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

April 24-26, 2026

Word of South

Local Forecast

They’re back! Local Forecast has officially returned to the north Florida music scene, and while the times have changed, the groove and fun that they produce hasn’t. From throwback disco to new age rap, the band does everything people say can’t be done! Returning to ring is the familiar cast: Aaron Taylor, Michael Murray, Mason […]

Read More…

Kimberly Lojewski

Kimberly Lojewski’s story collection, Worm Fiddling Nocturne in the Key of a Broken Heart, was a Florida Book Awards gold medalist. She is a native Floridian with an MA in English from Florida Gulf Coast University and an MFA in in fiction from University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Poets and Writers Program. Her stories have been […]

Read More…

Kim Frances Lee

Kim Frances Lee is a native Floridian and author of Animal March, Lost In the Okefenokee Swamp, and Beach Treasure, A Rhyming, Riddling Scavenger Hunt. She resides near the Capitol of Florida where farfetched stories occur regularly. Kim has been writing about Florida and the ecosystems connected with the state since her college days at […]

Read More…

Kathleen Laufenberg

Kathleen Laufenberg is a self-proclaimed passionista of dark chocolate, blue skies and animals of all kinds. She’s worked as a journalist, science writer, editor, high-school teacher, waitress and (most recently) yoga instructor. In her spare time, she’s the Chief Idea Officer at the Tallahassee bureau of Laufenberg & Spriggs, where it’s rumored she’s working on […]

Read More…

Victor LaValle

Victor LaValle is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, four novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, The Devil in Silver, and The Changeling and two novellas, Lucretia and the Kroons and The Ballad of Black Tom. He is also the creator and writer of a comic book, Victor LaValle’s DESTROYER. He has […]

Read More…

Joseph Keckler

Recently described as a “major vocal talent whose range shatters the conventional boundaries… with a trickster’s dark humor” by The New York Times, Joseph Keckler is a singer and writer who playfully stretches accounts of everyday life towards the mythic. His live shows have recently been seen at Centre Pompidou, The Adult Swim Festival, PEN […]

Read More…

David Joy

Currently living in the North Carolina mountains, David Joy is widely recognized for his exceptional work in fiction and nonfiction. His short stories and essays have been published in Time, The New York Times Magazine, and The Bitter Southerner. His novel, Where All the Lights Go, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel […]

Read More…

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan, a native of Saginaw, Michigan, now makes his home on Longboat Key Florida with his wife, Linda Gross Brown, a professional artist. Before moving to Florida, Michael practiced law for many years in Cleveland, Ohio, and has long been selected to Best Lawyers in America. Although he no longer practices law, he still […]

Read More…