WHERE THE FUN BEGINS... Entertainment Arts & BES T AR T GALLERY Nina Johnson 6315 NW SECOND AVENUE MIAMI, 33150 305-571-2288 NINAJOHNSON.COM Nina Johnson’s eponymous gallery in Little Haiti started in 2007 as Gallery Diet in Wyn- wood — back when Miami’s arts district was actually an arts district. But regardless of the gallery’s name, Johnson has always had a knack for organizing museum-quality exhibi- tions while representing emerging artists like Emmett Moore, Bhakti Baxter, Katie Stout, and Savannah Knoop. Johnson has also orga- nized shows around artists like Jim Drain, Marlene Bennett Jones, and Judy Chicago — established names worthy of solo exhibitions at PAMM or ICA. Whenever Johnson opens a new show, you’d be a fool to miss it. BES T BOOK B Y A LOCAL AUTHOR DIANA ABU-JABER @DABUJABER (TWITTER) FOR JUST $5 ROUNDTRIP ON WEEKENDS! There’s so much to do in South Florida! Tri-Rail is a great way to get to your favorite destinations. Ride the train to arts and culture, major events, shopping, dining, beaches and more. Your fun begins with Tri-Rail. Get on board today. Though the fact continues to come as a surprise to many, Miami is an exceptionally literary city. One contributor to this community is Fort Lau- derdale resident Diana Abu-Jaber, whose re- cently published novel, Fencing With the King, is an update of classic themes from King Lear and Arthurian fables. Amani, the story’s protagonist, discovers a poem by her grandmother, a refugee in Jordan during World War I, and investigates its origins through her Uncle Hafez, advisor to the King of Jordan. Tension escalates as Amani undertakes a complicated and dangerous jour- ney filled with history and discovery. Outside of the fantastical stories she creates, Abu-Jaber is a writing and literature professor at Portland State University who splits her time between Oregon and Fort Lauderdale. BES T AUTHOR Alex Segura ALEXSEGURA.COM You can take the boy out of Miami, but you can’t take Miami out of the boy. In no case does this ring as true as it does with Cuban-Ameri- can author Alex Segura, a New York resident whose Miami roots find their way into all of his work, from comic books to novels. “I joke with people that there’s always an element of Miami in everything I write,” Segura tells New Times. Whether it’s his crime noir series of Pete Fernandez mysteries or his recent, criti- cally acclaimed novel Secret Identity, Segura’s engaging figures always have a Magic City connection. His lead characters may even re- flect the author himself. A former reporter who left South Florida, but who was left with an indelible mark by a hometown that many don’t understand but everyone wants to know more about. “It’s such a unique place — there’s a duality to it as a tropical paradise with a lot of noir bubbling up under the surface, a lot of subtleties that people don’t know about,” Se- gura says. “It’s also important to identify with these stories. I love mysteries, but I wanted to see more people like me as the star. I wanted to read about Hispanic protagonists, so I actual- ized the books I wanted to read.” BES T HER ALD REPOR TER Jacqueline Charles @JACQUIECHARLES (TWITTER) Jacqueline Charles has been covering the Ca- ribbean for the Miami Herald since 2006, and she’s never stopped performing at the top of her game. This past year was no exception — Charles, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her cover- age of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, returned to the island nation after another horrific quake hit in August 2021, telling the stories of dis- placed Haitians once again faced with mass de- struction of their homeland. She also continued TRI-RAIL.COM | 1-800-TRI-RAIL 16 16 18 Train Stations • Free Parking • Free WiFi JUNE 23-29, 2022 JUNE 23-29, 2022 NEW TIMES NEW TIMES BEST OF MIAMI® 2022 BEST OF MIAMI® 2022 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com S TOCKIMAGE / GETT Y IMAGES F e n c i n g w i t h t h e K i n g
