November 1, 2007

Miami Book Fair International (2007) Draws Top African-American And Caribbean Authors to South Florida

Miami Book Fair International

The 24th annual Miami Book Fair International will host a rich assembly of African-American and Caribbean authors Nov. 4-11 at the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE 2nd Ave. in downtown Miami.

This year’s Book Fair will give fair goers a candid glimpse into the life of legendary vocalist Eddie Levert Sr., one of the founding members of the renowned 1970’s soul group the O’Jays. Levert Sr. is scheduled to take center stage with co-author Lyah Beth LeFlore to read excerpts from their book I Got Your Back: A Father and Son Keep It Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family and Friendship. The book is Levert’s final collaboration with his late son Gerald, who passed suddenly at the age of 40 late last year. I Got Your Back gets inside the special and rare father-son bond that these two R&B legends shared. The failures, concerns, fears, and triumphs of the talented duo are chronicled throughout the poignant book. In 2005, the O’Jays was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

During the book fair’s Evening’s With… series, spend the evening of Thursday, Nov. 8 with one of the most highly regarded poets of the modern age, Nikki Giovanni. Christened early on her career as the Princess of Black Poetry and recently making it onto Oprah Winfrey’s twenty-five Living Legends list, Giovanni returns to the fair to share from her book Acolytes, a collection of new poems and prose depicting the powerful elements and forces in her life.


Actress Victoria Rowell will also be at the fair to present her latest book, The Women Who Raised Me, a memoir of her life which focuses on her time in foster care. In the book, Rowell discusses all of the foster mothers who cared for her and for her sisters. Nigerian poet and novelist Chris Abani also returns to South Florida to read from his latest book Song for Night, a novella about a teenager living in a deplorable and violent neighborhood of Nigeria.

The Caribbean Voices Program will feature Edwidge Danticat, whose memoir, Brother, I’m Dying, weaves her most intimate tale yet of brotherhood and family amid Haiti's and the United States' chaotic circumstances. Other authors will include Jane Bryce, Oonya Kempadoo, Rabindranath Maharaj, Kim Robinson-Walcott and Anthony C. Winkler.


Below is a list of authors presenting at this year’s fair whose works reflect African-American and Caribbean themes. All presentations will be at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Avenue, Miami. For exact location and time for each presentation, go to www.miamibookfair.com.


Chris Abani: Song For Night

Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa:I Name Me Name: Lola

Preston Allen: All or Nothing

Tina McElroy Ansa: Taking After Mudear

Amiri Baraka: Tales of the Out & Gone

Steven Barnes:Casanegra: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel

Madison Smartt Bell: Toussaint Louverture – A Biography

David W. Blight: A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom

Marina Salandy-Brown:Caribbean Dispatches Beyond the Tourist Dream

Jane Bryce:Chameleon & Other Stories

Adrian Castro:Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time

Margaret Cezair-Thompson:The Pirate’s Daughter

Rudy Crew:Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Schools

Edwidge Danticat:Brother, I’m Dying

Tananarive Due:Casanegra: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel

Nina Foxx:No Girl Needs a Husband Seven Days a Week

Nikki Giovanni:Acolytes (Evenings With & Student Literary Encounters)

Joanne Hyppolite:Ola Shakes It Up

Peniel E. Joseph, PhD:Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

Oonya Kempadoo:Tide Running

Eddie Levert, Sr. & Lyah Beth LeFlore:I Got Your Back: A Father and Son Keep It Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family and Friendship

Rabindranath Maharaj:A Perfect Pledge

Philip Nanton:Caribbean Dispatches: Beyond the Tourist Dream

R. Donahue Peebles: The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur’s Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding in Business, and Creating a Fortune from Scratch

Geoffrey Philp: Grandpa Sydney’s Anancy Stories

Howard Pitterson: Spectre of Seven and Deadly Embrace

Anthony Romero:In Defense of America: The Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age of Terror

Victoria Rowell:The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir

Robert Edison Sandiford:Shouts from the Outfield: The ArtsEtc Cricket Anthology

Mercedes Cros Sandoval: World View: The Orishas and Santeria: The Past from Africa to Cuba and Beyond

Trisha R. Thomas: Nappily Married

Carolyn Quick Tillery:Southern Homecoming Traditions: Recipes and Remembrance

Kim Robinson-Walcott:Out of Order! Anthony Winkler and White West Indian Writing

Anthony C. Winkler:The Lunatic and Dog War

There will be a nominal $5 admission fee to the Fair grounds only on Saturday and Sunday of the Street Fair. Fairgoers 18 years of age and younger, Miami Dade College students and employees with identification, Book Fair Friends, volunteers, exhibitors and guests with credentials will be admitted free of charge. Access to the Fair grounds on Friday is free. Events during Book Fair week leading up to the weekend Street Fair, including the Evenings With series are free of charge. In addition, a coupon booklet will be provided to paying fairgoers offering several discounts for items within the Fair.

For more information about the 2007 Miami Book Fair International, visit the website at www.miamibookfair.com, or call (305) 237-3258.

Media-only contacts:

Beverly C. Rodrigues, MDC media relations director, 305-237-3949, brodrigu@mdc.edu; Juan Mendieta, MDC communications director, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu or Lisa Palley, 305-642-3132, lpalley@bellsouth.net.

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Review of Miami Book Fair International, 2008

Caribbean Voices @ Miami BooK Fair International, 2006



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