Miami Book Fair is returning for 2022. Here’s who is coming — and how to get tickets

Connie Ogle

Miami Book Fair is getting back to normal.

After a virtual-only fair in 2020 and a scaled-down fair in 2021, Miami’s annual literary festival is settling back to its roots in its 39th year, and tickets are on sale now.

There will still be virtual events for out-of-towners who can’t make it to South Florida. But 2022 is all about the in-person events.

“I’m looking forward to that beautiful experience of being with a crowd of people, all celebrating books and reading and having a great, fun time while doing so,” says program director Lissette Mendez of the beloved event, which runs from Nov. 13-20 at Miami Dade College’s downtown Wolfson Campus. “Sharing Miami Book Fair with our community is one of the pleasurable things in my life. I love reading and I love Miami, and putting those two things together is magic.”

This year’s fair will include the usual slew of writers — around 400 — and it kicks off Nov. 13. with two famous faces, starting with comedian and actor Kevin Nealon and his memoir “I Exaggerate: Brushes with Fame.” Nealon will appear in conversation with comedy writer Alan Zweibel, who has co-authored books with Miami’s Dave Barry (“For This We Left Egypt?” and “Lunatics”).

Shay Yuen looks at a pop-up book while her father, Brendon Yuen, 35, holds it at last year’s Miami Book Fair, which was a hybrid virtual and in-person event. Carl Juste/cjuste@miamiherald.com
Shay Yuen looks at a pop-up book while her father, Brendon Yuen, 35, holds it at last year’s Miami Book Fair, which was a hybrid virtual and in-person event. Carl Juste/cjuste@miamiherald.com

Two hours later, director and writer John Waters, a Miami Book Fair favorite, appears to talk about his book “Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance.”

Other favorites are returning, too, such as rocker-poet-National Book Award winner Patti Smith. There’s also a robust Spanish-language program as well as Caribbean programs in English and Creole, including a pre-book fair event on Nov. 12 celebrating Jamaican independence at the Lyric Theatre in Overtown. A new program, ReadingEast, explores the works of South Asian and Middle Eastern authors.

Novelists and crime writers and poets and nonfiction superstars will also be on the schedule, as well as sports stars like former Miami Hurricanes Coach Jimmy Johnson and former Dolphin great Larry Csonka (in conversation with Dave Barry, no less).

“We are back this year with a full program, closer to our 2019 programming in terms of the number of authors,” Mendez says, “and that’s great because it allows us to offer so many more topics and discussions for audiences to choose from.”

The annual street fair — what many people think of as the fair, not realizing there are events at night during the week — runs Nov. 18-20, returning with Children’s Alley for the kids with storytelling, characters, face-painting and more. Vendors will sell books, food and other items, and author readings and signings run throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Characters from kids’ stories will happily pose for photos in Children’s Alley at Miami Book Fair.
Characters from kids’ stories will happily pose for photos in Children’s Alley at Miami Book Fair.

Miami Book Fair

Where: Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami

When: Nov. 13-20

Weekday evening programs

All evening programs will be held in the Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Tickets $15-$35; some tickets include book purchase with ticket. See website for details.

5 p.m. Nov. 13: Actor Kevin Nealon (“I Exaggerate: Brushes with Fame”) in conversation with comedy writer Alan Zweibel (“Laugh Lines”)

7 p.m. Nov. 13: Director John Waters (“Liarmouth”) in conversation with Paul W. Morris of House of Speakeasy

8 p.m. Nov. 14: Michael Pollan (“This is Your Mind on Plants”)

8 p.m. Nov. 15: Charlayne Hunter-Gault (“My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives”) moderated by Toni Gilliam-Harrison, president of Dade County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta

8 p.m. Nov. 16: Harvey Fierstein (“I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir”) in conversation with his editor Peter Gethers

7 p.m. Nov. 17: Nick Douglas (“Finding Octave: The Untold Story of Two Creole Families and Slavery in Louisiana”) in conversation with genealogist Patricia J. Braynon and Marvin Ellis, NBF program chair. Lyric Theater, 819 NW Second Ave., Miami

8 p.m. Nov. 17: Former Miami Hurricanes and Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson (“Swagger”) in conversation with journalist Dave Hyde

8 p.m. Nov. 18: Patti Smith (“A Book of Days”) with author and musician Lenny Kaye; Chapman Conference Center

Street fair

When: Nov. 18-20

Tickets: Free Nov. 18; $10 adults, $5 13-18 and over 62; 12 and under free Nov. 19-20; weekend events in the Chapman Conference Center require free tickets you can download online (or you can wait in a standby line)

Parking: Lot in Building 7 at Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast Fifth street is free to fair goers; otherwise use downtown lots or ridesharing

Full weekend schedule and tickets: www.miamibookfair.com

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