Bringing Readers and Writers Together – Digitally

“Storytelling is the thread that binds us together as humans,” suggests Laura Lee Smith, the author of novels—Heart of Palm and The Ice House—and numerous short stories.

Smith is a seasoned writer with a wealth of knowledge to share. Her second novel, The Ice House, won the Gold Medal Florida Book Award for Fiction, and Smith’s short stories have appeared inBest American Short Stories, New Stories from the South, The New York Times, New England Review, and other publications. She has been praised for “intelligence, heart, and wit” (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls), and her work has been translated into German and French.

Smith’s presentation discusses three questions most often asked in her fiction-writing classes: Where do you get your stories? What is your writing process? How do you get published? She offers a lot of simple advice on finding and creating characters, what to do with them to “keep them busy,” and catalysts for conflict. She also presents practices and exercises for budding writers.
Visit Laura Lee Smith’s booth.

The Sunshine State Book Festival is proud to introduce Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones, coauthors of the New York Times Best Seller, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight. Their book is an NAACP Image Award Honored Book for young adults. Segal and Jones discuss their inspiration for writing this work with its themes of trust, protection, misconceptions, jealousy, relationships, and the wealth divide. The authors share important messages about building community across our social and economic differences, explaining how no one group is a monolith. They delve into how these messages apply to current social issues including drug use, gun violence, protests, and race relations.

The audience will be touched by the authors’ insights and perspectives. The authors consider a rationale for understanding differences, a fresh perspective of how to view the world, and the value of friendship with those who are different from ourselves.

We are confident this presentation by two spirited, intelligent, and gifted writers will inspire you.
Visit Kimberly’s booth. Visit Gilly’s booth.

In the way that a song can stick in your head, the power of E. Stanley Richardson’s word craft creates a kaleidoscope of mental images in the magical fashion of a true story-teller—images of love, ancestral struggle, violence, anger, resistance, and demands for social distance through voices and beat. He discusses the driving forces behind his book of poetry, Hip Hop Is Dead—Long Live Hip Hop: The Birth, Death and Resurrection of Hip Hop Activism. While one can read the individual poems out of order, the book is a story told in three acts and twelve chapters—an odyssey of a young seeker tracking a missing man named Hip Hop. As he travels the country, he learns of the birth, death, and resurrection of Hip Hop.

Aware that poetry can be so esoteric or personal that a reader feels confused or repelled, Richardson stresses the importance of making poetry accessible, particularly to young adults. Richardson has risen through the “rhyme scene” to be Alachua County Poet Laureate. His passion and intensity summon the voices of his family, friends, and community with the driving force of a James Brown funk song that gets into your head and soul. You will not want to miss this dynamic and melodic presentation.
Visit E. Stanley Richardson’s booth.

Unique experiences of being a writer in Florida are shared by four authors as they sit on the banks of the 21,000-acre savanna that is Paynes Prairie State Park.

Professor Jack Davis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Professor Leslie K. Poole, who has written about women in Florida’s environmental movement, Cynthia Barnett, an award-winning author, and Frances Nevill, a fiction writer and essayist, explore the reasons why the wildness of Florida should continue to be appreciated, revered, and protected. In the prairie environment noted for alligators, eagles, and bugs, the four authors also discuss the soon-to-be-published book, The Wilder Heart of Florida, a collaboration between the two speakers Jack Davis and Leslie Poole. They talk about their contributions to it and the contributions of thirty other writers who are writing about their home state and preparing to follow in the tradition of authors like Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and others.
Visit Jack Davis’s booth.

Dr. Tom Wiggins celebrates the joy of books on his Facebook page, TommysTales, with humorous and poignant posts. So you’d never guess that, as a boy, reading was “not his thing.” After an idyllic childhood on a farm in sleepy Hawthorne, Florida, he joined the Army. During basic training in Missouri, Wiggins experienced snow for the first time.

Fast forward to 2004 when, on his fifth tour of duty overseas, a rocket-propelled grenade struck him in the head. Severely injured and now completely deaf, Wiggins had to relearn motor coordination—how to walk and how to communicate. Television was useless without captions, so this non-reader was forced to embrace the written word.

Motivated by the stories of other disabled people he met in hospitals, Wiggins finished college and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. This was followed by an invitation to join a global aviation service linked with the CIA. The injured man who once thought he’d never leave home was now travelling the world.

To date Wiggins has written four novels, fiction and nonfiction, including the inspirational Disabled Leadership that advocates being empowered by, not marginalized or defeated by, a disability.

Dr. Wiggins’s warmth and positivity are infectious. Don’t miss the chance to watch his presentation.
Visit Tom Wiggins’ booth.