The artist for this year's poster is Rosa Naday Garmendia, who emigrated from Havana as a child, pursued a career in art, and now serves as artist-in-residence at Art Center/South Florida, where's she's been since 2008.
"When I was approached by the Fair regarding the challenge of communicating visually the sense of reading as a dynamic, enjoyable activity I thought it was a wonderful opportunity. The concept fit right in with a series I am developing in my studio," said Garmendia. " Making art is born out of my continued interest in using the visual arts as a tool for discussing, thinking, and learning about ourselves in relationship to our environment and the role of individuals and artists in society."
Among the biggest names at this year's book fair are Tom Wolfe, who has a new novel, Back To Blood, as well as Irvine Welsh (Skagboys) and Sandra Cisneros (Have You Seen Marie?). Among other literary figures, Book Fair planners expect appearances from Peter Carey (The Chemistry of Tears), Alan Cheuse (Paradise (or) Eat Your Face), Edwidge Dandicat (So Spoke The Earth), Junot Diaz (This Is How You Lose Her), Andre Dubus III (Townie), Mark Helprin (In Sunlight and In Shadow), Mark Leyner (The Sugar Frosted Nutsack), and Ishmael Reed (Going Too Far).
Followers of Passing Notes will be interested to know that, as always, we'll be taking a particular interest in talking to notable figures from the world of comics, among them Charles Burns (The
Hive), Aline Crumb (Drawn Together: The Collected Works of Aline
and R. Crumb), Chip Kidd (Batman:
Death by Design) Marjorie Liu (Astonishing
X-Men), and Chris Ware (Building Stories). Familiar Florida authors in the Passing Notes universe are also at the Fair: Tim Dorsey (Pineapple
Grenade), Craig Pittman (The
Scent of Scandal) and Campbell McGrath (In The
Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys). Last but not least, Will Tracy and Seth Roth, writers from The Onion, will be there to promote The Onion Book of Known Knowledge.
Keep in mind that the authors above are scheduled to appear, although circumstances can change. But many of the names mentioned could very well end up as guests on Passing Notes in the next few months, so be sure to subscribe to the Notes via your social media of choice -- see the link below or to the right. Don't miss a broadcast or podcast, please!
For more complete information about the Miami Book Fair, you can check out their official website.
