With St. Pete’s SunLit Festival a fond memory, what’s next on the agenda for writers and readers in Florida?
Here’s our roundup of upcoming events, and headline book news from Florida and around the country.
Upcoming Florida Book Events
Keep St. Pete Lit presents a literary salon with poet Vidhu Aggarwal on May 31. æThe Rollins College instructor will talk about the intersections between global diaspora and science fiction.
The University of Tampa’s Lectores reading series returns June 15-21, featuring five readers including Jennifer Egan (A Visit From the Goon Squad) and Sarah Gerard, whose excellentæSunshine State we recently reviewed.
Mystery Fest Key West runs from June 16-18, featuring a day and a half of author roundtables and workshops.
The Tampa Indie Author Book Convention, scheduled for July 16, is still inviting authors to participate. Itäó»s being billed primarily as a group book signing, so it should be interesting for readers looking for unheralded gems, and for authors looking to network with other authors.
Looking a little further out, the Florida Heritage Book Festival starts on Sept. 23æthis year, and the Miami Book Fair runs a full week, Nov. 12-19.
Florida Book News
Palm Beach-based thriller guru James Patterson will team up with former President Bill Clinton to write a political thrilleræabout a President who disappears.
Former Florida Gator Tim Tebow has won the Christian Book of the Year award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, for Shaken: Discovering your True Identity in the Midst of Lifeäó»s Storms.
A darker Florida football story will be taken up by James Patterson (he does keep busy), who says heäó»ll write a nonfiction book about doomed University of Florida alum Aaron Hernandez.
National Book News
Lisa Koäó»s The Leaversæis in the running for book-of-the-moment, with its personal story of immigrant struggle and second-generation adjustments.
Game of Thrones will get as many as five TV spinoffs, which is slowing down George RR Martinäó»s work on the sixth installment in the book series.
Ebook sales continue to decline while print sales rise. In the U.K., print was up 2 percentæand bookstore sales rose 4 percent while digital books declined by 4 percent. That means, among other things, more smart booksellers ready to help you find your next favorite.
An unpublished Harry Potter prequel has been stolen äóñ though “prequel” may be a bit of an exaggeration, since itäó»s 800 words hand-written on a postcard.
Milo Yiannopoulos, the far-right firebrand/comedian, has announced plans to self-publish his debut æbook after Simon and Schuster dropped his contract. He also says heäó»ll sue the publisher for breaking their deal after video surfaced of Yiannopoulos appearing to condone pedophilia.
