Sign up to win prizes and for exclusive updates about this year’s festival
April 24-26, 2026
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 […]
Eric Litwin is a song singing, guitar strumming, # 1 New York Times Best Selling author who brings early literacy and music together. He is the original author of the Pete the Cat series as well as the author of The Nuts and Groovy Joe. Eric’s books have sold over 12.5 million copies, been translated […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Gilbert King is the author of three books, most recently, Beneath a Ruthless Sun. His previous book, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2013. A New York Times bestseller, the book was also named runner-up for […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
ROGER JOHNS is a former corporate lawyer and retired college professor, and the author of the Wallace Hartman Mysteries from St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books: Dark River Rising (2017) and River of Secrets (2018). He is the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year (Detective·Mystery Category), a 2018 Killer Nashville Readers’ Choice Award nominee, a finalist for […]