Lit Chat

Join Keith Ashley and Denise Bossy from the University of North Florida as they discuss Jacksonville's indigenous history and share research tips! 

Cap off this year’s Spooky Season at our chat with Sherry Thomas, author of the Lady Sherlock series of historical mysteries, including the upcoming Miss Moriarty, I Presume?  

Kristen Arnett’s novels and short stories explore queer life and life in Florida, combining the two with her signature dark humor. Join us to chat with the New York Times bestselling author about the stories that motivate her to write, what she’s learned from writing, and more!

Jacksonville Public Library + MOCA(Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville) present Art & Conversations, a series of innovative programs focused on literacy and the arts. In this series, the Jacksonville Public Library and MOCA collaborate to provide the community access to a rich set of resources by partnering an educational library program with a museum exhibition.

Willow Branch Library sits in a corner of Willow Branch Park, a popular location for local musicians during the late 1960s to develop and expand their audience. Named after the “Human Be-In,” San Francisco’s 1967 counterculture celebration, Jacksonville’s “be-ins” spawned several notable acts, including the Allman Brothers Band.

In Jacksonville and the Roots of Southern Rock, Michael Ray FitzGerald digs into the history of bands like the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd and how Jacksonville played a role in bringing these bands to a national audience. FitzGerald and Alan Bliss, CEO of the Jacksonville Historical Society, will talk about this and more live at the Willow Branch Library!

Tim Barton joins our Lit Chat series on Tuesday, August 24th, at 7 pm. Tim will be discussing his book The American Story: The Beginnings. Click here to register. 

Tim Barton is the President of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that presents America’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our religious, moral, and constitutional heritage. WallBuilders has been recognized from coast-to-coast for its work in education, history, law, and public policy, integrating the elements of Biblical faith and morality throughout all aspects of American life and culture.

How do you keep the spark alive over three decades of writing romance fiction? Rochelle Alers clearly knows the secret, with over 80 published books, including her newest, The Beach House. Join us to chat with this prolific romance author!

Jacksonville artist Michael Regina published his first books with Kickstarter money back in 2013, and now his newest book, The Sleepover, is being published by a major imprint. Find out how he achieved this success at our next Lit Chat!

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.

Have you ever read a sci-fi or fantasy book and wondered, what kind of a mind thinks up these new worlds? Find out and get a peek inside of one at our Lit Chat with Chuck Wendig! Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and the upcoming The Book of Accidents (July 2021). He’s also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. He lives in Pennsyltucky with his family.