Library U

Are you interested in learning more about authors from your community? What is their writing process and what inspires them? Learn at our next Lit Chat with Therese Tappouni who will talk about her book, Caught Between Two Worlds. Tappouni will be joined with moderator Stacey Horan, a local author and podcaster. Both authors reside in Jacksonville and are passionate about living creatively and helping others through their writing.

Are you interested in writing poetry, but don't know where to start? Have you started, but you don't know where to go from there?

Join Dr. Laura Minor, an award-winning poet and poetry educator, for a three-week workshop series on the basics of poetry. This series includes hands-on work in generating ideas and revising drafts, as well as a discussion of the process of submitting and publishing poetry.

We all know a “Florida Man”, but how many of us want to admit to being one? In The Thing About Florida, author Tyler Gillespie takes on the strange people and stories of the Sunshine State from the perspective of a fifth-generation Florida native. Gillespie joins us to talk about what he discovered in his quest to learn more about the state we all call home.

Have you ever wondered how a poem gets from a spark of an idea to a written work of art? Find out at our next Lit Chat celebrating National Poetry Month with local poet and educator Tiffany Melanson. Melanson will talk about her poetry and the process of writing in conversation with Yvette Angelique, a local poet and artist.

Frederick Joseph joins us to discuss his book The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person. This book serves as a conversation starter, tool kit, and invaluable window into the life of a former "token Black kid" who now presents himself as the friend many readers need. Frederick Joseph chats with Jacksonville teen, Taylor Richardson who made The Black Friend available to all 21 library locations in Jacksonville. Learn more about Taylor Richardson here.

You’ve got a great story. You’ve made your characters complex. You’ve put everything on the page, with a great fantasy world or a murder mystery hook (or both!), and your word count comes in at a tight short story or novella length. Now what? Author and PseudoPod associate editor M. M. Schill will tell you how to make your short fiction shine above the rest and how to sell it to the right publications.

Marsha Dean Phelts joins us this week to chat about American Beach and her two books, An American Beach for African Americans and The American Beach Cookbook. Phelts will cover the myths of the beach -- what is the first, the most, the oldest? -- and the informational treasures unearthed there. She will also talk about the women of American Beach, including Miss Martha, Emma Morgan, Beach Lady, Annette Myers, and Hurricane Dora.

Historian Richard Webb chats about his book Boats Against the Current. He presents a case for Westport, Connecticut as the real setting of one of America's most famous novels, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Boats Against the Current is a large-format book that includes compelling stories about Scott, Zelda, and their wealthy neighbor the model for Jay Gatsby. Illustrated with period newspaper clippings, items from Fitzgerald family scrapbooks and never-before-seen photos, the book also recounts Webb’s process of making a companion documentary film with Robert Steven Williams. 

Alternate history novelist Taylor Anderson joins our Lit Chat series on Tuesday, January 12th, at 7 pm. Taylor will be discussing his Destroyermen series and his most recent and final book, Winds of Wrath.

Complex Characters, award-winning author Nikesha Elise Williams will help you make your characters more compelling in two virtual sessions and a final virtual workshop.

This character study is for writers who want to dig beyond the surface of common tropes and give their characters depth that make them feel like real people. People who are flawed, insecure, incomplete, and blind to their own behavior.