High Voltage Book Fair to Turn on South Florida

The Miami Book Fair International (MBFI), among the nation's largest and most highly regarded book events, will come to the South Florida campus of Miami Dade College for eight days beginning on November 13. The high-voltage literary power of the 22nd annual festival, which boasts over 300 authors, a giant street fair, and several hundred thousand visitors, will not be reduced one watt as a result of the damaging effects of Hurricane Wilma, say MBFI organizers.

MBFI chair Mitchell Kaplan, the owner of Miami's Books & Books and president of the American Booksellers Association, has been dealing with the consequences of the hurricane at his home, at work, and in the preparations for MBFI. He told BTW that he was very optimistic, and he noted, "Although Hurricane Wilma smacked Miami harder than anyone down here imagined, the Fair will go on as strong as ever and will be a welcome respite for those who have suffered through extensive power outages, school closures, and a general sense of disruption."

The schedule of readings, workshops, discussions, and entertainment, featuring prize-winning writers and up-and-coming literary talent, includes Booker Prize-winner Margaret Atwood, nonfiction master and 2005 National Book Award nominee Joan Didion, journalists Mike Wallace and Andrea Mitchell, novelists Jonathan Safran Foer, Terry McMillan, Anita Shreve, Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Octavia Butler, and healthy living expert Dr. Andrew Weil, among hundreds of others.

MBFI is also one of the largest presenters of Spanish-language writers in the nation. This year, the IberoAmerican Author program will include Carlos Alberto Montaner, Laura Restrepo, Eduardo Mendicutti, Julieta Campos, Jorge Volpi, Mayra Montero, and other literary luminaries from Latin America and Spain.

The American Booksellers Association is convening a Spanish-Language Bookstore Focus Group on November 18 in conjunction with the fair. The goal of the group will be to better understand the needs and challenges of bookselling to, and by, the Latino community, with an eye towards developing new education, marketing, and other programs to meet these needs. (To read more about the focus group, go to news.bookweb.org/read/3966.)

The popular MBFI street fair on the weekend of November 18 - 20 extends for blocks and will have outdoor exhibits by nearly 250 national and international booksellers and publishers, international pavilions featuring the literature, fine arts, folklore, and culinary traditions of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Japan, Peru, and Spain, plus an Antiquarian Annex, and Children's Alley.

The Miami Book Fair International is a program of the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College. For more information, visit www.miamibookfair.com/.