Completely Booked - Official Podcast of the Jacksonville Public Library
Listen to stories from local Jacksonville residents, learn something new, and get updates about events happening at the Jacksonville Public Library.
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Lit Chat Interview with Historical Fiction Author Jennifer Coburn
05/08/2025
Lit Chat Interview with Historical Fiction Author Jennifer Coburn
A Tale of Resistance... Based on a Real Story Hannah longs for the days when she used to be free, but now, she is a Jewish prisoner at Theresienstadt, a model ghetto where the Nazis plan to make a propaganda film to convince the world that the Jewish people are living well in the camps. But Hannah will do anything to show the world the truth. Along with other young resistance members, they vow to disrupt the filming and derail the increasingly frequent deportations to death camps in the east. From the author of Cradles of the Reich comes a poignant and inspiring tale about resistance, friendship, and the dangers of propaganda, based on the real story of the Nazi "show camp" Theresienstadt. Jennifer Coburn is a celebrated historical fiction author. Her latest book, The Girls of the Glimmer Factory, is an illuminating tale of resistance and the dangers of propaganda. Her other novel, Cradles of the Reich, is a historical novel about three very different women living at a Nazi Lebensborn at the start of World War ll. She has also published a mother-daughter travel memoir, We'll Always Have Paris, as well as six contemporary women's novels. She has also contributed to five literary anthologies, including A Paris All Your Own. Jennifer lives in San Diego. When Jennifer is not going down historical research rabbit holes, she volunteers with So Say We All, a live storytelling organization, where she is a performer, producer, and performance coach. She is also an active volunteer with Reality Changers, a nonprofit that supports low-income high school students in becoming the first in their families to attend college. Interviewer Jane R. Wood is the author of six award-winning juvenile fiction books where she weaves history and science into stories filled with mystery, adventure, and humor for young readers ages 8-14. She has also written a nonfiction How-To book for authors called Schools: A Niche Market for Authors. (All of her books are available at Jacksonville Public Library.) Wood is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and television producer, who often speaks at book festivals, conferences for writers and publishers, podcasts, webinars, and at education conferences. Wood has a BA from the University of Florida and an M.Ed from the University of North Florida. She is the past-president of the Florida Authors and Publishers Association and lives in Jacksonville. Her website is . Read her books Check out from the Library! For more books about the Holocaust, . Did you know that all of our Lit Chat authors' books count toward your completion? and join in on the fun! --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Rebecca Brenner Graham
04/03/2025
Lit Chat Interview with Rebecca Brenner Graham
Interview with a Debut Author This January, we spoke with the author of Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins's Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany. Released on January 21, 2025, this new book is a fascinating portrait of the progressive female trailblazer and US Secretary for Labor who navigated the foreboding rise of Nazism in her battle to make America a safer place for refugees. As Hitler rose to power, thousands of German-Jewish refugees and their loved ones reached out to the Immigration and Naturalization Service—then part of the Department of Labor—applying for immigration to the United States, writing letters that began “Dear Miss Perkins . . .” This outstanding, inspiring new narrative of the first woman to serve in a president’s cabinet reveals the full, never-before-told story of her role in saving Jewish refugees during the Nazi regime. As Secretary of Labor, she wrestled widespread antisemitism and isolationism, finding creative ways to work around quotas and restrictive immigration laws. Diligent, resilient, empathetic, yet steadfast, she persisted on behalf of the desperate when others refused to act. Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University who has a PhD in history from American University. She previously taught at the Madeira School and American University. In 2023, she was awarded a Cokie Roberts Fellowship from the National Archives Foundation and a Rubenstein Center Research Fellowship from the White House Historical Association. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Time, Slate, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. Interviewer Jennie B. Ziegler, Assistant Chair of English at the University of North Florida, completed her M.F.A. in Nonfiction at the University of Arizona. Her work has been published in the University of Texas’ Bat City Review, New York University’s The Washington Square Review, Bending Genres, Roanoke Review, Squawk Back, MAYDAY Magazine, The Normal School, Essay Daily, and the Appalachian Review, among other outlets. She often focuses on history, the body, folklore, region, science, and identity in her lyric essays. Currently, she is working on Still-Wilds, a collaborative collection of photography and essays that document the preserved areas of Northeast Florida. Find more of her work at jennieziegler.com. Read the book Check out debut novel from the Library: Did you know that all of our Lit Chat authors' books count toward your completion? and join in on the fun! Rebecca Recommends by Erica Armstrong Dunbar by Heather Clark by Mary Mahoney and Allison Horrocks --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Civil Rights Activist & Author Rodney Hurst, Sr.
03/03/2025
Lit Chat Interview with Civil Rights Activist & Author Rodney Hurst, Sr.
Black and Brilliant Local Author As the sixteen-year-old President of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP, he was one of the leaders of the 1960 sit-in demonstrations that culminated in the infamous and violent Ax Handle Saturday. Hurst's first book, the award-winning It Was Never About a Hot Dog and a Coke®!, tells that story. Hurst’s fourth book, Black and Brilliant (written for 12-18 year-olds), dives deeper into bigotry, segregation and racism he experienced as a pre-teen and a teenager in Jacksonville. The book also reflects on the legacy of Black America and the many influences on his life that made him proud of his Blackness and piqued his interest in Black History. About our Guest Speakers Rodney Lawrence Hurst Sr., is a civil rights activist, a Black historian, a veteran of the United States Air Force and the award-winning author of four books. Hurst is a native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a 1960 high school graduate of segregated Northwestern Junior-Senior High School in Jacksonville. He was the sixteen-year-old President of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP and was one of the leaders of the 1960 sit-in demonstrations. Rodney has won countless awards for his books and his civil rights work. In addition to his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, Hurst served two four-year terms on the Jacksonville City Council. He is responsible for numerous "firsts" in the Jacksonville Community. Some being Hurst was one of the thirteen original national recipients of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Television Fellowships and he co-hosted a television talk show as the first Black person in Jacksonville on PBS Channel WJCT. . Interviewer TiLena Robinson worked as a middle and high school social studies teacher with Duval County Public Schools for nine years. In her current role as grant specialist she focuses on improving school climate by supporting schools with the implementation of programs that focus on reducing bullying incidents in schools and help students build healthy relationships. She is a member of DCPS’s African American History Task Force and works to bring equity, inclusion, and diversity to education. She believes that “You can’t teach world history without talking about Africa and how African peoples have impacted society; And you can’t teach U.S. history without talking about how African Americans have contributed to the history of the United States.” Featured Book: Black and Brilliant Rodney believes, "Black and Brilliant young people need to know their Black and Brilliant history and the Black and Brilliant stalwarts who engineered that history. It is never too early, nor are you too young, to understand the plight of those who look like you and what they achieved from the founding days of this country." This book, he says, "Is more than a historical account, it is a call to action..." He hopes that young people "learn from the courage and resilience of those who fought for civil rights, gaining a deeper appreciation for the remaining challenges." Hurst's leadership as a teenager during the Civil Rights Movement is also the subject of a chapter in the Scholastic book, , written for Third Graders to Seventh Graders and ages 8 to 12. Check out all of from the Library! Rodney Recommends The JaxNext100 award-winning mini documentary, "Unless We Tell: Ax Handle Saturday" features Hurst describing the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP 1960 sit-ins and Ax Handle Saturday. The title was inspired by Hurst's second book, Unless We Tell It... It Never Gets Told! The film took First Place at the Jacksonville LOL (Loving Our Locals) Film Festival in 2022. It was a collaboration between Hurst, his grandson-in-law, Kyle Dorrell, and his granddaughter Marquiette (Mark-Kita) D. Dorrell and their company, Weighted Sailor. Note: The 2028 documentary "" is also based on his book. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Author Sheila Athens
02/13/2025
Lit Chat Interview with Author Sheila Athens
A First Coast Romance Sheila Athens writes smart contemporary fiction set where the South meets the Sunshine state. Her stories are about women seeking to find the peace we all deserve. Readers are drawn to her work because they believe that everyday heroes can make a difference in our world. Featured Book: Mae Van Dorn's Perfect Storm All thirty-four-year-old Mae Van Dorn wants is to live alone. But she soon finds herself living with her estranged brother in a town she’s never been to and working for the founder of the local megachurch, though she’s as misanthropic as they come. An added benefit of the job: Ezra Watts, the handsome construction company owner who’s remodeling the deck at the pastor’s waterfront mansion. Between her brother’s mysterious past, the pastor’s potentially illicit dealings and Ezra’s on-again-off-again flirtations, Mae’s life spins out of control…and that’s all BEFORE Hurricane Carly makes landfall in Jacksonville Beach. Check out from the Library: After growing up in the Ozarks, Sheila Athens moved to Florida—sight unseen—with the man who would become her husband. Thirty-five years later, she’s still on the shores of the Atlantic, grateful that her two grown sons and their families live nearby. After many years as a vice president of human resources, she now spends her time ensconced in her quiet little lair, where she reads, writes and communes with the ducks who live on the lake right off her back porch. She loves quiet spaces, eccentric people and the little band of writer hikers who walk at sunrise on a regular basis. To sign up for her newsletter or to schedule a book club visit (either in-person or virtual), go to . Interviewer Jessica Hatch has a passion for writing genre-blind, character-first fiction. Her work has appeared in such publications as Writer’s Digest, The Millions, Fast Company, Neutral Spaces, and Surely Magazine, among others, and her freshman and sophomore novels were published by Hachette UK’s Bookouture imprint. Before becoming an author, Jessica worked and interned in New York trade publishing institutions Writers House and St. Martin’s Press. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida. Find her at . More Recommended Reading SHEILA RECOMMENDS Looking for other authors of Southern fiction? Sheila recommends Karen White, Sarah Addison Allen, Mary Kay Andrews, and Kristy Woodson Harvey. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Author and Filmmaker Morgan Jerkins
02/05/2025
Lit Chat Interview with Author and Filmmaker Morgan Jerkins
A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots New York Times bestselling and National Magazine Award-winning author Morgan Jerkins will be at the Main Library this October to discuss , the powerful story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration, and the displacement of black people across America. She will be the first featured Lit Chat author in the Library's new . The project, in part, seeks to expand the Library's African American History Collection and the associated Digital Community Archive and to make customers aware of all the FREE family research and local history resources available to them in the Special Collections Department at the Main Library, including the newly-expanded . For more information about how you can contribute materials to Special Collections or use these publicly-available resources to trace your family roots, research the history of your home or neighborhood and more, . Morgan Jerkins's most recent book is the novel Caul Baby, an Amazon Best Book of 2021. Her other books are Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots, one of Time’s must-read books of 2020, and This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, a New York Times Bestseller. As a journalist, she’s written about the internet, intersecting social issues and popular media through celebrity profiles and interviews, reportage, commentary, and personal essays. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, among others. She’s won two National Magazine Awards and was a Forbes 30 Under 30 Leader in Media. Jerkins is also a filmmaker. Her debut short film, Black Madonna, which she wrote and co-directed, was selected at the Big Apple Film Festival, Pan African Film & Arts Festival, and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles. She teaches Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she also holds a Bachelor’s in Comparative Literature. She has an MFA from Bennington College, and has taught at Columbia University, Pacific University, The New School, and Leipzig University, where she was the Guest Picador Professor. Based in New York City, she was born and raised in New Jersey. Interviewer Prof. Tammy Cherry has taught at Florida State College at Jacksonville as an English professor for 22 years. Along with composition classes, Tammy teaches African American literature and honors classes. She is a lifelong Jacksonville resident and recently served as co-host for the WJCT podcast Bygone Jax. Praise for Morgan Jerkins's Books “In Morgan Jerkins’s remarkable debut essay collection, This Will Be My Undoing, she is a deft cartographer of black girlhood and womanhood. From one essay to the next, Jerkins weaves the personal with the public and political in compelling, challenging ways... With this collection, she shows us that she is unforgettably here, a writer to be reckoned with.” — Roxanne Gay “[A] forthright and informative account. . . . Jerkins’s careful research and revelatory conversations with historians, activists, and genealogists result in a disturbing yet ultimately empowering chronicle of the African-American experience. Readers will be moved by this brave and inquisitive book.” — Publishers Weekly on Wandering in Strange Lands “Morgan Jerkins’ fantastic, expansive novel of mothers and daughters and Harlem, Caul Baby, is a meditation on the limits of inheritance and legacy. It’s also a love letter to a rapidly changing neighborhood.”— Kaitlyn Greenidge Check out from the library! Continue Reading MORGAN RECOMMENDS by Bernadine Evaristo by Jesmyn Ward by Carmen Maria Machado by Magda Carneci THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie by Brittney Cooper by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo by Rachel E Cargle by Claudia Rankine by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers by Maisy Card by Diane Oliver by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Mexican Gothic Author Silvia Moreno-Garcia
12/05/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Mexican Gothic Author Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Mexican Gothic Author Comes to Jacksonville Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, is coming to Jacksonville for Hispanic Heritage Month. Her latest novel is a historical drama set in Hollywood, following three different point of view characters all tied to the production of a movie inspired by the Biblical story of Salome. FEATURED BOOK: 1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times. So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves. Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Macavity Award), and her newest book, , which was a Good Morning America Book Club pick for August 2024. Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Cachanilla and Canuck, originally from Baja California, Silvia now resides in Vancouver. She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia. Interviewer Michelle Lizet Flores is a graduate of the FSU and NYU creative writing programs. She currently works as a Creative Writing Instructor at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and co-hosts the What's in a Verse Poetry Open Mic at Rain Dogs. Publications include The NCTE English Journal, Salt Hill Journal, and The Talon Review. A finalist for the Juan Felipe Herrera Award for Poetry, she wrote the chapbooks Cuentos from the Swamp and Memoria, and the picture book, Carlito the Bat Learns to Trick or Treat. Her short fiction is in the anthology, Places We Build in the Universe. Invasive Species, her first full-length collection of poetry, is currently available from Finishing Line Press. READ Check out from the Library! THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS by Isabel Cañas by Elizabeth Gonzales James by Roshani Chokshi by Stephen Graham Jones by Leopoldo Gout by Gerardo Sámano Córdova by Marcela Fuentes by Awkaeke Emezi by Ella King by Diane Marie Brown by V Castro by Jennifer Givhan --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Writer & Musician Daryl Gussin
11/15/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Writer & Musician Daryl Gussin
Zinester Talks Fanzines, Community Daryl Gussin is a writer and musician who has been awkwardly standing around at punk shows for the last twenty-something years. Thankfully at some point in his late teens, he decided to become a little more productive and has been working on zines, setting up shows, and playing in bands consecutively since then. He's been integrally involved in Razorcake fanzine for the last seventeen years. ABOUT THE AUTHOR & INTERVIEWER In 2006, Daryl Gussin became integrally involved in the Razorcake fanzine where he is currently the managing editor. His writing revolves around the honest, bittersweet, and ultimately triumphant aspects of counterculture and its flavorful inhabitants: The heartbreaks, the implosions, and the defiant victories. Community over commercialism, create and destroy. Interviewer Lindsay Anderson is a prolific zine maker and self-publisher based in Jacksonville, FL. Since 2013, Lindsay has developed a long-running zine project, she has helped to organize the annual Duval Comic and Zine Fest (DCAZ) and recently launched a new quarterly zine Mischief on the River. She's passionate about creating from existing resources and making space for others to develop and showcase their own works. READ Check out issues of Razorcake from the library: DARYL RECOMMENDS “A quick list of contemporary LA poets I always enjoy seeing read”: Ingrid M. Calderón Iván Salinas Jennifer Vierge Baptiste --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Top Chef Personality & Author Kenny Gilbert
10/15/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Top Chef Personality & Author Kenny Gilbert
Chef Kenny Offers New Takes on Southern Cuisine Chef Kenny Gilbert is best known for his appearance on “Top Chef” Season seven, where he displayed a big personality and instantly became one of the most likable "cheftestants" to date. He is also the author of the new cookbook, (2023), which includes tips and techniques for making international variations of over 100 iconic Southern dishes. "My passion is food. Wherever I go, whatever I do, that’s how I roll." - Chef Kenny Gilbert Throughout his career, Kenny has traveled the world, staging in some of the top restaurants in Japan, Spain, France and the Caribbean. He has cooked at the James Beard House, participated in wine & food festivals around the country, cooked for the Sports Illustrated Super Bowl party and appeared on the “Today Show,” Jacksonville’s FOX 30 and in the LA Times. MEET CELEBRITY CHEF KENNY GILBERT Kenny joined us for a Lit Chat Interview on Tuesday, August 27, at the Mandarin Branch Library. This program was sponsored by the Friends of the Mandarin Library. MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR & INTERVIEWER An award-winning chef and restaurateur, Kenny Gilbert’s career spans over two decades and has graced him with opportunities to travel around the world and learn the authentic techniques and flavors of global cuisines. He has always had a love of cooking. Growing up in Cleveland, but with roots in the South, his father was an avid BBQ man with his own rubs and sauces while his mother was a fantastic home cook. In April of 2023, Kenny released his very first cookbook, Southern Cooking, Global Flavors from Rizzoli. Interviewer Cindy Sutton and her husband are the parents of three children and are now first-time grandparents. Cindy is retired from the healthcare industry, where she worked for almost 30 years. She has lived in various places across the United States and is an avid traveler who enjoys great food and great wine (and cocktails). Living in different areas around the country and traveling around the world has afforded her the opportunity to eat at famous restaurants and experience the creativity and genius of a lot of chefs. Her husband, David, had the opportunity to experience Chef Kenny‘s creations in the late 90s when he was at the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, and since then they have both been big fans of Chef Kenny and have traveled to other cities just to experience his cuisine. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with "Prairie Man" Author Dean Butler
09/12/2024
Lit Chat Interview with "Prairie Man" Author Dean Butler
Dean Butler is an actor, producer, and director best known for his role as Almanzo Wilder (the man Laura Ingalls married) in Little House on the Prairie, based on the beloved Little House book series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. He appeared in the final four seasons of the show, the spin-off show Little House: A New Beginning, and the three post-series TV movies. He was also a producer for NBC Golf’s Emmy-nominated series Feherty for over ten seasons. "The idea of being a cowboy and riding horses began for me at our family ranch in northern California," Dean Butler says. "In this picture, I'm holding our horse, Cricket, with my sister Meg in the saddle. Those beautiful summer days in the country with my family all around me shaped my entire life and prepared me for what was to come in the years ahead." Now, on the occasion of Little House on the Prairie's 50th Anniversary in 2024, he's sharing the details of his young life as an aspiring cowboy and what he learned from Michael Landon in touching a new memoir. READ Check out from the library! ABOUT THE AUTHOR & INTERVIEWER Cast just before his twenty-third birthday, Dean Butler joined Little House on the Prairie halfway through its run, gaining instant celebrity and fans’ enduring affection. Ironically, when the late, great Michael Landon remarked that Little House would outlive everyone involved in making it, Butler deemed it unlikely. Yet for four decades and counting, Butler has been defined in the public eye as Almanzo Wilder—a role he views as the great gift of his life. Interviewer Devan Stuart Lesley is a longtime journalist and owner of Legacy Talent Group, representing actors and models throughout the Southeast. Her expansive media career experience includes print, radio, and TV journalism; commercial, news, documentary, and independent film producing; assistant directing; acting; and voice-over. She is a freelance correspondent for People magazine and founder of Stuart Media, LLC specializing in corporate media. As a volunteer, Lesley is co-founder and past President of the Norman Studios Silent Film Museum, a 501c3 nonprofit organization working to restore and reopen Jacksonville's sole remaining silent film studio complex, where some of the nation's first African American-cast films were produced. She also is a member of the Jacksonville Mayor's Commission on Motion Picture, Television, and Commercial Production; Film Florida's Marketing & Communications Committee and Industry & Association Council; Women in Film and Television's Jacksonville, FL and New York chapters; and the Northeast Florida Press Club. THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS More memoirs from the Little House on the Prairie cast: by Alison Arngrim by Melissa Francis by Melissa Gilbert by Melissa Sue Anderson --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Award-Winning Graphic Novelist Nate Powell
08/23/2024
Lit Chat with Award-Winning Graphic Novelist Nate Powell
Nate Powell began self-publishing as an Arkansas teenager in 1992. Now, he is a National Book Award-winning cartoonist best known for his work on the ground-breaking graphic novel memoir series, March, with civil rights icon John Lewis. An inside story of the Civil Rights Movement told through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures, it was a #1 New York Times and Washington Post bestseller. Nate Powell has received multiple Eisner and Ignatz awards, the Comic-Con International Inkpot Award, and multiple ALA and YALSA distinctions. He was also a two-time finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has discussed his work at the United Nations, on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, PBS, and CNN. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana. His other work includes the new graphic novel Fall Through (released February 6, 2024) and a new comics adaptation of James Loewen’s influential Lies My Teacher Told Me (released April 16, 2024), as well as Save It For Later, Come Again, Two Dead and more. Interviewer Badr Milligan is a podcaster, professional moderator, and community leader all rolled into one. He has moderated panels for some of the biggest conventions and conferences around the country, and to date, he’s hosted and produced over 600 episodes of the award-winning and ongoing podcast: . For the past 12 years, Badr has made it his mission to use the medium of podcasting to its full potential, engaging with the world's best artists and wordsmiths in thought-provoking interviews that are shared weekly, with listeners in over 140 countries. In 2018, Badr co-founded the : A collective of 500+ audio creators in Northeast, FL, committed to educating and inspiring the next generation of podcasters with collaborative events and community outreach programs. Badr is also an Air Force Veteran, and currently runs his own business, . READ Check out from the library! THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS More great graphic novels and zines to read! by Adam de Souza by ND Stevenson by George Takei --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Author Interview with Debut Novelist Alejandro Nodarse
08/02/2024
Lit Chat Author Interview with Debut Novelist Alejandro Nodarse
Debut Florida Author Brings the Magic City to Jacksonville "I am, first and foremost, a Miamian. No physical location has done more to shape my personal and artistic sensibilities than the Magic City," Alejandro Nodarse said in a recent interview. "Miami is, unquestionably, very different from its neighboring Floridan cities, and I am a product of that high energy, heavy neon, fiercely multicultural coastal city." Critics seem to agree... This deeply personal vision of the streets and swamps of Miami is getting some attention, with Publisher's Weekly saying, "Heat practically radiates off the page." Nodarse went on to say, "The creative impulses that fueled the novel were heavily inspired by texts that, in their own right, are some of the best examples of how Florida has defined itself in the national consciousness." Alejandro Nodarse holds an MFA from the University of Miami and is an alum of Las Dos Brujas Writers Conference and a former staff member of the VONA Writers Conference. Blood in the Cut is his debut novel. Interviewer Michael Wiley is the Shamus Award-winning author of twelve novels in four series. The most recent series features Franky Dast, an exonerated convict who investigates crimes involving the unjustly accused. Michael’s short stories appear often in magazines and anthologies, including Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2022. A former board member of the Mystery Writers of America, he teaches creative writing and literature at the University of North Florida. His new novel, Find Your Own Way Home, will release this summer at the end of July. READ Check out from the Library! -- ALEJANDRO RECOMMENDS Here are the top Florida-themed works of art that helped hone Blood in the Cut: directed by Barry Jenkins "Few films are so Miami-as-it-is and Miami-as-it-should-be as Moonlight. In early drafts of Blood in the Cut, Chiron served as a model for Carlos, my protagonist Iggy’s brother, and while Carlos’s character arc fell to the background, Chiron, Jenkins’s Miami, and the rugged determination of the characters to find their lanes in life held steady as I wrote." by Susan Orlean "This book is everything I love rolled into one: Mystery, adventure, botany, orchids, the Everglades—what more could you want!? Orlean weaves a tale for readers that examines the lengths that some will go to feed their passions and find rare orchids. It’s this combination of beautiful, deep descriptions, unbreakable determination, love of the Everglades, and eye for detail that I hoped to capture in Blood in the Cut." directed by Sean Baker "Throughout the film, Moonee is far wiser than any six-year-old should be, but because of it, she takes everything in stride. I wanted my protagonist, Iggy, to embody that same sort of steely determination as his situation deteriorated. Like any Floridians worthy of the name, both Moonee and Iggy are adept at “resolviendo”, a Spanish word that loosely translates to “making things happen”, and this is what allows us to hope against all hope when things are darkest for them both. " by Zora Neale Hurston "The tumultuous external landscape that Janie must navigate throughout the novel mirrors her internal turbulence, and that sort of well-rendered, thoughtful characterization is a literary feat I desperately hoped to accomplish as I crafted my characters, especially Iggy." directed by Billy Corben "Corben’s skill at recreating a bygone era and fully immersing audiences is something I’ve always marveled at and wanted to achieve in Blood in the Cut, which is set in Miami in 2016, just as the presidential elections are taking shape." by Rebecca Renner "I think of this book as Blood in the Cut’s nonfiction aspirational counterpart because of how beautifully Renner renders the Everglades and the worlds it contains within. One goal I set for myself as I was writing my novel was to treat the Everglades as a character by rendering it as elegantly, vividly, and faithfully in terms of scope, beauty, danger, and primordial, elemental mood. Gator Country forced me to step my game up as I rendered the Everglades in my work." directed by Tom Shadyac "I’d like to go on the record and state that the protagonist of this eponymous, comedic whodunit, Ace Ventura, is the original Florida Man. This film is part mystery, part comedy, part love letter to Miami: a tryptic of accomplishments that inspired some key elements of Blood in the Cut." By Karen Russell "This book. All of it. The way that Russell lures readers into the Everglades and into the lives of the Big Tree family is the magic I pray for every time I crack open a book. This coming-of-age mediation on love, loss, and “resolviendo” is one of the reasons Blood in the Cut exists." --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Bestselling Environmental Writer Jeff Goodell
07/19/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Bestselling Environmental Writer Jeff Goodell
You May Never See a Hot Summer Day the Same Way Again... Jeff Goodell is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, which was picked as a New York Times Critics' Top Book of 2017, as well as one of Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2017. Goodell's previous books include Sunnyvale, a memoir about growing up in Silicon Valley, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future. His latest book is the New York Times bestseller The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet - about the impact that temperature rise will have on our lives and our planet. This program was presented in partnership with the St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Jacksonville Climate Coalition. Jeff Goodell has covered climate change for more than two decades at Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications. A 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, his work has been recognized by the American Meteorological Society, New America, and the inaugural Covering Climate Change Now Journalism Awards for Feature Writing. He is a Senior Fellow at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center and serves on the board of the McHarg Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. Interviewer Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy award-winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black & Published podcast. Her latest novel, The Seven Daughters of Dupree, was acquired by Scout Press and will be published in 2025. A Chicago native, Nikesha is a columnist with JAX Today. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and VOX. She lives in Florida with her family. READ THE AUTHOR'S WORK Check out from the Library! THE LIBRARY ALSO RECOMMENDS Other climate change reads: by Katharine Hayhoe by Geoff Dembicki by David Wallace-Wells --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Award-Winning Author Siera London
06/13/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Award-Winning Author Siera London
Hallmarky Romance with Some Light Spice Siera London says, "I write sassy, sensual heroines." Whether it's the Forbidden series, Fiery Fairy Tales, The Bachelors of Shell Cove, you're sure to find plenty of heat, humor, and a rollercoaster of emotions. Dubbed a "Hallmarky romance with a little extra heat" by author Lizzie Shane, London's latest book, Fake It Till You Make It, is no exception. In it, we meet Amarie Walker, who has just left her cheating ex and her entire D.C. life in the rearview. It's not long after crash landing in a small town with no money, no plans, and no job, that Amarie meets certified veterinarian (and certified grump) Eli Calvary. He may not be cracking many smiles but his animal clinic is the only gig for miles. The only problem? The practice Eli inherited from his father is in financial trouble and when he needs to invent an investor on the fly, it's Amarie's name that comes to his lips! Can the gorgeous, bubbly, and business-savvy Amarie help save the clinic from foreclosure? And can the two ignore the nonstop sparks between them long enough to save his family business? The Lit Chat Interview with Siera London took place live at the Bradham and Brooks Library on Saturday, May 11, 2024. USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Siera London crafts tales with a message to heal the heart and soul. From contemporary to paranormal, Siera weaves stories with heroines you know, heroes you love, and romance you feel. When not writing, Siera roams with Mr. Awesome and Frie, her cat muse. Siera is a retired Navy veteran and a Jacksonville native. Learn more about the author and her literary catalog online at Interviewer Jessica Hatch has a passion for writing genre-blind, character-first fiction with a love of words and a strong beating heart. Her work has appeared in such publications as Writer’s Digest, The Millions, Fast Company, Neutral Spaces, and Surely Magazine, and she hosts the virtual reading series Comp Title Book Club. Her freshman and sophomore novels were published by Hachette UK’s Bookouture imprint, and her debut novel, My Big Fake Wedding, a Lonely Victories Book of 2022, appeared in the Top 50 women’s fiction and Top 100 romantic comedy titles on Amazon. Before becoming an author, Jessica worked and interned in New York trade publishing institutions Writers House and St. Martin’s Press. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida. READ Check out from the library: SIERA RECOMMENDS “I enjoy lazy days at the museum and learning about people who inspire me to invest in myself and others. Check out Fort Mose, a free black settlement established in 1738 in America’s oldest city, Saint Augustine, FL.” --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Teen Lit Chat with Science Fiction & Fantasy Author Bethany Baptiste
05/30/2024
Teen Lit Chat with Science Fiction & Fantasy Author Bethany Baptiste
A born-and-raised Jacksonvillian, Bethany Baptiste is a preschool inclusion specialist by day and a young adult SFF novelist by night. If she’s not writing an inclusion support plan or a story, she does retail therapy in Florida bookstores and takes scheduled naps with her two chaotic evil dogs. You can visit her website at bethanybaptiste.com Check out all of Bethany's books in our catalog: BETHANY RECOMMENDS BOOKS Here are some dark, unputdownable Black YA reads perfect for fans of thrills, chills, and anything but ordinary: 📖 DEAD GIRLS WALKING by Sami Ellis (out March 26) 📖 THE DARK PLACE by Britney S. Lewis - 📖 MONSTROUS by Jessica Lewis - 📖 TENDER BEASTS by Liselle Sambury - GO-TO STOPS FOR A PERFECT NIGHT IN JACKSONVILLE (IN THIS ORDER) 2nd & Charles: Score affordable, used books Soupa Noodle Bar: Enjoy a hot, delicious bowl of ramen. Cinemark Tinseltown: Catch the latest movie and munch on some movie snacks. Insomnia Cookies: Treat yourself to warm cookies and ice cream. SHOWS & MOVIES 📺 BLOOD & WATER (Netflix): This show is perfect for fans of shadowy family secrets, elite schools, and crime underworlds. 📺 GEN V (Amazon): This show is about superheroes in college but like on really, really dark, twisty steroids. 📺 TINY PRETTY THINGS (Netflix): This show gives you a glimpse into the glamorous yet cutthroat world of ballet. 📺 SELAH AND THE SPADES (Amazon): If elite boarding schools, dark academia aesthetics, and cunning Black female leads are a vibe to you, check this movie out. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with author and former Georgia State Legislator McCracken Poston, Jr.
05/17/2024
Lit Chat Interview with author and former Georgia State Legislator McCracken Poston, Jr.
Death, Love and Redemption "In October 1997, the town of Ringgold in northwest Georgia was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley's house..." Georgia attorney-turned-writer, McCracken Poston Jr., joins us live via Zoom to tell the story behind one of his most famous defense cases and his upcoming book, "Like a nonfiction John Grisham thriller with echoes of Rainman, Just Mercy, and a captivating smalltown Southern setting, this is the fascinating true story—sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking—of an idealistic young lawyer determined to free an innocent neurodivergent man accused of murdering the wife no one knew he had." - from the Publisher McCracken Poston Jr. is a practicing criminal defense attorney and former state legislator in the Georgia House of Representatives. He is a graduate of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and received his law degree from The University of Georgia. He gained national attention for his handling of several notable cases that were featured on CNN Presents, Dateline NBC, A&E's American Justice, and Forensic Files. He lives in Ringgold, Georgia. READ Check out from the library! THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS True crime stories to investigate: by Charles Bosworth by Bryan Stevenson by Ellen McGarrahan --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Local Poet and Author Michelle Lizet Flores
05/02/2024
Lit Chat with Local Poet and Author Michelle Lizet Flores
The Friends of the Bill Brinton Murray Hill Library sponsored a special Lit Chat Interview with local poet Michelle Lizet Flores. Michelle spoke with fellow poet and Lit Chat alum, Jessica Q. Stark, about her latest book of poetry. Michelle Lizet Flores is a graduate of the FSU and NYU creative writing programs. She currently works as a Creative Writing Instructor at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and co-hosts the What's in a Verse Poetry Open Mic at Rain Dogs. Publications include The NCTE English Journal, Salt Hill Journal, and The Talon Review. A finalist for the Juan Felipe Herrera Award for Poetry, she wrote the chapbooks Cuentos from the Swamp and Memoria, and the picture book, Carlito the Bat Learns to Trick or Treat. Her short fiction is in the anthology, Places We Build in the Universe. Invasive Species, her first full-length collection of poetry, is currently available from Finishing Line Press. Interviewer Jessica Q. Stark is the author of Buffalo Girl (BOA Editions, 2023), a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, Savage Pageant (Birds, LLC, 2020), and four poetry chapbooks, including INNANET (The Offending Adam, 2021). Her poetry has most recently appeared in Best American Poetry, Pleaides, among other literary journals. She is a Poetry Editor at AGNI and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of North Florida. She co-organizes the Dreamboat Reading Series in Jacksonville, Florida. READ Check out from the library: THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS More poetry to enjoy: , by Fatimah Asghar , by Dana Gioia , by Andres Rojas --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Emily Rath author of Jacksonville Rays Romance Series
04/18/2024
Lit Chat with Emily Rath author of Jacksonville Rays Romance Series
Recently re-released with bonus content, Pucking Around (the first book in the series) is now a USA Today bestseller! The sequel, Pucking Wild, debuted at the top of the Kindle store in multiple countries: #2 in the USA, #1 in Canada, #1 in Australia, and top 50 in the UK! From the author: "The signed paperback preorder campaign for the Kensington editions of Pucking Around is now LIVE!! I’ve partnered with Femme Fire Books, which is a Jacksonville-based independent bookstore, to help me run this preorder campaign. You can secure your preorder ." - Emily Rath is an international bestselling author of fantasy and romance. Born in Florida and raised in Kentucky, she is a former university professor, holding PhDs in Political Science and Peace Studies. Her works include the "TikTok sensation" and Amazon Charts bestselling Jacksonville Rays Hockey romance series, as well as the Second Sons Regency Romance series. She currently lives in Jacksonville with her husband, son, and cat. They regularly comb the local beaches looking for shark teeth. Interviewer Jessica Hatch has a passion for writing genre-blind, character-first fiction with a love of words and a strong beating heart. Her work has appeared in such publications as Writer’s Digest, The Millions, Fast Company, Neutral Spaces, and Surely Magazine, and she hosts the virtual reading series Comp Title Book Club. Her freshman and sophomore novels were published by Hachette UK’s Bookouture imprint, and her debut novel, My Big Fake Wedding, a Lonely Victories Book of 2022, appeared in the Top 50 women’s fiction and Top 100 romantic comedy titles on Amazon. Before becoming an author, Jessica worked and interned in New York trade publishing institutions Writers House and St. Martin’s Press. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida. READ Check out from the library! EMILY RECOMMENDS If you are new to the world of hockey romance, here are some other great authors you can check out: , , Jessa Wilder, , and S.J. Tilly. I owe so much to TikTok for helping me reach a whole new world of readers. I spend a lot of time on the #Booktok side of TikTok, where there are some truly amazing content creators. They have brought me so much laughter and whimsy! Some of my current personal favorite non-book-related creators are Brian Morabito (), Laura Ramoso (), Prince Stash (), and Sean the Sheepman (). If you're looking for an awesome bookish content creator to follow, go follow Reid Moon ()--his rare book collection is absolutely fascinating! --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Bestselling Author & Emmy-Winning Director Jeffrey Blount
03/04/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Bestselling Author & Emmy-Winning Director Jeffrey Blount
Jeffrey Blount is the award-winning author of four novels, including Almost Snow White, Hating Heidi Foster, , and . He is also an Emmy award-winning television director and a 2016 inductee to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of Meet The Press, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and major special events. He is the first African American to direct The Today Show. He was a contributor for HuffPost and has been published in The Washington Post, The Grio.com and other publications, commenting on issues of race, social justice, and writing. Interviewer Fati D. Ashley is a Ghanaian-American literary and visual artist who resides in Florida. She holds a Master of Arts in English (Rhetoric and Composition) from the University of North Florida. Her poem “Cape Coast” was performed in Echoes of Us, a series of curated monologues, directed by Tony Award nominee Michele Shay in 2022. She is the Editor-in-Chief for The Banyan Review, a 2023 Best of the Net nominee, and a 2023 Fellow of The Craft Institute, "a non-profit organization dedicated to curating culturally inclusive ecosystems throughout the world of arts and entertainment..." Ashley consults and facilitates workshops for Authors Roundtable of North Florida and teaches creative writing at Jacksonville Arts and Music School. READ Check out from the library: THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS More books about finding yourself and your community: , by Chanelle Benz , by James McBride , by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with bestselling author Jami Attenberg
02/23/2024
Lit Chat Interview with bestselling author Jami Attenberg
Jami Attenberg is the author of seven books of fiction including Instant Love, The Kept Man, The Melting Season, The Middlesteins, Saint Mazie, and All Grown Up. Her most recent novel is All This Could Be Yours (2019). She is also the author of the memoir I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home (2022). Attenberg has written about food, travel, books, relationships and urban life for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Sunday Times, Slate, and others. Her work has been published in a total of sixteen languages. She lives in New Orleans, LA. Interviewer Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy award-winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black & Published podcast. Her latest novel, The Seven Daughters of Dupree, was acquired by Scout Press and will be published in 2025. A Chicago native, Nikesha is now a columnist with JAX Today. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and VOX. She currently lives in Florida with her family. READ Check out some of from the library: THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS More fiction to complement Jami’s works: by Gail Honeyman by Meg Wolitzer by Claire Messud JAMI RECOMMENDS My parents live over in Venice, Florida, across the state from all of you in Jacksonville, so that’s the part of Florida I know the best. These are my four favorite things about Venice: Belkis Cuban food inside the Citgo gas station. The people who run it are so nice and sometimes you just need to sit down with your family and eat an enormous Cuban sandwich. The free daily yoga on Venice Beach. The classes are offered by a lovely woman named Elin. She teaches it twice each morning. It’s basically just a lot of stretching but I like to go with my mom and then take a walk on the beach after. The Legacy Trail. An incredible miles-long multi-use recreational rail trail connecting Sarasota and Venice. My mother is on the Friends of The Legacy Trail board and helped with fundraising for its expansion, so I always think of it as the “Joan Attenberg Trail.” Humphris Park/South Jetty. Whenever I visit my parents, we go and watch the sunset here and it’s really lovely to see so many people come out and enjoy the natural beauty of Florida. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Lifetime Fighter for Justice, Nat Glover
02/01/2024
Lit Chat Interview with Lifetime Fighter for Justice, Nat Glover
Nat Glover was born in 1943, in segregated Jacksonville, Florida. At seventeen, he unknowingly headed into an angry white mob and the Ku Klux Klan attacking young black protestors staging a sit-in at a downtown whites-only lunch counter. Known as “Ax Handle Saturday,” this harrowing encounter with racism would commit him to a lifetime of fighting for justice. He joined the Jacksonville Police Department in 1966 where he was named Police Officer of the Year four times, promoted to detective, rose to sergeant, and was appointed the city’s first hostage negotiator. In 1995, Duval County voters elected him the first Black sheriff in Florida since Reconstruction. Hear more about his incredible work and his new memoir, Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff. Nathaniel Glover has garnered national recognition for his community policing, ban on choke holds, and de-escalation training. Then-President Bill Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno praised his initiatives during a walk-along with Glover in Jacksonville. He was also a mayoral candidate in 2003 and served as the 29th President of his alma mater, Edward Waters University. He was twice nominated for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Male President of the Year. The school’s stadium is named the Nathaniel Glover Community Field and Stadium. He received a “Great Floridian” designation in 2016 for his dedication to law enforcement, higher education, and the city of Jacksonville. He was inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Officer’s Hall of Fame in 2021. His memoir, Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff, was released on August 22, 2023. Book proceeds help fund scholarships for need-based students through the Florida State College at Jacksonville’s Foundation and the “Where They Will Shine Scholarship Fund”. Learn more at . Interviewer Keitha Nelson is an award-winning journalist with 19 years of experience in the field of broadcasting. She currently serves as the co-anchor for Good Morning Jacksonville, First Coast News, NBC12/ABC25. She’s a true storyteller with the ability to connect with audiences. Throughout her career, Keitha has covered several major stories including Hurricanes Katrina, Matthew, and Irma as well as the Kamiyah Mobley story and Ahmaud Arbery shooting trial. Keitha is a regular speaker and volunteer. Most recently, she’s been honored with a Ken Knight award for her coverage and positive impact within the community. Notably, she has also won an Award of Excellence in Broadcast Journalism from Women in Media. Keitha has contributed to team awards including both an Edward R. Murrow and a Peabody for Hurricane Katrina coverage and an Emmy. She serves on the board of Jacksonville non-profit Hope at Hand, which provides art and poetry therapy to at-risk populations. Keitha is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. READ Check out from the library! THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS by Herman Mason , by Marshelle Berry , by Jada Wright-Greene --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Prolific Local History Author Tim Gilmore
01/18/2024
Lit Chat with Prolific Local History Author Tim Gilmore
The Spirit of Place Tim Gilmore is a prolific local history author who has written extensively about Jacksonville. As the writer and creator of , a project that explores place and catalogs the Southern Gothic, he has told more than 700 stories of strange and historic locations in and around Jacksonville, Florida. He has also published 22 books. "Ever since UNF English Professor Alex Menocal introduced me to the concept of psychogeography years ago, I’ve been enthralled with it," Gilmore says. "It’s a portmanteau word, the psychology of geography, [meaning] something like the spirit of place. It’s where the name for my website, , comes from." Gilmore seems equally fascinated with Jacksonville and its people. He is also the founder of . A literary arts festival, now in its 10th year, JaxbyJax was built on the theme of “Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville.” Few writers have written about Jacksonville more than Gilmore. He joined us last November to talk about his latest book, . Tim Gilmore has written 22 books including Box Broken Open: The Architecture of Ted Pappas; Murder Capital: Eight Stories, 1890s-1980s; Channeling Anna Fletcher; Repossessions: Mass Shooting in Baymeadows; The Book of Isaiah: A Vision of the Founder of a City, illustrated by Shep Shepard; Devil in the Baptist Church: Bob Gray’s Unholy Trinity; and The Mad Atlas of Virginia King. Four of the works he’s written for the stage have been produced by Florida State College at Jacksonville DramaWorks and his writing has appeared in numerous publications both locally and nationally. JaxPsychoGeo has received mention in publications including The Miami Herald, The Washington Post and The New Yorker and was featured in the A24 book Florida! A Hyper-Local Guide to the Flora, Fauna and Fantasy of the Most Far-Out State in America. Gilmore teaches Literature and Writing at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He’s received awards from FSCJ, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and Jacksonville City Council. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida. You can also read his twice-weekly newsletter, Tim Gilmore’s deadpaper, at . Interviewer Shep Shepard is a professor of English at FSCJ’s Nassau Center. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida and has worked as a full-time instructor at FSCJ for twenty years. In his spare time, he produces music under various monikers, edits fiction and nonfiction prose, creates digital art, and enjoys time with his wife Ana and their dogs Meka and Moxie. READ Check out from the Library Catalog: Tim Recommends: Pyschogeographical Works I’ve long been a huge Cormac McCarthy fan. I’ve assigned to numerous classes over the years. Of all the McCarthy I’ve read, I most highly recommend The Road and two of his earlier novels: First, there’s the 1973 novel , which somehow manages to be one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever read and one of the most beautiful. Few writers could achieve that strange incongruous feat, perhaps none better than McCarthy. Meanwhile, his 1979 novel paints as detailed a picture of down-and-out Knoxville, Tennessee, as Joyce ever painted of Dublin. It’s perhaps the greatest American psychogeographical work. When I recently read John Oliver Killens’ 1954 novel Youngblood, I couldn’t believe I’d not read him already. This novel, alongside Harry Crews’ newly reissued 1978 memoir , has to be among the best writings ever to come out of Georgia. The two of them work like split-screen, a Black childhood and a white childhood, both so different and so similar. Both writers had ties to Jacksonville. Crews said mid-20th century Jax was the place poor Georgia farmers went when the crops failed. Various artists and writers have used psychogeography in different ways. I’ve returned time and again to my favorite such writings, which I can’t recommend enough – novels like Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton and Hawksmoor and Toni Morrison’s . On the face of it, Ackroyd and Morrison couldn’t be more different, but they both explore how culture is haunted by history and how patterns of history present themselves as ghostly. Then there’s Joseph Mitchell’s , a nonfiction account of a homeless Greenwich Village icon who claimed to have written the longest book in the world. Tim Recommends: Other Jax Authors I’d be negligent if I didn’t give a shout-out to our local literary community, which runs so much deeper and wider than most locals realize and includes works like Julie Delegal’s and Andres Rojas’s and Johnny Masiulewicz’s zine series. I could name dozens of other writers I admire and their works, but as soon as I attempt a long list, I’ll foolishly omit someone and lose a few nights’ sleep. (I already see 15 or 20 people in my mind’s eye whose names I didn’t mention, but could have, just now.) Anyone who wants an extensive list of writers participating in the Jax community, just look at the archives for the last nine festivals at . I’ll just say this is the 10th year of JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival, which my wife Jo Carlisle and I founded and then relinquished to the more capable hands of Darlyn and Brad Kuhn. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with LGBTQ+ Historical Romance Author Cat Sebastian
01/04/2024
Lit Chat with LGBTQ+ Historical Romance Author Cat Sebastian
Cat Sebastian writes queer historical romance. Her books have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist, and she’s been featured in the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and Jezebel. She was born in New Jersey and lived in New York and Arizona before settling down in a swampy part of the South. When she isn’t writing, she’s probably reading, having one-sided conversations with her dog, or doing the crossword puzzle. Interviewer Lori Sterling is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who focuses on helping LGBT+ individuals both at her private practice, Tea Time Therapy, and with her career as a medical care coordinator at JASMYN, a nationally recognized LGBT+ youth center located in Jacksonville Florida. When not advocating for or working with the community, you can most likely find her painting, playing Animal Crossing, or on the mat with her Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class. READ Check out more of from the library! - CAT RECOMMENDS "Here are some non-fiction books and memoirs I've recently read for research purposes, and which I've loved." The Summer Game by Roger Angell Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell Can't Anybody Here Play This Game by Jimmy Breslin by Pete Hamill - by Edmund White - --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Author and Journalist Mark Woods
12/20/2023
Lit Chat with Author and Journalist Mark Woods
The Legacies We Leave Behind For many childhood summers, Mark Woods piled into a station wagon with his parents and two sisters and headed to America's national parks. Mark’s most vivid childhood memories are set against a backdrop of mountains, woods, and fireflies in places like Redwood, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon national parks. On the eve of turning fifty and a little burned out, Mark decided to reconnect with the great outdoors. He'd spend a year visiting the national parks and write a book - thanks to a coveted fellowship from the Society of Professional Journalists. Mark had initially intended to write a book about the future of the national parks, but Lassoing the Sun grew into something more: a book about family, the parks, and the legacies we inherit and the ones we leave behind. His book, Lassoing the Sun, is about a journey that started with a sunrise in Maine, finished with a sunset in Hawaii and had a life-changing event in the middle: his mother's death. Mark Woods is the author of Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America’s National Parks. He has been Metro columnist at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville since 2003. Before that, he spent 20 years as a sportswriter at newspapers in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana. He covered the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, political conventions, Olympics, Wimbledon, the Masters, the World Cup and 11 Super Bowls – but he says none of those assignments compare with what he did in 2012, the year that led to Lassoing the Sun. Each year, the Society of Professional Journalists awards the Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship to one writer in America. Mark Woods, who most Jacksonville readers will recognize from his work at the Florida Times-Union, won the fellowship in 2011. His project, built around the National Park Service and celebrating its centennial in 2016, asked the question: What is the future of our parks? The coveted fellowship allowed Woods to devote the following year to his plan — explore one park a month, each symbolizing a different issue for the future, from rising seas to fading night skies. Interviewer Barbara Goodman is an International Park consultant and co-founder of the Riverfront Parks Conservancy. Barbara retired from the National Park Service in 2015 after 33 years of service; most recently as the Superintendent of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve for 18 years. During this time she provided the leadership and vision for the development of an unprecedented tri-lateral agreement between the National Park Service, Florida Park Service, and the City of Jacksonville Preservation Parks to create a seamless system of parks and to cooperate in planning, promotion, and resource protection. Barbara provides consultation assistance and guidance to Directors of National Park systems internationally in the areas of park planning and tourism in association with Global Parks and the International Conservation Caucus Foundation. She served as the Deputy Secretary, Land and Recreation at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection overseeing the Florida State Park System – which includes 175 parks, 800,000 acres, 100 miles of beaches, 7,500 miles of trails, 4,000 miles of paddling trails; and the Florida State Lands program providing oversight for 12 million acres of public lands, land sales acquisition and the Florida Forever program. READ Check out from the Library! - "Earnest and heartfelt, [Lassoing the Sun] captures how one family handles the joys and sorrows of life, with America’s most beautiful landscapes standing in the background."--Travel & Leisure ARK RECOMMENDS “I've done several columns about local places. Seems like () might be fitting for a National Parks talk.” --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Local Author Sohrab Homi Fracis
12/01/2023
Lit Chat with Local Author Sohrab Homi Fracis
Sohrab Homi Fracis’s new book of North Florida and elsewhere stories, True Fiction, won the 2023 International Book Award for story collections. American Book Award winner Rilla Askew says of it: "True Fiction is a tour de force." Fracis is the first Asian American author to win the Iowa Short Fiction Award, described by the New York Times Book Review as "among the most prestigious literary prizes America offers," for his first book, Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America. Publishers Weekly called it "A reminder of how satisfying the short story form can be...the work of an impressive new talent." His novel, Go Home, was shortlisted by Stanford University Libraries for the William Saroyan International Prize. Singapore Poetry described it as “newly poignant and even heartbreaking.” He taught literature and creative writing at University of North Florida. He was Twin Cities Visiting Writer in Residence at Augsburg College and Artist in Residence at Yaddo. He received the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature/Fiction. The South Asian Literary Association bestowed on him its Distinguished Achievement Award. Interviewer Michelle Lizet Flores is a graduate of FSU and NYU creative writing programs. She currently works as a teacher and co-hosts the What's in a Verse Poetry Open Mic in Jacksonville, FL. She has previously been published in magazines and journals such as The Miami Rail, Chircú Journal, and Travel Latina. A finalist for the Juan Felipe Herrera Award for Poetry, she is the author of the chapbooks Cuentos from the Swamp and Memoria, as well as the picture book, Carlito the Bat Learns to Trick or Treat. Her short fiction can be found in the anthology, Places We Build in the Universe through Flowersong Press. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Invasive Species, is forthcoming through Finishing Line Press. Find out more at michellelizetflores.com. READ Check out from the library! https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=sohrab+homi+fracis&te= SOHRAB RECOMMENDS In addition to books and movies, I also love music and sports. Lately my Spotify playlists center around contemporary folk rock by such musicians as The Paper Kites, Birdtalker, Plains, , Bonny Light Horseman, and . Some of my characters are aspiring musicians, as in "Open Mic," the first story in True Fiction. Playing college sports in India taught me to hang in there when things were going wrong and then to turn them around. I still follow professional tennis and not long ago watched stars such as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Venus Williams live at the Miami Open. I'm excited about the resurgent Jacksonville Jaguars. Go Jags! I see sportsmen as contemporary gladiators. Having been one helped me write the battlefield combat scene in True Fiction's concluding/signature novelette, "The Legend of Rostam and Sohrab," based on my ancient-Persian naming legend. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat with Historical Fiction Author Tracey Enerson Wood
11/03/2023
Lit Chat with Historical Fiction Author Tracey Enerson Wood
Tracey Enerson Wood loves discovering amazing women whose stories have been lost to history and bringing them to life for today’s readers. Her debut novel, , historical fiction about the woman who built the Brooklyn Bridge, is an international and USA Today bestseller. Her newest book, , is centered on Edith Bolling Wilson, the second wife of Woodrow Wilson. She is sometimes described as America's first woman President because of the role she played after the President's massive stroke in October 1919. Tracey has always had a writing bug. While working as a Registered Nurse, starting her own Interior Design company, raising two children, and bouncing around the world as a military wife, she indulged in her passion as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She has authored magazine columns and other non-fiction, written and directed plays of all lengths, including Grits, Fleas and Carrots, Rocks and Other Hard Places, Alone, and Fog. Her screenplays include Strike Three and Roebling’s Bridge. Other passions include food and cooking, and honoring military heroes. A New Jersey native, she now lives with her family in Florida. Interviewer Jessica Hatch has a passion for writing laugh-out-loud fiction with a strong-beating heart. Her first novel, , debuted at #1 on Amazon’s “Humorous American Literature” charts in August 2022. It went on to be a Lonely Victories Best Book of 2022, and her follow-up, , was a BookLovr pick for spring 2023. Jessica has worked in book publishing since 2013. She has had bylines published in Writer’s Digest, The Millions, and G*Mob Magazine, among others, and she is a proud alumna of the Mors Tua Vita Mea workshop in Sezze Romano, Italy. Before being acquired by Bookouture, her debut novel won a pitch slam at the Brooklyn Book Festival in 2018 and was workshopped by acclaimed author Rumaan Alam at Aspen Summer Words in 2019. Jessica was born outside of Richmond, Virginia, and now lives in Jacksonville, Florida, with her bartender husband, Paul, and their three cats. When she is not writing, you can find her jogging on the Riverwalk or planning her next international trip. Say hello on Instagram at @JessicaNHatch. Prepare for the Discussion Check out from the library! The Library Also Recommends For more excellent historical fiction, try these titles! , by Lecia Cornwall , by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray , by Renée Rosen --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Crime Thriller Novelist Hank Phillippi Ryan
10/23/2023
Lit Chat Interview with Crime Thriller Novelist Hank Phillippi Ryan
Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of 14 psychological thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, five Anthonys, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also an on-air investigative reporter for Boston's WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. National book critics call her “a superb and gifted storyteller”; she’s the only author to win the Agatha in four categories: Best First, Best Novel, Best Short Story and Best Non-Fiction. A story of psychological manipulation exploring the dark heart of marriage and friendship, her newest page-turning standalone thriller, The House Guest, has been dubbed "Gaslight meets Thelma & Louise." Hank is also the host of Crime Time on A Mighty Blaze and co-host of First Chapter Fun and The Back Room. She is a past president of National Sisters in Crime. Visit Hank at , Twitter @, Instagram and Facebook at . On Surprises and Suprise Endings You can also check out Hank on , , and . Interviewer Michael Wiley’s new novel is The Long Way Out, featuring Franky Dast, an exonerated ex-con who investigates a series of murders in Northeast Florida. Michael is also the author of three mystery and detective series, including the Shamus Award-winning Joe Kozmarski books, the Daniel Turner thrillers, and, most recently, the Sam Kelson PI novels, which are currently in development for television. His short stories appear often in magazines and anthologies, including Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2022. Read Check out all of from the library! - The Library Recommends Read similar books from other authors, including: by Alafair Burke by Lisa Jewell by Riley Sager --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Deb Rogers, author of Florida Woman
09/12/2023
Lit Chat Interview with Deb Rogers, author of Florida Woman
Deb Rogers' novel Florida Woman was published in July 2022 by Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Called "a bewitching debut" by Publisher's Weekly, Florida Woman was featured as an Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association. Deb has lived and traveled throughout Florida working as an educator, policymaker and victim advocate, and she now lives on the Atlantic side of the state in the very haunted and very beautiful town of St. Augustine. While she'd love to stumble upon hidden pirate treasure along the coast someday, her daily obsessions tend to be thriller and heist movies, word puzzles, licorice, Florida manatees, and, of course, monkeys. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @debontherocks, or learn more on her website . Interviewer Kay Huggins is a creative, the owner of Aphelion Editing and Consulting, and the host of the Raindrop Corner Podcast. As a longtime resident of Jacksonville, Florida, they have sought to support local artistry, foster thought-provoking content, and aid in human rights advocacy. Kay is an English major with a concentration in psychology. For over a decade, their life has been dazzled with project management, technology industries, logistics, editing, writing, and production. Through the intersectionality of Kay’s craft, they aim to champion the community by providing a platform to marginalized groups. Currently, Kay is writing their debut novel and enjoying leisure moments with their fur babies. READ Jamie is a Florida Woman. She grew up on the beach, thrives in humidity, has weathered more hurricanes than she can count, and now, after going viral for an outrageous crime she never meant to commit in the first place, she has the requisite headline to her name. But when the chance comes for her to escape viral infamy and imminent jail time by taking a community service placement at Atlas, a shelter for rescued monkeys, it seems like just the fresh start Jamie needs to finally get her life back on track — until it’s not. Something sinister stirs in the palmetto woods surrounding her cabin, and secrets lurk among the three beguiling women who run the shelter and affectionately take Jamie under their wing for the summer. Check out from the library! -- "Florida Woman ushers in a new talent who knows the quirkiness of the Sunshine State." – Sun Sentinel DEB RECOMMENDS Learn about the origins of Central Florida's monkey problem by reading The Bitter Southerner's well-researched article: by Jordan Blumetti. Visit the and take a walk through our state's past, beginning in the epoch (when Florida was underwater). Read some of Deb's favorite books that are set in Florida including by Susan Orlean, by Steph Post and by Karen Russell. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Beatriz Williams for Historical Fiction Lovers
08/24/2023
Lit Chat Interview with Beatriz Williams for Historical Fiction Lovers
Beatriz Williams is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of , , , , , , and several other works of historical fiction, including four novels in collaboration with fellow bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, Beatriz worked as a communications and corporate strategy consultant in New York and London before her first novel was published in 2012. Beatriz’s books have won numerous awards, have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and appear regularly in bestseller lists around the world. Born in Seattle, Washington, Beatriz now lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. Reviews "Williams’ particular gift as a writer is peeling back the pages of history to breathe life into the interior lives of women — how they lived, loved, and lost within the expectations and limitations of their time." — Entertainment Weekly "I think Williams is writing the best historical fiction out there. It's lush with period detail but feels immediate." — Elin Hilderbrand Interviewer Jessica Hatch has a passion for writing laugh-out-loud fiction with a strong-beating heart. Her first novel, debuted at #1 on Amazon’s “Humorous American Literature” charts in August 2022. It went on to be a Lonely Victories Best Book of 2022, and her follow-up, , was a BookLovr pick for spring 2023. Before being acquired by Bookouture, her debut novel won a pitch slam at the Brooklyn Book Festival in 2018 and was workshopped by acclaimed author Rumaan Alam at Aspen Summer Words in 2019. Jessica has worked in book publishing since 2013. She has had bylines published in Writer’s Digest, The Millions, and G*Mob Magazine, among others, and she is a proud alumna of the Mors Tua Vita Mea workshop in Sezze Romano, Italy. Jessica was born outside of Richmond, Virginia, and now lives in Jacksonville, Florida, with her bartender husband, Paul, and their three cats. When she is not writing, you can find her jogging on the Riverwalk or planning her next international trip. Say hello on Instagram at @JessicaNHatch. Reading Recommendations Check out from the library! --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Camille Dungy
08/14/2023
Lit Chat Interview with Camille Dungy
In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it. Camille T. Dungy is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Trophic Cascade, winner of the Colorado Book Award. She is also the author of the essay collections Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden and Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood and History, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Dungy has also edited anthologies including Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry and From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great. A 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, her honors include NEA Fellowships in poetry (2003) and prose (2018), an American Book Award, two NAACP Image Award nominations, and two Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominations. Dungy’s poems have been published in Best American Poetry, The 100 Best African American Poems, the Pushcart Anthology, Best American Travel Writing, and over thirty other anthologies. She is University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University. Interviewer Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy award winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the podcast. Her latest novel, The Seven Daughters of Dupree was acquired by Scout Press and will be published in 2025. A Chicago native, Nikesha is a columnist with . Her work has also appeared in , , and . She lives in Florida with her family. READ Check out from the library: https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=camille+dungy&te= --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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Lit Chat Interview with Dennis Chan
07/27/2023
Lit Chat Interview with Dennis Chan
Anyone can be a writer – even an accomplished chef! The first step is deciding what you'll write about. It could be something you're passionate about or particularly skilled in... Or could it simply be the book (or cookbook) you think is missing from the world! Dennis Chan grew up in Jacksonville, where his family has owned twelve restaurants in the past eight decades. His earliest memories of food include standing on a little stool next to his grandfather’s restaurant stove while watching him cook. Somehow, Dennis always knew that he would end up in the restaurant business. He opened Blue Bamboo in his hometown in 2005, after graduating from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and working with the Disney Company, and celebrity chef Ming Tsai. Chef Dennis is an adjunct professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville and teaches personal enrichment cooking classes at Blue Bamboo. Chan’s first cookbook, Hip Asian Comfort Food, was published in 2009. He also served as president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association North East chapter. Dennis won the 2018 Neighborhood to Nation recipe contest by General Mills and was chosen as one of 16 chefs to participate in Hormel Foods’ Culinary Enrichment and Innovation Program. Chef Chan lives in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife Elizabeth, and seven-year-old sons Bennett and Michael. He says, “After working around the country, I am so happy to have found my way back home.” A supporter of many local organizations, Dennis believes that there is a place in everyone’s heart and schedule for worthwhile organizations. Officially known as the Boss of Food in her family, interviewer Lauren Titus is a long-time Northeast Florida resident who brings over 30 years experience in our area's local food movement to the magazine, along with a passion and expertise in baking and front-yard farming. After a career in digital production and enterprise content management, Lauren is excited to be focused on her first loves: writing and talking about food and the vital role it plays in our community. Lauren lives with her husband in St. Augustine, and while her children have flown from the nest, they continue to support the local food scenes in Austin and Los Angeles. READ Check out Dennis’s cookbook, , from the library! DENNIS RECOMMENDS Places in Jacksonville to hold events in: The Main Library’s is a cool place to hang out. It is also just a few floors away from the Main Library's which has an auditorium and a very functional event room. We have gotten the chance to cater in some pretty cool venues over the last 18 years. Some were on top of tall buildings, like the clubhouse at the Peninsula, and some were on the ground surrounded by trees, like Chandler Oaks Barn. We've catered at shooting ranges, and at homes right on the beach. We also I also love the venues making a difference for organizations in our community such as the soundstage at WJCT and the Glass Factory. Book inspirations: for playful decorating techniques on cupcakes. The author is the photographer from my mentor's book, Blue Ginger Cookbook. Looking through that book always brings a smile. I have authored two cookbooks currently, Hip Asian Comfort Food and . Local bookstores carry them, and there is a copy at the Main Library. from Celestia Mobley is my favorite local cookbook. Music inspirations: My favorite songs are cooking show theme songs. Sources for great ingredients: Jax Oriental, La Salsa, and Caribbean-Latino Asian are all well-stocked Asian markets. Atlantic Beach Urban Farms, Be Well Greens, and Bacon Farms are all great places to get fresh produce. The North Florida School has a good program teaching special needs children how to grow and maintain produce, and how to work in kitchens. Nothing beats Azar Sausage Company for locally made sausage. Cline's Custom Meats is the best place locally to get a steak to cook at home. We also have a cool "u-pick" persimmon farm here called Willie's Sweet Persimmons. Local Personal Enrichment Cooking Schools: A Chefs Cooking Studio and Italian Cooking Lessons Jax are two places that I teach on occasion, in addition to cooking classes at Blue Bamboo. --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: Twitter: Facebook: Instagram: YouTube: Contact Us:
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