Miami Book Fair takes over downtown Miami again from Sunday, Nov. 15, through Sunday, Nov. 22, and its evening lineup now includes Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Colson Whitehead and Tony Shalhoub. The fair is run by Miami Dade College and held at its Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave. It has been running since 1984, and the college describes it as the largest and longest-running literary festival in the country.

The week runs in two parts. From Sunday through Thursday, the fair holds ticketed evenings with individual authors inside campus buildings. From Friday, Nov. 20, through Sunday, Nov. 22, the Street Fair fills the streets around the campus with publishers, booksellers, food and outdoor programs, and on Friday admission is free for everyone.

The evenings, night by night

Each of the evening events below needs its own ticket, separate from Street Fair admission. Prices are as listed on the fair's ticketed-events page.

  • Sunday, Nov. 15, 7 p.m.: actor Tony Shalhoub, the Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe winner, and his daughter, writer and producer Josie Adams, on We Thought They'd Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family, his first book, about growing up one of 10 children in a Lebanese American household in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Chapman Conference Center, $35. Earlier that day, Alex Mayyasi and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi of Planet Money appear at 5 p.m. ($35), and author Zibby Owens opens the week at 3 p.m. with a free talk.
  • Monday, Nov. 16, 8 p.m.: Salman Rushdie on his story collection The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories, sharing the evening with poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths and her memoir The Flower Bearers. $20. At 6:30 p.m. the same night, Manny Diaz and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk talk with Victor Dover about growing Miami into a livable 21st-century city. Free.
  • Tuesday, Nov. 17: David Grutman on his book Take It Personal at 6:30 p.m. ($30), then comedian Jeff Garlin with writer Peter Mehlman at 8 p.m. ($45).
  • Wednesday, Nov. 18, 8 p.m.: thriller writers Brad Meltzer and Brad Thor on a shared bill, with Meltzer's The Viper and Thor's Choke Point. $20.
  • Thursday, Nov. 19: novelist Elena Armas in conversation with Meg Cabot at 6:30 p.m. ($25), then Colson Whitehead on Cool Machine, the third volume of his Harlem trilogy, at 8 p.m. ($35).
  • Friday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m.: Victoria Aveyard on her novel Tempest. $20.
  • Saturday, Nov. 21, 11 a.m.: Margaret Atwood on Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, alongside Jess Gibson and her story collection The Good Eye. $20.

Saturday afternoon also carries a run of free panels in the Chapman Conference Center, among them a session on writing 250 years of American history at 3 p.m.

The Street Fair weekend

The Street Fair runs Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Gates open at 9 a.m. each day.

  • Friday: free for everyone.
  • Saturday or Sunday, single day: $12 for adults, $7 for seniors over 62, $5 for teens 13 to 18.
  • Two-day ticket: $18 for adults, $12 for seniors, $8 for teens.
  • Always free: children 12 and under, and Miami Dade College students, faculty and staff with a valid ID.

Tickets can be bought online ahead of time, which lets visitors skip the line at the gate. Authors appear in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole across the week, and the fair's program pages can be filtered by language and by audience, including children and teens.

Getting there

Streets around the Wolfson Campus close for the fair. The college says drivers should map to 145 NE Fifth St., where the campus parking garage offers free parking from Sunday, Nov. 15, through Sunday, Nov. 22. Expect a one-block walk from the garage to the nearest fair entrance.

The full schedule, ticket links and the list of participating authors are on the Miami Book Fair site, which adds programs as the week gets closer.

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