The Miami International Book Fair is one of the largest and most prestigious book events held annually. It highlights the famous Weekend Street Fair which is held in Downtown Miami. However, the 2019 Miami International Book Fair is more than street fairs, book displays and author signing events. Here are some of the events and activities you can check while the weeklong event is going on.

Ibero American Program. It is one of the main programs of the fair. It gathers authors from Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Perú, Portugal, Dominican Republic, United States, Venezuela, and of course, Spain. Poets, visual artists, photographers, short-story writers, essayists, and novelists gather for a series of readings and discussions in Spanish.

First Draft. There are many First Draft events happening throughout the year. However, the Miami Book Fair hosts the best of them all. The First Draft is a series of informal writing events that turn happy hours into producing great narratives. Writers get to drink first round for free. The Second beer though is not. The only way to get the second and succeeding rounds is to take part in the writing workshop with guided writing prompts. Sounds fun, right?

Wi Firstdraft
Participants of the First Draft

Drink and Draw. Why should writers have all the fun? Comics creators and illustrators will get to grab a drink while battling each other for a draw-off competition. This year’s theme competition is the Exquisite Corpse Murder Mystery Edition. The fun starts at 7 p.m. on November 21 at The Standard Hotel, 40 Island, Miami Beach.

Drink And Draw
Drink and draw allow you to sip and sketch.

Authors Galore. All great book fairs have one thing in common- famous celebrity guests. As it happened, the 36th Miami Book Fair International has a powerful line up this year. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, John Grisham, Carl Hiaasen, Gary Shteyngart, Billy Collins, Michael Ondaatje, Edwidge Danticat, Sandra Cisneros, Abbi Jacobson, Kevin Young, Rebecca Traister, Adam Gopnick are just some of the expected names to grace the occasion.

Kitchen Stadium. The Kitchen at the Miami Book Fair is a series of food and culinary events during the street fair. Organizers partner with Miami Dade College’s Culinary Institute will try to gather the best chefs, the most relevant cookbooks, and of course, the most delicious cuisines all in one event.

Front Porch Café. The Front Porch Café is pretty much where all the party takes place every night. The restaurant is the venue for various programs such as Puppet Poetry, First Draft, Exchange for Change and other Miami Book Fair related events. If you want a night of beer, good food, and live music, drop by the Porch every day after sunset.

Front Porch Cafe
The famous Miami Front Porch Café

Sweet Photo Exhibit. And if you’re visiting The Porch this year, might as well check Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet’s South Beach 1977-1980. It features amazing documentations of South Beach’s glorious years in the late ’70s. By looking at these fascinating photos, we get a glimpse of what it’s like to walk the beaches and the community along South Beach Miami after sunset.

Tweens and Teens. This year’s line-up includes authors from various teenager book genres- fantasy, adventure, thriller, and even graphic novels. Young readers will get to see and interact with David Levithan (Someday); Janelle Milanes (Analee, In Real Life); Sara Farizan (Here to Stay); Jon McGoran (Spliced); John Hendrix (The Faithful Spy); Jennifer A. Nielsen (Resistance); Jenny Torres Sanchez (The Fall of Innocence); Natasha Ngan (Girls of Paper and Fire); Ibtithaj Muhammad (Proud); Soman Chainani (Quests for Glory); Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles); among others.

Artist’s Cove Booth. If you love comics and graphic novels, you should visit the Artist’s Cove booth at the Magic Screening Room in Building 8. There you will find comics exhibitors, publishers, indie artists, and graphic novelists selling their products and doing on-the-spot illustrations.

Generation Genius Day. Exposing kids to books is one way to promote the love for the written word and narratives. The Fair will gather around 9,000 young students so they can meet their favorite authors and get free book giveaways. This kid’s fair will feature stilt walkers, breakdancing, street theater, fun games, live music, and mini-workshops.

Generation Genius Day
Children’s entertainment at the Miami Book Fair.

An Evening With…Series. This program aims to gather award-winning authors from all over the world. This year, Tina Brown, Anna Quindlen, Ngugiwa Thiong’o, Liane Moriarty, Laura Esquivel, Tayari Jones, Lawrence Wright are among those who will grace the occasion. The series will conclude with the awarding of winners and finalists for this year’s National Book Awards in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

The 35th Miami International Book Fair will take place on November 17-24, 2019. ReadersMagnet is a proud partner of Oasis Book Kaffe for this year’s Miami Book Fair participation.