroughs, were among those who appeared on the taped weekend programs, which BookTV repeated several times.

ABA Vice President Mitch Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Coral Gables and Miami Beach, who co-founded the fair in 1983 with Dr. Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College, now serves as the chairperson of its board of directors. He is pleased, but not really that surprised, that the fair has gone from a modest two-day event called Books by the Bay, to an enormous South Florida institution and possibly the biggest free book fair in the country. At that first fair, according to an article at Miami Herald.com, Marjory Stoneman Douglas signed books, and readers paid 25 cents for cookies with poems tucked inside. Dr. Padrón is quoted as saying, "When we started, we had to beg publishers and authors to come, now they beg us to be here."

Kaplan told BTW that the objective of the fair has always been to "highlight books and authors," and "to give Miami residents a chance to celebrate with books." Even back then, Kaplan noted, "As a bookseller, I knew that we had an audience; I saw the books that people were buying. I was confident that [the fair] would proceed and be successful."

Kaplan is also pleased that the fair has managed to reflect the multicultural composition of South Florida. "Miami is a very diverse community -- the fair provides something for everyone. There is programming in Creole as well as Spanish, English, and French. You can witness the diversity everywhere in the crowds. The beautiful thing about this event is that it changes from year to year because the writers are always different." --Nomi Schwartz