This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Miami Book Fair. For the fourth year I hopped on a plane to experience what has become one of my "must-do" events. This year the Fair had an entire track of programming about graphic novels as well as a pavillion of booths touting them at the Street Fair. Since we are launching GraphicNovelReporter.com in a couple of weeks I wanted to get to as much of this programming as possible, which was going to be a pretty intense hat trick since I usually already have a full plate of literary adventures planned while there. The answer: get there earlier and stay longer!
Thus I flew down on Wednesday to catch the evening event that celebrated the work of Will Eisner, who is a legend in the world of comics. There was an exhibit of his work from THE PLOT and other pieces hanging in a gallery where they could be viewed throughout the weekend. The panelists all knew Eisner well and hearing them talk was like eavesdropping on a conversation among people who all shared the same friend. When they were introduced I was thinking if the intros were done in shorthand it would roll something like this: The publisher, the agents, the artist and the editor. They were Bob Weil, vice president and executive editor at W.W. Norton & Company, agents Denis Kitchen and Judy Hansen, and author and comics artist Scott McCloud and Charles Kochman, executive editor of Abrams ComicArts and editor of THE WILL EISNER COMPANION.
What was interesting was the crowd. They were aged anywhere from 7 to 70. And on Saturday I would see what the impact of this talk was on one attendee that I would have not seen as a real enthusiast.
For those of you new to graphic novels and comics, you may want to note that one of the comic industry's most prestigious awards, The Eisner Award, is named after him. Recognized as the 'Oscars' of the American comic book business, the Eisners are presented annually at Comic Con.
Afterwards I went to dinner with the panelists and some fellow publishing pals at a Nicaraguan restaurant, which was in walking distance from the Fair. I love nights like this where I get to do a wind down after an event and chat a bit more in-depth about what was shared. The group was lively, the mojitos were great and I realized again that I am not sure what I learned in seven years of Spanish, but I was very good at pointing at the menu while conversation completely alluded me. I also have decided that toasted bread with a small smattering of butter on it should be served at every meal. And with great humor, as I write this, I realized I have no idea what the NAME of the restaurant was. Lissette Mendez one of the amazing Fair programming organizers walked us there. I guess if I want to go again I will need to find her.
By the way, Miami was sultry from the moment I got off the plane. Hair got curly quickly and my skin took on that "dewy glow" that one references when trying to be ladylike. I decided that a residual benefit of this trip would be a loss of water weight!
Thursday after working a bit in my room I headed for the pool at my hotel (which is a killer pool on the 6th floor of the hotel) and swam a lot of laps and then read/napped/worked, with napping sorta winning in that lineup. Getting out of town had taken its toll.
Dinner that night was at Versailles, a Cuban restaurant that one of our readers turned me onto a few years ago. Every Miami trip I try to get there at least once. There's a relaxed neighborhood familial feel to the place that I just love and kicking back there with friends was a really nice cap off to the day.
Friday I hit the pool and then headed over to the Miami Dade campus for the Day of Education about graphic novels for teachers and librarians in the South Florida area and the room was packed. We sponsored one of the panels that day where Robin Brenner, a wickedly sharp librarian from Boston gave a killer presentation on manga, specifically Otaku. Also on the lineup was Professor Adam Johnson from Stanford, who I had the pleasure of first meeting in San Diego. He's the kind of college professor who I wish I had had. In his class students conceived, wrote and designed a graphic novel called SHAKE GIRL. His presentation on this collaborative process was both interesting and moving. By the way, Adam shared that the book has been picked up by a major New York house and a deal is imminent, which is pretty cool. Two other librarians from the South Florida area, Arlene Allen and David Serchay rounded off the programming to an audience that enjoyed the day and feverishly took notes.
This also was Kids' Day at the Fair, which I usually never attend. Kids of all ages were there all day. I had come over on the People Mover, which I get a real kick out of, with a teacher who was bringing her class of students from an International school. She wanted them to experience the Fair and check out the various International offerings as well. Robin and I caught lunch at the food stands in the International area and laughed about getting sausages that were wrapped in foil sans bread or anything else one might expect with them. However, they were tasty on their own.
Friday night a group of graphic artists, writers and publishers gathered out at Books and Books in Coral Gables which was the perfect setting for a bookish evening with wine and beer. While there was great music playing in the courtyard I confess that I commandeered the group who was sitting inside where the AC was blowing. The Cafe at the store is wonderful with a varied menu and we contented ourselves to sit there til closing time FOUR hours later! We kept pushing tables together as we added people and the jokes flowed pretty quickly. Truly there was a moment where I thought, I am never going to sleep tonight since I definitely was revved from the lively banter and conversation, and my face hurt from laughing so much.
Saturday the temperatures had ratcheted up to a new high, which my friend John aptly said made it feel like we were hanging out on the equator. Yowser! I hit the pool first, before I zipped onto the People Mover again. I was the only one on the train and as we zipped along I decided that this was a lot like a tame rollercoaster. Riding in front like the driver I watched the tracks as we zipped around and around. I know, I am easily amused.
I started my day with a talk by Art Speigelman, who talked about his history in the world of comics which is portrayed in BREAKDOWNS his new book. He did a talk which was both fun and personal meandering his way through a slide presentation that felt personal and relaxed. That evening he shared that he mixes up his talk as he goes depending upon the mood of the crowd, which definitely worked. People were engaged. I was sitting next to Jim Zubkavich, one of the writer/creators from Udon Press and next to him was a woman who clearly was in her 70s or 80s. She asked him a number of questions during the presentation, which when he responded to, got him glares from the man in front of us. It was pretty amusing since Jim was torn somewhere between trying to be obliging and trying to not get in trouble. He kept shooting me looks that said something like, "HELP!"
Later the woman told me that she knew nothing about graphic novels til Wednesday night. She attended the Eisner presentation and was so excited about what she saw that she decided to go see Speigelman as well. Really nice when that happens.
Without leaving the room I was able to see Dave Barry and Frank Mc Court. I have heard them present at events in the past, but never together. Barry did a riff that made getting a colonoscopy sound like something as easy as brushing your teeth, as only he can do. He talked a bit about his upcoming book and shared that unlike McCourt his childhood was not full of misery thus he has less misery to write about where McCourt is all about misery. It was pretty amusing. McCourt took on the cause of teachers. Basically he feels that politics should stay out of the classroom and teachers should be able to create an ambiance in the room where they can motivate students. He is highly opposed to No Child Left Behind as he feels there are a lot of children being taught to test, but not to learn! Lots to think about there.
From there I went to see David Hajdu, author of THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America and Francoise Mouly, who founded Toon Books. Until a few months ago I knew nothing of the ban on comics that happened in the '50s. Now I can see how this sharply impacted this corner of the world of entertainment. I have been reading Hajdu's book in between other things, and it's very interesting. Francoise is passionate about engaging children in a lifelong love of reading and the titles in her new imprint definitely draw young readers in. I have been following this line since pre-launch and it's great to hear how the story behind these books is evolving. She and her husband Art Spiegelman have a real knack for developing cool product.
I trekked over to see one of the events that I had been looking forward to with Nancy Horan, the author of LOVING FRANK, Lauren Groff, author of THE MONSTERS ON TEMPLETON and Rachel Kushner whose TALES FROM CUBA was nominated for a National Book Award. LOVING FRANK was one of my favorite books of last year. I spent time at both of Wright's Taliesin homes a couple of years ago and it was wonderful to read her book against those backdrops. I also got to see Cristina, one of our readers, who was at the Fair with her daughter, Claudia. She knew I would be at the Horan event and thus tracked me down there. She too was a huge Horan fan.
One thing I regret. One of our readers from Naples was at this event. I think she was in front of me when I stopped to talk to Nancy, but before I could say hi, I got distracted for a moment by another panel attendee with a question and missed saying hi to her. Lauren's adorable baby boy also was in the audience. Later I ran into her at her hotel and I recognized her, by the baby and got a moment to just say hi. Since I am known for misplacing how I knew people, I love that the baby was my cue!
From there I caught a portion of the presentation from Jessica Abel and Matt Madden whose book DRAWING WORDS WRITING PICTURES taught me a lot about the fine points of creating comics and graphic novels. Doing some of the exercises in this book made me realize that not only can I not draw, but I also do not have the imagination to make words look dramatic enough on the page. So much for anyone can be an artist!
In the tradition that everyone has come to expect at the Fair, The Rockbottom Remainder, the author band that readers have come to love, gave a rooftop performance. While it was not quite the Beatles in London, there was a lot of passion going on on that stage. And a lot of fun.
Saturday night a group of us headed over to the author party in South Beach, which was held at a very cool hotel. I found myself kicking off my shoes and squishing my toes into the sand knowing full well that I would not be able to do this again any time soon.. There was an amazing fire burning in a fire pit which was nice even though the night was warm. I do regret not walking out to the beach area to see the ocean. I was in Miami and never got near the salt water! At the party I got to see John Hart who I always enjoy talking to.
Sunday dawned with temperatures merifully cooler making me really happy the hotel pool was heated. I swam fast and then bolted over to the campus to again I criss-crossed it trying to catch every event that I wanted to see. I kicked off the day slipping into the 10:30 event where Mim Harrison was talking about a graphic novel, THE LIFE STORY OF WINSTON CHURCHILL. She had great background on the reaction to this book from Brits. Dan Herman, from Hermes Press talked about a Bond graphic novel. What's always interesting is how the work is reinterpreted graphically in these books and since this was the opening weekend for Quantum of Solace, all things Bond were on people's minds.
From there I caught the first part of Wally Lamb's conversation about THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED. As always he charmed his audience with his stories and lovely way of sharing them. I was sorry I had to dash before he spoke about his new book that I had read an excerpt from earlier that day.
In all my trips to the Miami Book Fair I never have gotten to see Carl Hiaasen, but this time I thought I could make that happen. But I was foiled again! He was on a panel with the very witty and amusing Roy Blount, Jr. Roy spoke first thus I again missed Hiaasen since I wanted to catch Frank Beddor, who wrote THE LOOKING GLASS WARS and HATTER M. Beddor is animated when he presents and by the time he was done I felt like I had watched a tightly scripted but also very engaging mini movie. Just wonderful.
I tried to get into a panel where Junot Diaz, the author of THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO was presenting. Growl. It was booked to capacity making this the first time all weekend that I could not see a panel that I wanted to catch.
Instead I took a few moments to catch my breath before moving over to where Chip Kidd and Brad Meltzer were talking about their books. Brad had high praise for the expanded graphic novel programming during the Fair. He remembered many years where he and Chip constituted all the programming in this format. He spoke about his new book THE BOOK OF LIES and also shared an update on the project he is working on with his website to raise money for the restoration of the Superman house. They wanted $50,000, but already have raised more than $100.000 through fans, which is most impressive. Chip talk about BAT-MANGA: The Secret History of Batman in Japan, his new book where he explores the way the Japanese have looked at Batman through the years. Very interesting to see how the iconic hero is interpreted overseas.
Next up was Stewart O'Nan on SONG FOR THE MISSING, David Wroblewski on THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE , Oprah's latest pick, and Margot Livesey on THE HOUSE ON FORTUNE STREET. Each book was well-presented and each author was articulate and enthusiastic. The audience questions were sharp and smart as well.
At 5:00, I caught my last panel with Brad Matsen, the author of TITANIC'S LAST SECRETS and Bryan Christy on THE LIZARD KING: True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers. Both books are from one of my favorite publishers, Twelve Books. I had read most of Bryan's book, which addresses the topic of illegal reptiles in the country. I had NO idea that this was such a very big illegal industry. And Matsen's book, which had paired him with the divers from SHADOW DIVERS, one of my favorite books, made me eager to dive into reading this one soon. Both authors enjoyed conversation with the readers in the audience.
As I watched this last panel I felt the sadness I feel every year when this Fair ends. It's always so rich and so full that when the weekend draws to a close I find myself wishing there was just one more day. Seeing the enthusiastic crowds, hearing the questions from readers and spending time just talking books is inspiring.
Mitchell Kaplan, one of the founders of the Fair was beaming all weekend. He clearly loved how the event had come together. And he seemed to be everywhere with readers celebrating.
This year I decided to fly back on Monday morning instead of Sunday night. I wanted to be able to enjoy the last day instead of keeping my eye on the clock and plotting my race to the airport. It was much nicer to have time to experience the last panels and then enjoy dinner to celebrate the end of the Fair, zipping out to Rosa Mexicano for a late night pomegranate margarita and dinner, the perfect way to wrap the week.
Monday I stopped at the Versailles outpost at the airport to buy guava pastries to bring home. My marching orders were to show up with those in hand and I was happy to oblige. It was a wonderful weekend and I already have my calendar marked for my own very special 5th anniversary celebration at the Fair next November.
