Literature

April 2013. In honor of National Poetry Month (April 2013) and in partnership with O, Miami, the month long festival that celebrates poetry throughout Miami Dade County, The Betsy South Beach has a full slate of events, promotions and interactive activities on tap.

Books & Books, Coral Gables. March 29, 2013, 8:00 p.m. Black has firsthand understanding of the big butt. Always a chubby girl, she suffered for much of her life trying to mold herself into the physical ideal of womanhood often promoted by our culture. She eventually discovered that it was not her body that was blocking her; it was her attitude about … +

Books & Books, Coral Gables. April 1, 2013, 6:00 p.m. In Chasing the Sun, the international music icon and humanitarian Juanes shares the incredible story of his life and how music and faith guided his path. In his own un-adulterated words, and with visually arresting images throughout – some of them never before seen – Juanes imparts his defining moments from childhood … +

Featuring Q&A with Associate Professor of Communication John SolidayUniversity of Miami Bank United Fieldhouse. April 8, 2013, 7:30 p.m. Cohen takes readers behind the scenes of his life and work, truly one and the same, to tell the story of his rise from a TV-adoring kid who always had a copy of People magazine at his side while growing up, to an … +

Broward College. March 28, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and contributing editor at TIME, Jon Meacham is one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. Known as a skilled raconteur and an accomplished historian with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, he understands and analyzes how issues and events impact modern life.

Books & Books, Coral Gables. March 20, 2013, 8:00 p.m. “An artist with a “reputation for writerly miracles,” (Janet Maslin, New York Times), Ron Rash dazzles readers with his gift for evocative and luminous prose and his piercing insight into the human heart’s duality – a yearning for nobility often overshadowed by our dark, primal nature.

University of Miami Bank United Fieldhouse. March 24, 2013, 4:00 p.m. Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow’s Drift argues that we’ve drifted away from America’s original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war.

Coral Gables Congregational Church. March 13, 2013, 7:30 p.m. For Jessica Alba becoming a mom was the most profound, life-changing and eye-opening experience of her life. Upon becoming pregnant with her daughter Honor (now four), Alba set out to create a healthy environment for her family and herself.

Temple Judea. March 14, 2013, 7:30 p.m. Henry Ford is remembered in American lore as the ultimate entrepreneur–the man who invented assembly-line manufacturing and made automobiles affordable.

Books & Books, Coral Gables. February 27 and 28, 2013. What do we turn to for both everyday sustenance and seasonal celebration? Food. Often, though, we’re like the hungry ghosts of Taoist lore, eating mindlessly, wandering aimlessly, and wanting more – more than food itself can provide. Ellen Kanner believes that if we put in a little thought and preparation, every meal … +

Knight Concert Hall. February 22, 2013, 7:30 p.m. “Richard Blanco is not just a poet from Miami; he’s a Miami poet. Robert Frost only lived in New England for a small portion of his life, but when he wrote out came birches, apples, snow. Blanco lives in Maine in now, but whenever he puts pen to paper, out comes mangroves, abuelas, mangos.

Temple Judea. March 7, 2013. 7:30 p.m. What is the worst thing a person can do? Can one ever atone for a heinous act? And who, in the end, has the power to forgive?

The Coral Gables Congregational Church. February 28, 2010, 7:30 p.m. Could that glass of milk affect your memory? Is that aluminum can increasing your risk for Alzheimer’s disease? Can a banana be a brain booster? Everyone knows that good nutrition supports your overall health, but did you know that certain foods can protect your brain and optimize its function?

Books & Books, Coral Gables. February 15, 2013. 7:00 p.m. Cory Doctorow (www.craphound.com) is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing (www.boingboing.net), and a contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Wired, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites.

Books & Books, Bal Harbour Shops. February 13, 2013. 6:30 p.m. Once the exclusive realm of the male, pin-up photography was invaded mid-century by a shapely young miss who could, and would, model for her photographs. The only female pin-up photographer of her day, Bunny Yeager was also a model in her own right.

Books & Books, Coral Gables. January 28, 2013. 8:00 p.m. As the architect behind one of the most successful and prolific television brands of all time – NBC’s Law & Order – Dick Wolf needs little introduction. For decades, fans have been riveted by the New York crime scenes that open every episode of the many incarnations of the Law & Order … +

Books & Books, Coral Gables. January 30, 2013. 8:00 p.m. Like Joan Didion’s Salvador and Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between, Farewell, Fred Voodoo vividly portrays the people of a stark place. Simply put, this is a brilliant writer’s account of a long, painful, ecstatic–and unreciprocated–affair with Haiti, a country that has long fascinated the world.

Books & Books, Coral Gables. February 1, 2013. 7:00 p.m. Elysia is created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen-year-old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to exist.

University of Miami, Bank United Center. February 1, 2013. 6:00 p.m. With startling candor and intimacy, Sonia Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.

Books & Books, Coral Gables. January 11, 2013. 8:00 p.m. New York Times bestselling author James Grippando is known for skillfully infusing his blockbuster Swyteck novels with newsworthy elements, and the idea for his latest thriller Blood Money was sparked by the attempted murder of an Oklahoma woman mistaken for Casey Anthony at the height of her notoriety, another shocking example of … +

From January 10 through 20, 2013. Leading contemporary writers will offer insights into the lives and work of literary icons such as Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Gore Vidal, Ernest Hemingway, and Walt Whitman during “Writers on Writers,” the 31st annual Key West Literary Seminar all happening during the span of two consecutive weekends.