Jacksonville Public Library Blog

Support Local Authors This Holiday Season and All Year Long

Shop Local Read Local Saturday, November 25

Saturday, November 25, 2023, is Small Business Saturday – a day to celebrate and support small businesses, artists, local authors, and other creators! Of course, we hope you support local authors all year long! In addition to our annual Jax Book Fest which features dozens of local authors, we also invite local authors and creators to talk about (and sign) their books at Lit Chat Author Talks and Interview programs. While these events are free to attend, they are a great way for authors to find new readers and for readers to find new authors!

Books to Celebrate Native American Heritage

National Native American Heritage Month acknowledges the many historical contributions and present-day achievements of America's indigenous people. This celebration also pays tribute to their rich ancestry and traditions, many of which are still observed by nations and tribes across the United States. Jacksonville Public Library has an AMAZING collection of books featuring stories and information written by and about people from varied backgrounds, races, ethnicities, life experiences, and viewpoints. We love to share selections that demonstrate the range of our collection all year and we encourage you to explore these books with us this month and all year long!

Lit Chat Interview with Lifetime Fighter for Justice, Nat Glover

Nat Glover was born in 1943, in segregated Jacksonville, Florida. At seventeen, he unknowingly headed into an angry white mob and the Ku Klux Klan attacking young black protestors staging a sit-in at a downtown whites-only lunch counter. Known as “Ax Handle Saturday,” this harrowing encounter with racism would commit him to a lifetime of fighting for justice. He joined the Jacksonville Police Department in 1966 where he was promoted to detective, rose to sergeant, and was appointed the city’s first hostage negotiator. In 1995, Duval County voters elected him the first Black sheriff in Florida since Reconstruction. Hear more about his incredible work and his new memoir, Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff.

Merry Savings at the Friends of the Mandarin Library's Holiday Pop-Up Book Sale

Complete your holiday shopping at the Friends of the Mandarin Library's pop-up book sale on November 30 through December 2. The three days of the sale are open to all, but membership is encouraged and appreciated. You can join at the door for $10. Proceeds from sales and memberships are used to enhance programs and services at the Mandarin Library.

The sale will include a superb selection of small books, perfect for stocking stuffers or hostess gifts, and curated boutique books.

Gobble Up Some Great Kids Books This Thanksgiving

The holiday season is here! For a lot of folks, that means family gatherings, time-honored traditions, and eating some really good food. if you have little ones, the holidays can also mean curious minds with lots of questions! So, whether you're looking for some fun Thanksgiving tales or just stories of thanks and giving to read with your children this month, we've got some great recommendations.

NaNoWriMo Guest Blogger and Local Author: Sohrab Homi Fracis

NaNoWriMo Guest Blogger: Sohrab Homi Fracis

For National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), we asked a few of our recent Lit Chat and Writer's Lab alumni to answer a few questions about their writing process. Our second guest blogger is Sohrab Homi Fracis. Our second guest blogger is Sohrab Homi Fracis. True Fiction, his new book of North Florida (and elsewhere) stories, won the 2023 International Book Award for story collections. Fracis was also the first Asian American author to win the Iowa Short Fiction Award, described by the New York Times Book Review as "among the most prestigious literary prizes America offers," for his first book, Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America.

Small Business: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday

In November, we're thinking about "Black Friday" and how you can leverage it and other big shopping days this holiday season to boost your retail sales. What deals are you offering at your small business? Are you offering your products for sale online? Are you promoting your small business during Small Business Saturday? With free resources from the Library, you can learn everything from how to build a small business website with Shopify or how to start a side hustle by selling on Amazon or Etsy. We also have some community partners offering some great workshops for anyone thinking of starting up a new business!

The Screening Room: Watch and Discuss the Silent Film The Flying Ace

The Screening Room: The Flying Ace Moderated by Norman Studios

Released in 1926, The Flying Ace was a classic silent film that featured an all-African-American cast, with principal photography shot right here in Jacksonville. Made in the South during a period that arguably represented the height of "Jim Crow," it was one of many films by white filmmaker Richard E. Norman that challenged the stereotypes about Black people found in the overwhelming majority of the films of that era. In 2021, The Flying Ace was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

NaNoWriMo Guest Blogger and Local Author: Hurley Winkler

For National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), we asked a few of our recent Lit Chat and Writer's Lab alumni to answer a few questions about their writing process. Hurley Winkler is a writer and a lifelong resident of Jacksonville. Her fiction and nonfiction work has appeared in Hobart, Neutral Spaces, The Millions, and elsewhere, and she interviews writers and musicians for The Creative Independent and WJCT's Jacksonville Music Experience.

The Friends' Big Bag Book Sale Returns This Fall

Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library's Big Bag Book Sale on November 16 through 18 at the University Park Library.

The Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library's (FJPL) Big Bag Book Sale returns on November 16-18 with fantastic deals on books, movies, audiobooks, records, jigsaw puzzles, and more. The bookstore is located at the University Park Branch Library at 3435 University Blvd. N.