Sign up to win prizes and for exclusive updates about this year’s festival

April 23-25, 2027

Word of South

Leon C. Brunson

Leon C. Brunson, a private chef & owner of Leon’s at Lake Ella based in Tallahassee, Florida, immerses guests in a southern hospitality-style experience surrounded by food influenced by international techniques and flavors worldwide. His cooking style is inspired by techniques and flavors inspired by international cuisine—he’s found passion in the emotion food brings to […]

Read More… from Leon C. Brunson

John Nogowski

John Nogowski grew up in New Hampshire, worked in the newspaper business for 25 years in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Florida and Georgia. He taught as an adjunct professor at Florida State University, Tallahassee Community College and Bainbridge State College before settling in at Gadsden County High School in Havana, Florida for a dozen years, […]

Read More… from John Nogowski

Gary Mormino

Inspired by the experience of his Sicilian grandparents who settled in the sugarcane fields of Louisiana, Gary R. Mormino wrote his doctoral dissertation at UNC-Chapel Hill about a famous Italian immigrant community in St. Louis, Missouri, known as “The Hill.”   As a history professor at University of South Florida in Tampa in 1977, he […]

Read More… from Gary Mormino

David Sanchez

David Sanchez is a graduate of the University of South Florida and the University of Miami. His debut novel, All Day Is a Long Time, has won the Mary Frances Hobson Prize, Florida Book Award Gold Medal, and an International Latino Book Award for Best Popular Fiction. He lives in Tampa, Florida where he works in residential […]

Read More… from David Sanchez