Video: Q&A with Miami Book Fair Co-Founder Mitchell Kaplan

Mitchell Kaplan is one of Miami’s most beloved figures. As the owner of Books & Books, he already had established a headquarters for a then burgeoning literary scene. When he co-founded the Miami International Book Fair 25 years ago, Kaplan helped to further cement the city as a mecca for…

Miami Book Fair Preview: Q&A with Art Spiegelman

Comic artist Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman- the Michael Jordan of literary comics- headlines this year’s book fair. The artist who created the hugely popular Holocaust comic tome Maus is here touting two new works. The first is Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!, a re-release of a…

Miami Book Fair Preview: Q&A with Dennis Lehane

Mystic River author Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane, author of best-sellers turned box office hits Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, is as Boston as the Dropkick Murphys and “Sweet Caroline” at Red Sox games. But he’s actually a South Florida guy, too. Lehane studied at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg…

Ann Louise Bardach Goes to Prison with Fidel

“Rarely has one man been blessed with such an auspicious destiny. Few have been endowed with so many gifts, opportunity and the good will of so many. That he squandered it so makes Cuba’s tragedy all the more wrenching.” That man, of course, is Miami’s nemesis: Fidel Castro. The woman…

Govind Armstrong: Spill Food on this Book

Govind Armstrong has never been a prissy, stick-to-the-rules kind of chef. Even his culinary background is unconventional – instead of culinary school, he gathered his knowledge working with Wolfgang Puck at Spago at age 13, then working amidst a crowd of young, innovative chefs in acclaimed restaurants in California and…

Molly O’Neill and Food: the Straight Q&A

Molly O’Neill will appear at the Miami Book Fair tomorrow, November 10, at 1:30 p.m. Her book, American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes, cooks up a look at America’s history via over 100 concise and distinctive stories concerning food. O’Neill, the New York Times food columnist for a…

Easy Does It

Dressed in black from head to toe, author Walter Mosley stood out easily against the rich tones of the Mandarin Oriental’s lobby and its equally overhued patrons. As he walked toward me, ebony fedora tipped to one side, visions of his most well-known character, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, came to mind…

Oh Brother

Remember when your sister iced your birthday cake with Ajax? It’s payback time. From a journalist’s memoir about her junkie brother to a memoir written in tandem by sisters, one of whom was sexually assaulted, to a novel narrated by an office worker whose murdered sister was “diabolically beautiful” but…