For one week every November, Downtown Miami becomes the most well-read neighborhood in America — and the 43rd edition of the Miami Book Fair is about to do it again.
Presented by Miami Dade College, the eight-day festival returns to the Wolfson Campus from November 15–22, bringing hundreds of authors from around the world. The headline conversations alone read like a bookshelf of the year: Margaret Atwood arrives with her memoir Book of Lives; Colson Whitehead presents Cool Machine, the finale of his Harlem Trilogy; Tony Shalhoub and Bonnie Garmus headline evenings of their own; Marlon James is on the bill too. The "Evenings With…" series runs November 15–20, the Opening Day Party kicks things off Sunday the 15th, and Children's Alley keeps the youngest readers in the middle of the party, where they belong.
Then comes the part Miami loves most: the Street Fair, Friday through Sunday, November 20–22, when the streets around campus fill with booksellers, publishers, food vendors, and live music. Friday admission is free for everyone; Saturday and Sunday run $12 for adults, with discounts for teens and seniors and kids 12 and under free.
Founded in 1984, the fair is the longest-running literary festival in the United States — and, in the most Miami way possible, a huge share of it happens outdoors, in Spanish and English and Creole, in the middle of downtown. Clear a shelf. You'll need it.
