Literary Salons At The Betsy-South Beach
June 2013
The Betsy South Beach
1440 Ocean Drive
Miami Beach
The Betsy- South Beach, Miami Beach’s unofficial center for the literary arts has plenty planned for South Florida’s long hot summer; with an impressive roster of visiting authors kicking off the sultry season with Writers Room stays in June. As always, events are free and open to the public, although some require RSVP.
First up, humanities educator and writer Naima K. Wade, will be in residence from Wednesday, June 5 through Monday, June 10. Ms. Waide, who writes both poetry and prose, is scheduled to conduct a salon on Friday, June 7 at 10:00 a.m. in BLT Steak, the hotel’s acclaimed restaurant. She will talk about her global efforts in human relations and will read from her soon to be published books of poetry. The event is free and open to the public, but attendance is limited and an RSVP is required at artsandculture@thebetsyhotel.com
A resident of Vermont, in the 1990’s Naima founded the ALANA Community Organization, a non-profit organization serving African, Latino, Asian and Native Americans. ALANA received recognition from President Bill Clinton as a Promising Best Practice for Racial Reconciliation: A new Pathway of Hope dedicated to building one America in the 21st Century. Naima has performed extensive re-enactments of Daisy Turner’s Life Story: The Journey’s End Program, which retells the tale of Daisy’s father Alexander Turner who was enslaved and fought in the Civil War. The program has been nominated for the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network To Freedom Program. Naima will read her own poetry and prose, and has just completed Elbow Dreams –The Story of a Black Girl Growing Up In Vermont During The Turbulent 1960s, as well as a novella, Missz’ Grace Lives Here.
Award-winning author Dan Wakefield will be in residence from June 14-18. A Public Salon is scheduled for Friday, June 14 at 5:00 pm, where Dan will discuss his books, films, and television series, with a special focus on his recent book Kurt Vonnegut Letters for which he selected the letters and wrote the introduction, based on his lifelong friendship with Vonnegut.
Dan Wakefield is novelist, journalist and screenwriter, whose best-selling novels "Starting Over" and "Going All The Way" were produced as feature films. His memoirs include "New York in the Fifties," which was the basis for a documentary film of the same name, and "Returning: A Spiritual Journey," which Bill Moyers called "one of the most important memoirs of the Spirit I have ever read." He has been the recipient of a Rockefeller Grant in Writing and a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism at Harvard University. He has taught in the writing programs of Emerson College in Boston, The Iowa Writers Workshop, and was Writer in Residence in the Writing Program of Florida International University from 1996-2007.
Poet and founder of O, Miami, P. Scott Cunningham, is in residence from Thursday, June 20 through Monday, June 24. A Literary Cocktail Salon is scheduled for Friday, June 21 at 5 pm. The public is invited to come and ‘talk poetry’ with Miami’s ever-expanding poetry posse and enjoy complimentary wine in the Lobby Bar.
P. Scott Cunningham is the co-founder and director of the O, Miami Poetry Biennial and the author of Chapbook of Poems for Morton Feldman (Floating Wolf Quarterly, 2011). A graduate of Wesleyan University, and Florida International University, he is also the founder and director of the University of Wynwood, a faux-institution dedicated to advancing contemporary literature in Miami. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Harvard Review, Court Green, Sou’wester, Pool, PANK, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Abe’s Penny, and elsewhere. He lives in Miami.
Novelist and Winner of the 2012 Gold Medal for Popular Fiction from the Florida Books Awards, D.J. Niko joins us for a residency from Friday, June 28 until Sunday, June 30. On June 30th at 3 pm, the writer will read from her second novel, The Riddle of Solomon, being released July 1. She will sign advance copies as gifts for the first dozen attendees.
D.J. Niko is the pseudonym for Daphne Nikolopoulos, a journalist, author, editor, and self-proclaimed modern nomad who has spent the better part of two decades traveling the world. As a former travel writer and zealous adventurer, she has visited remote spots on six continents, many of which have inspired her novels. She has a particular passion for deserts and the nomadic way of life and has spent time among various tribes in Africa and Asia. Daphne was born and raised in Athens, Greece, and moved to the U.S. when she was in middle school. Though English was not her native language, she became an award-winning writer and influential editor. She is editor in chief of Palm Beach Illustrated, a highly respected regional magazine, and editorial director of Palm Beach Media Group.
