An enduring Literary Feast and a new Festival of Words

Last year, book activities began making a cautious return to in-person events. Welcome to 2023 and the resurgence of in-person book activities. While some literary events are still online, most are now in person with a few hybrids of both virtual and in person.

Here’s what happening this spring.

Literary Feast

The Broward Public Library Foundation’s annual Literary Feast has become one of the country’s premier events bringing authors to readers during its 39 years.

This year, 12 authors will participate in the two-day event that begins with LitLive, a series of free panels open to the public on March 31.

The Night of Literary Feasts begins with a welcome reception 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 1 in the Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale Beach Commodore Ballroom, 801 Seabreeze Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. The reception includes an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, book sales and signings with all 12 authors and a silent auction. Cost is $75 per person for the reception only. At 7:30 p.m., guests depart for dinners featuring an author at private homes or upscale restaurants that are prepaid in advance.

The free LitLive panels will be March 31 at the Barnes & Noble, 2051 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, 954-561-3732.

Fiction Panel (moderated by Gail Bulfin): 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.: Daniel Black, “Don’t Cry for Me”; Catherine

Newman, “We All Want Impossible Things”; Matthew Quick, “We Are the Light.”

Mystery Panel (moderated by Oline Cogdill):

6:30 to 7:15 p.m.: Alicia Bessette, “Smile Beach Murder”; James Grippando, “Code 6”; Sarah Penner, “The London Séance Society”; Deanna Raybourn, “Killers of A Certain Age” and “Sinister Revenge.”

Nonfiction Panel: 7:30 to 8:15 p.m.: Deborah Cohen, “Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on A World at War”; Alvin Hall, “Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance”; Mary Laura Philpott, “Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives”; Susan Rogers, “This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You”; Patricia Schultz, “Why We Travel: 100 Reasons to See the World.”

Patricia Schultz will also participate in a bonus

LitLive event at 1 p.m. April 2 at the Barnes & Noble.

The Literary Feast dates to 1984 when Betty Lou Rose Ellis and a team of fellow volunteers produced the first fundraising social event, “Le Bal Masque de la Bibliotheque.” In 1988, the team paired nationally recognized authors with intimate dinners in private homes, creating the first Literary Feast.

Through the years, Literary Feast has connected South Floridians with more than 500 highly acclaimed authors and has raised $4.5 million for Broward County Library programs and services for children and teens.

Visit bplfoundation. org/a-night-of-literaryfeasts for details. Follow @ bplfoundation on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Plantation author luncheon

Two authors — Linda Sauget and Dr. Gary

Birken — will discuss their works during the Friends of the Helen B. Hoffman Library’s Author Luncheon beginning at 11 a.m. March 25 at the Jacaranda Country Club, 9200 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation.

Cost is $50, including free valet parking. Contact Jennifer Orkin at jennorkin@gmail.com or call 954-399-3120. Proceeds benefit the Plantation Helen B. Hoffman Library’s programs.

A vice president of a healthcare consulting firm, Sauget will discuss her selfhelp book “If You Think It” about the power of positive thought. Pediatric surgeon Birken will talk about his medical thriller “Prognosis Critical.”

Our Voices: Festival of Words

A new book-focused festival launches on Earth Day in Fort Lauderdale.

Our Voices: Festival of Words, a free family friendly community event celebrating the diversity and joy of literature, will feature performances, author readings, children’s activities, a meditation garden, food trucks, music and more, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 22 at Roosevelt Gardens Park, 2841 NW 11th St., Fort Lauderdale.

The festival host is

Art Prevails Project, a Broward-based cultural arts organization working to strengthen communities through creative and performing arts. The project, founded in 2015, is in partnership with local community groups and businesses such as The Community Foundation of Broward, the National Endowment for the Arts, city of Fort Lauderdale, Starbucks, South Arts, Broward County Libraries, the Children’s Services Council of Broward, among others.

Visit ourvoicesfest.com for more information.

For more information on Art Prevails Project, visit artprevailsproject.org or contact Darius V. Daughtry at darius@artprevailsproject.org or call 954-3365015.

Storytellers to be featured include:

Ashley M. Jones, former Poet Laureate of Alabama (2022-2026), the first

Black woman to hold this position. She holds a MFA in poetry from Florida International University, and is the author of

“Magic City Gospel,”

“dark / / thing” and “REPARATIONS NOW!”

aja monet, a blues surrealist poet, storyteller and organizer who serves as the new artistic creative director for V-day, a global movement to end violence against all women and girls.

David Fakunle, Ph.D., is storyteller and a faculty member at the University of Florida, Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins. He also is co-founder and CEO of DiscoverME/RecoverME, an organization that utilizes the African oral tradition in storytelling.

New year, new name

Welcome a new writers’ group — the South Florida Fiction Writers (SFFW) — which grew out of the Florida

Romance Writers that was dissolved last year.

The name change reflects SFFW’s goal to offer encouragement and share marketing knowledge, networking, and creative ideas to published and non-published authors of fiction in all genres.

The group meets at 10:30 a.m. the second Saturday of the month from September through May at the Alvin Sherman Library, Nova Southeastern University, 3100 Ray Ferrero Junior Blvd., Davie. Membership is $40 per year.

Tara Lush will discuss “The Path to Publishing Isn’t Linear” on March

11. Admission is free; new members are welcome.

For more information, contact Joanne Sinchuk at Joannesinchuk@comcast. net.

JAY REEVES /AP Ashley M. Jones was Alabama’s first Black poet laureate. Her most recent book is a collection of poems titled “Reparations Now!”Jones will be one of the featured storytellers at Our Voices: Festival of Words on April 22.

BECCA HEUER Deborah Cohen is the author of“Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on A World at War.” She’s participating in the Broward Public Library Foundation’s Literary Feast on March 31.

HARPERCOLLINS “Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance,” by Alvin Hall, who will participate in the Broward Public Library Foundation’s Literary Feast on March 31.