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Spring, Issue 2
News from the Center: Celebrated Spanish Authors in Miami
The Florida Center for the Literary Arts is pleased to announce a new program, Spanish Authors in America. In collaboration with America Reads Spanish and the Instituto Cervantes in New York, the program brings noteworthy Spanish authors to Miami for literary readings and discussions.
“We’re excited to be part of this important effort to highlight Spanish literature in the United States,” said Alina Interián, the Center’s executive director. “Miami is a natural location for the expansion of this program. The Center’s successful track record presenting authors who write in Spanish is one of the reasons we’re involved.”
The first two authors participating are Lorenzo Silva and Carlos Castán, March 24 at Centro Cultural Español. This program is sponsored by the Spain´s Ministry of Culture, the New York Public Library and the Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds. Details in the “Literary Happenings” section below.
Great Escapes: Tales of Travel from Around the World – and Beyond
7:30 p.m., March 12, 2009
Bagua
4736 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami
Free and open to the public.
Feel the walls closing in? If it’s been awhile since the last vacation and you need to get away, come and spend an evening listening to travel-inspired stories, poetry and music ranging from the practical to the metaphysical. Hear some of South Florida’s best travel writers, including: Tom Swick, former Sun-Sentinel travel editor and the author of two books, Unquiet Days: At Home in Poland, and A Way to See the World: From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler; Fabiola Santiago, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with The Miami Herald and the author of the novel, Reclaiming Paris; and Liz Balmaseda, a Palm Beach Post writer and former Miami Herald columnist and Pulitzer-prize winning journalist whose first novel, Sweet Mary, will be published in May.
Books and Books reading
Zoe Heller, author of The Believers
8 p.m., March 13, 2009
Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.
Free and open to the public.
Meet the Litvinoff clan: a radical New York lawyer, a heroin addict, a devoted social worker hoping to adopt a child, and a disillusioned revolutionary. In The Believers, they battle their own demons, each other and are forced to examine their faith and question their own identities. This tragic, comic family story has been called “one of the outstanding novels of year,” by the Sunday Times (London). Heller is the author of Everything You Know and What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003.
IN SPANISH
Xavier Serbia, author of La Riqueza en Cuatro Pisos
7 p.m., March 18, 2009
Centro Cultural Español
800 Douglas Rd. Suite 170, Coral Gables
Free and open to the public.
Serbia will share his financial expertise, including insights into how to survive in times of economic uncertainty. Presented in collaboration with Editorial Santillana and the Centro Cultural Español. For more information, call 305-237-3126.
Lorenzo Silva, author of El Alquimista Impaciente and Carta Blanca; and Carlos Castán, author of Sólo de lo Perdido and El Aire Que Me Espía, at 7 p.m., March 24, Centro Cultural Español, 800 Douglas Rd., Suite 170, Coral Gables. This reading is part of the Spanish Authors in America program, presented in collaboration with America Reads Spanish and the Instituto Cervantes in New York.
Novelist Steve Almond is looking for some passion…in protagonists. Passion leads to plot. And plot leads to a good read. Above all, he says, avoid the dreaded “drift” -- stories where the reader isn’t sure who the central character is or what his desires are.
Almond will offer more writing wisdom, and tons of practical advice during the Writers Institute, May 6-9, where he’ll lead the workshop, “Writing Short Stories That Sing.” He’s the author of several short story collections and the novel, Which Brings Me to You (with Julianna Baggott). His new book, Not that You Asked, is a collection of essays.
Registration is ongoing for the 2009 Writers Institute, May 6-9, 2009 and classes are filling up. In addition to intensive workshops on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plot, there are some practical matters relevant to the “new economy,” like how to get published. Joelle Delbourgo, a former executive with Harper Collins and Random House, will analyze the current state of publishing and dole out recommendations for published and yet-to-be-published authors in a daily briefing, “Recession-Era Publishing: An Agent’s POV.”
This year’s Writer’s Institute features two National Book Award winners; poet Mark Doty, the author of six books of poetry, including the collection, Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems; and novelist Percival Everett, author of sixteen novels, including The Water Cure.
For details on instructors, fees, times, places and to register, please visit http://www.flcenterlitarts.com/writersinstitute.htm. Workshop attendance is limited and manuscript consultation slots go quickly, so register early!
Call it the Battle of the Book Blogs. Or maybe it’s just a little friendly competition. Sun-Sentinel book editor Chauncey Mabe and the Miami Herald’s Connie Ogle, offer their list of 50 must-read books. Check out Connie’s list at http://miamiherald.typepad.com/between_the_covers. Chauncy’s can be channeled at http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/features/arts/offthepage/blog/
March is Women’s History Month
The Library of Congress maintains a web page with resources that highlight women’s contributions to American culture. Find it at http://www.loc.gov/topics/womenshistory
Check out A Midwife’s Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The diary of a midwife and herbalist reveals the prevalence of violence, crime and premarital sex in rural 18th-century New England. "Fleshing out this midwife's bare entries with interpretive essays . . . Ulrich marvelously illuminates women's status, the history of medicine and daily life in the early Republic," said Publisher’s Weekly.
Story Time!, the family literacy series where children ages 3-7 can create their own picture book will be held from 2 to 4 p.m., March 14, at the Doral Branch of the Miami Public Library, 10785 NW 58th Street, Miami. The featured book is Egad Alligator! by Harriet Ziefert. This monthly program is presented by FCLA and ArtCenter/South Florida. To rsvp, contact Tammy Key at tkey@artcentersf.org or 305-674-8278. Check the FCLA website, www.flcenterlitarts.com <http://www.flcenterlitarts.com> for the complete 2009 Story Time! schedule.
Prometeo, the dramatic arts component of the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, is now offering staged readings of theatre classics. The special program opened in February with Los Empeños de Una Casa, by Mexican playwright Sor Juan Ines de la Cruz. Next month features La pasión según Antígona Pérez by Luis Rafael Sánchez, followed by the third reading, Los papeles del infierno by Enrique Buenaventura in May. The Spanish-language reading of La pasión según Antígona Pérez takes place at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 28 at Teatro Prometeo, 300 N.E. Second Avenue, Miami. Details at 305-237-3262 or www.prometeotheatre.com <http://www.prometeotheatre.com> .
Prometeo will also host a series of acting workshops in March with distinguished visiting actors and directors. On March 13, Vernice Miller will discuss her work as director of A Laboratory for Actor Training New York, as part of Women’s History month, followed by a workshop on physical training and montage work. March 24-27, Chaz Mena will lead vocal work for actor using IPA (international phonetic alphabet), working with classical texts.
Prometeo brings to life the world of the Russian playwright and author Anton Pavlovich Checkhov in Chejov vs. Chejov, featuring a selection of scenes from Chekhov’s one-act plays performed by the first-year students of Prometeo’s Professional Actor Training Program. Performances are at 8 p.m., April 30 and May 1 at the Prometeo Theatre, Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Room 1101, Miami. Tickets are $15 and are available at the theatre or by calling 305-237-3262. Net proceeds go toward Prometeo’s scholarship fund.
Prometeo will hold auditions for its Spanish-language Professional Actor Training Program May 13 and 14. The two-year non-credit intensive program trains students for the acting profession and prepares them for careers in the theatrical industry.
For more information on Spanish-language theatre performances, workshops and classes, including classes for children and teens, please visit www.prometeotheatre.com <http://www.prometeotheatre.com> or call (305) 237-3262.
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The Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College promotes reading and writing throughout the year by presenting high quality literary activities open to all in South Florida. Contact: Open Page Editor Blanca Mesa, blanca.mesa@mdc.edu.
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