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

April 26-28, 2024

Word of South

Katherine Mooney

Katherine Mooney is the James P. Jones Associate Professor of History at Florida State University, where she focuses on the cultural history of inequality in the United States–how it is imagined and made into political and legal discourse, how it plays out in people’s daily lives. She primarily works on the history of slavery and […]

Read More…

Jacki Levine

Jacki Levine, a longtime Florida journalist, is editor of the anthology, Once Upon a Time in Florida: Stories of Life in the Land of Promises, published by Florida Humanities through the University Press of Florida, 2023. From 2017 to 2021, Levine was editor of FORUM, the award-winning magazine of Florida Humanities, the state affiliate of […]

Read More…

Phil Hubbart

Phillip A. Hubbart served for 19 years as a judge on the Third District Court of Appeal of Florida; 12 years as a public defender in Miami, Florida and Washington, D.C.; and over 30 years as adjunct professor of law in Miami. From 1965-1975, he served as a defense attorney for Freddie Pitts and Wilbert […]

Read More…

Jessica Stark

Jessica Q. Stark is the author of Buffalo Girl (BOA Editions, 2023), winner of a Florida Book Award and a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, Savage Pageant (Birds, LLC, 2020), and four poetry chapbooks, including INNANET (The Offending Adam, 2021). She is a Poetry Editor for Boston University’s AGNI and is an […]

Read More…

Kweku Abimbola

Born in the Gambia, Kweku Abimbola earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. He is of Gambian, Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Sierra Leonean descent. Abimbola’s first full-length poetry collection, Saltwater Demands a Psalm, was published by Graywolf Press in 2023. In 2022, the début collection was selected by Tyehimba […]

Read More…

Ely Rosario

Elizabeth Rosario, known to everyone as Ely, is a vibrant, intelligent, and incredible force in her community. She holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in Communications with Business from Florida State University. Ely is the Business Manager at Jackson Properties and has been with the company for […]

Read More…

Anna Blalock

Anna Blalock is a 15-year-old singer-songwriter born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida. She’s been singing since she could talk and playing guitar since she was 8 years old. Recently, she has been playing at open mic nights and any other chances she gets! Her dream is to move to Nashville and sing country music. She […]

Read More…

Dylan Snowden

Author Dylan Snowden is a former teacher turned self-made entrepreneur and busy mother of Irish twins, Raleigh (6) and Baker (5). She is an absolute inspiration with boundless energy and a healthy appetite for adventure. When she’s not running, reading, and adventuring with her kiddos, she is on social media and writing to inspire others. […]

Read More…

Sarah McNamara

Sarah McNamara is an award-winning historian whose writings examine the histories of Latinxs, women and gender, immigration, and labor in the modern United States. McNamara is author of Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South (2023) as well as numerous articles and essays in outlets such as South Writ Large, Journal of American Ethnic History, […]

Read More…

Thomas Reed

Thomas Reed grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and now lives in Sarasota, Florida. He spent more than three decades teaching medieval and Victorian literature, film, and writing at Dickinson College in Carlisle Pennsylvania. Reed began writing fiction as a byproduct of his teaching and research. A handful of his literature classes required students to […]

Read More…