I’m back from Miami Book Fair, I had a great time despite the cold I brought with me from NY. Really too many great experiences to list…but I’m going to try!
Kicked things off on Thursday 11/21 by visiting students at Horace Mann and Henry H. Filer middle schools in the Miami area. That night, some live drawing and elementary deduction with George O’Connor, Nicole Swift, Conor McCreery, and Jeffrey Brown for the “Drink & Draw Exquisite Corpse Murder Mystery.” Given my cold, I was calling it “Sick & Draw”, but I did ok, except for my inability to draw a charades version of “In Cold Blood.” My “Farewell To Arms” rocked, though.
(This photo’s from my previous visit to MBF in 2017, but my presentation was in the same room both times.)
Friday started with a conversation between KidVision host Penny Bernath and myself, broadcast on South Floriday’s public TV station WPBT. Later, my NICO BRAVO presentation to a large group of students on Friday at the fair in the MDC Live Arts Lab was a blast. So many great questions in the Q&A portion, and signed about 150 books for the kids afterwards. A great hangout in town that night with other cartoonists attending the fair.
Saturday I got to catch up with family and friends and just enjoy the fair, then the Author’s Party on the bay at the Standard Hotel.
Sunday morning I spoke with host Marc Bernier for his BookMarc radio show broadcasting from the fair. Marc was great to talk to, set this nervous cartoonist right at ease, and asked some great questions about comics and animation. His show can be heard on WFHG in Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky. It’s also archived online, and you can LISTEN HERE.
Later that afternoon, I joined a panel discussion moderated by Juan Navarro with George O’Connor and Jarod Rosello where we talked comics craft and publishing for a while. One of the highlights was having the panel drawn, live, by New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein!
At the fair, I picked up a first printing of Robert E. Howard’s KING KULL. It was coming across Marvel’s KULL THE DESTROYER #35 as a kid that helped kickstart my comics obsession to begin with. Happy to add that book to my collection!
Just a great, energizing experience. Then it was a long trip back to Queens thanks to Amtrak. Hope to return to MBF soon!
NICO and I are headed to Miami Book Fair next week! I’ll be doing some local school visits, live drawing events, and a few presentations at the fair, including bits for KidVision, on South Florida’s public TV station WPBT, and BookMarc with Marc Bernier on WFHG AM/FM!
The Fair features over 500 authors–a book for every age and interest–panels, readings, street fair, children’s events, live music, food, and BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!
Visit https://miamibookfair.com for more info, or head directly to the free, downloadable guide to see the whole calendar of events and plan your visit: https://www.miamibookfair.com/downloadable-guide/
