One of the things we’ve missed the most this last year at the store is having visiting authors come read to a live audience.
Though we might be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel we’re still not ready to gather for in person events. Luckily, through the power of the Internet, Books and Books and our partnering organizations can bring your favorite (and new favorite) authors to the comfort and safety of your home.
January, February and March we were proud to co-sponsor the Friends of the Key West Library Lecture Series. The recordings of all six author talks can be found here.
As we enter April the store is partnering with The Studios of Key West, Books & Books in Miami, The Key West Public Library and College of the Florida Keys to continue a great lineup virtual events.
~ Emily Berg, Store Manager
Michael Patrick F. Smith
Saturday, April 3rd at 7:00pm
In partnership with The Studios of Key West
Michael Patrick F. Smith is a folksinger and playwright and current Studios of Key West Artist in Residence from central Kentucky. Like thousands of restless men left unmoored in the wake of the 2008 economic crash, Smith arrived in the fracking boomtown of Williston, North Dakota homeless, unemployed, and desperate for a job. Renting a mattress on a dirty flophouse floor, he slept boot to beard with migrant men who came from all across America and as far away as Jamaica, Africa, and the Philippines. They ate together, drank together, argued like crows, and searched for jobs they couldn’t get back home. His memoir The Good Hand is a saga of being hired on in the oil patch where he toiled fourteen hour shifts from summer’s 100 degree dog days to deep into winter’s bracing whiteouts, all the while wrestling with the demons of a turbulent past, his broken relationships with women, and the haunted memories of a family riven by violence. Smith will be in conversation with actor Shawn Hatosy.
Buy the book: The Good Hand
Libby Copeland
Tuesday, April 6th at 6:00pm
In partnership with The Key West Public Library
Libby Copeland is an award-winning journalist and author who writes from New York about culture and science. As a freelance journalist, she writes for such media outlets as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic and Smithsonian Magazine. Her book, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are, explores the rapidly evolving phenomenon of home DNA testing, its implications for how we think about family and ourselves, and its ramifications for American culture broadly. Copeland will be in conversation with store manager Emily Berg.
Register Here
Buy the book: The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are
Jenny Lawson and Judy Blume
Tuesday, April 13th at 8:00pm
In partnership with Books & Books of Coral Gables and the National JCC Literary Consortium
As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. In Broken, she explores her experimental treatment of transcranial magnetic stimulation with brutal honesty. But also with brutal humor. Jenny discusses the frustration of dealing with her insurance company in “An Open Letter to My Insurance Company,” which should be an anthem for anyone who has ever had to call their insurance company to try and get a claim covered. She tackles such timelessly debated questions as “How do dogs know they have penises?” We see how her vacuum cleaner almost set her house on fire, how she was attacked by three bears, business ideas she wants to pitch to Shark Tank, and why she can never go back to the post office. Of course, Jenny’s long-suffering husband Victor―the Ricky to Jenny’s Lucille Ball―is present throughout. A treat for Jenny Lawson’s already existing fans, and destined to convert new ones, Broken is a beacon of hope and a wellspring of laughter. Lawson will be in conversation with author and store founder Judy Blume.
Buy the book: Broken (in the best possible way)
Ross Gay
Thursday, April 29th at 8:00pm
In partnership with The College of the Florida Keys
The College of the Florida Keys and the Florida Humanities Council host nationally acclaimed poet Ross Gay. Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.
Learn more & register here.
Find Gay’s books here.