Lit Chat 2025

Never stop learning! Join a Library Book Club, meet bestselling authors and up-and-coming local writers, learn how to write your own books, and more!

Meet the creator of the punk fanzine, Shotgun Seamstress, live at the fourth annual Duval Comic and Zine Fest at the Main Library.

Mother Emanuel is a sweeping history of the first AME church in the South and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice.

Never stop learning! Join a Library Book Club, meet bestselling authors and up-and-coming local writers, learn how to write your own books, and more!

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a perfect book "for those who love book clubs, nostalgia for the 1960s, and stories of female friendship."

In The Sound of the Sea, acclaimed environmental author Cynthia Barnett blends cultural history and science to trace our long love affair with seashells.

April is National Poetry Month and we've got some great recommendations to get you inspired to write your own verses, including some poetry collections by locals like Jessica Q. Stark and Michelle Lizet Flores. Later this month, local author Lena Shaqareq joins us for a Junior Lit Chat Author Talk for children, ages 5-12. She'll be giving away copies of her rhyming children's book, How the Sun Got Its Light. Plus, we've got a special History Chat that explores the life and poetry of Matthew R. Ward and Jacksonville's role in the Great Migration.

Did you know? April 6 - 12 is National Library Week. This annual celebration highlights the valuable role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives. Of course, our cardholders are at the center of any celebration. You are the reason we do what we do! On occasions like this, we like to talk a little bit more about those programs and services that we offer and encourage everyone in our communities to read, learn and grow. Chart your next literary adventure by browsing the stacks or joining a book club. Let an author color your imagination at an author talk, outline your big business idea at an entrepreneur workshop, or trace your history with your library’s genealogy resources.

Paterson Joseph is a beloved British actor and writer. Recently seen on Vigil, Noughts + Crosses and Boat Story, he has also starred in The Leftovers and Law & Order UK and he also plays Arthur Slugworth in the Wonka movie. The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho is his debut novel. Catch the interview between Paterson Joseph and interviewer Kelsi Hasden from 7 to 8 p.m. on Monday, April 14 at Southeast Regional Library.

Four years after Kelly Mustian's USA Today bestselling debut novel, The Girls in the Stilt House, started appearing on "must-read" lists and earning starred reviews, the author is set to release her much-anticipated second novel on April 1, 2025. Like her first, The River Knows Your Name is already gathering buzz as a tumultuous and "well-woven mystery."