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April 23-25, 2027
Children’s LiteratureBronze MedalJust A Drop of Water (Sky Pony Press) by Kerry O’Malley Cerra Kerry O’Malley Cerra was born in New Jersey but moved to Florida at the age of two. She resided in Orlando until she left for college at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After graduating with a Social Science Education […]
Robert Olen Butler has published fifteen novels and six volumes of short fiction, one of which, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He has also published a volume of his lectures on the creative process, From Where You Dream. He was the 2013 recipient of the F. […]
Nicknamed “Little Boogaloo” by her Mississippi Delta mentor Boogaloo Ames, with whom she apprenticed for 16 years, Eden Brent is much more than her signature boogie and blues piano riffs. She has proven to be a celebrated songwriter and dynamic performer, earning eleven Blues Music Award nominations since 2009 and winning three of those awards. […]
Bobby Bowden is known as much for his affable charm as he is for his championship teams. Having coached young men for seven decades, he is the winningest coach in NCAA Division 1 football history. Bowden guided Florida State University to more than 300 victories, two national championships, 12 Atlantic Coast Conference titles, finishing in […]
Paul Beatty is the author of three novels—Slumberland, Tuff, and The White Boy Shuffle—and two books of poetry: Big Bank Take Little Bank and Joker, Joker, Deuce. He is the editor of Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor. He lives in New York City. […]
As an American band from Concord, North Carolina, The Avett Brothers combine bluegrass, country, folk, rock, indie, and honky tonk to produce a unique sound that has been attracting fans since 2000. Don’t miss your chance to see this dynamic group perform in a special pre-festival concert on April 10. Band members include brothers Scott […]
An eight-time EMMY Award winner, Gary Yordon hosts the popular CBS Television political program, The Usual Suspects. Gary founded the media and political consulting firm, The Zachary Group. He is a National Award Winning columnist for Gannett Newspapers and author of the lifestyle book, Driving The Road of Life, With a Flat Tire. Gary will be […]
Thomas Wynn & The Believers personifies rugged, yet uplifting spirited rock, sprinkled with southern soul R&B. Tunes brutally honest & heartfelt, the themes go beyond years of drugs, heartbreaks & hypocrisy to deliver a message of hope. A combination of blistering rock and southern soul, this fiery ensemble has been playing the Orlando, Florida original […]
Mark Woods is Metro columnist for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla. In 2011, he won the Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship, an award given to one writer in America each year. The fellowship allowed him to take a sabbatical and spend one year working on a project about the future of the national parks. During […]
Randall “Big Daddy” Webster’s ministry of blues reaches deep into the collective soul. He’s an accomplished singer-songwriter penning tunes for both himself and artists around the world. There’s an undeniable musical connection between Webster’s blues and his audience. Says Big Daddy, “The tradition of playing music from the soul (Ceol Dan Anum in Irish) is […]