9 November 9-15, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | 40 years ago was. “We had James Laughlin speak that year. His New Directions Press published Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams all the way back in the 1930s.” Kaplan was amazed at all the important 20th-century authors who made their way to Miami. Ken Kesey. Toni Morrison. Saul Bellow. Susan Sontag. Joseph Heller. Allen Ginsberg. But he says it was a symbiotic relationship that worked both ways. The people of Miami got to get close to great literary minds, while writers got a chance to have their minds blown with inspiration by Miami. “Writers were discovering Miami for the first time, and when they went home, they wrote about Miami. Marek Halter came from France and then wrote a five-page spread in Le Monde about Miami. Joan Didion wrote her book about Miami after speaking at the Book Fair. People say that Art Basel is what showed the world that Miami is a sophisticated city, and I love Art Basel, but we were here first,” Kaplan says. The Book Fair isn’t just for the sophisticates and the elite; it’s intended to be for everyone. The event features Spanish-language authors, writers from the Caribbean, and plenty of events aimed at children. The fair’s current executive director, Lissette Mendez, started attending the Book Fair as a teenager growing up in Miami Beach. “When I was 16, I took the bus over the bridge, and it was amazing as a book lover that you could meet all these authors,” she says. Over 20 years, Mendez has worked her way up to be in charge. One of her mis- sions has been to make the fair as inclusive as possible. “We try to connect people through books. Everyone talks about how polarized our country is. But I think our Book Fair is a place where it’s easy to be together,” she adds. A major change over the Book Fair’s four decades is an increase in programming for children and young adults. “On the first day, Friday, we used to bring only a few hun- dred students from schools. This year, we’ll have over 6,000 students,” Mendez says, adding that the fair would have hosted even more local students if it wasn’t for a dis- trictwide school bus shortage. Kaplan believes that with people like Mendez and cur- rent Miami Dade College president Madeline Pumariega at the helm, the Miami Book Fair is in good hands. Though he hesitates to guarantee it will last another 40 years, he is confident about its present state. “I’m exceedingly opti- mistic the Book Fair will stay a driver in the community. I have a hard time predicting 40 years from now, but I think physical books will still be around, and people, not AI, will still be writing them.” He pauses to allow himself to get a little imaginative with what a Miami Book Fair in 2062 might look like. “Will it be virtual? Will people put something around their eyes and gather in a virtual meeting place? I don’t know. But I think people will want to gather in some way around books. I call books ‘empathy machines.’ We knew when first starting the Book Fair that hearing other peo- ple’s stories would bring the community together and al- low them to hear stories that are different from their own. In times like these especially, we really need to under- stand each other’s stories.” Miami Book Fair. Sunday, November 12, through Sunday, November 19, at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami; miamibookfair.com. Ticket prices vary; general admission to the street fair costs $10, and author talks are included. OOKS AT FORTY Miami Book Fair cofounder Mitchell Kaplan Photos by Karli Evans / @allseeingmedia
