Miami is full of nice people, even if you are writing about Cuba!

265 Aragon Avenue in Coral Gables: a warm and inviting place to buy books

I particularly liked the promotional pumpkin carving on the outdoor patio bar

Photos: Antonina Vargas

The Books and Books flagship store in Coral Gables is one of the most beautiful bookshops I've ever seen. It is a vast, U-shaped space of high-ceilinged galleries, with warm lighting spilling down on to tables overflowing with fine reading. Every wall is lined with comforting, enveloping shelves. In the interior courtyard of the "U" is a wine-bar where cappuccinos are served beneath rustling palms.

I was nervous in the hours leading up the reading, as Miami takes up a lot of space in the world of Cuban-America. My book is not political per se, but there are many people, I think, for whom my decision to travel in Cuba, as US citizen, cannot help but be seen as a political act in and of itself. Miami, in my imagination, is a place that still holds many Cuban-Americans hostile to the very simplest premise of my book: an American visits Cuba. But although there was an excellent turnout, none of these hostiles apparently go to book readings. I asked how many Cuban-Americans were in the audience and saw at least 8 hands go up in the crowd.

I read a rather poignant scene about a going-away party in the city of Trinidad, for a man named Conrad, who was leaving Cuba, perhaps forever, to emigrate to Miami. When I finished, some of the most interesting questions came from these "Miami Cubans." They were sincere in their curiosity about the island, and nobody seemed to hold my trip against me.


One man in the audience, a lawyer, gave me the excellent news that the statute of limitations on the Trading with the Enemy Act is six years, so that although I violated the law by visiting Cuba, my government's window of opportunity for prosecuting me has closed. I left my email address with Conrad's father-in-law in Trinidad, after the drunken going-away party in May or June of 2000, but I never heard from him after my return to the United States, and one man in the audience thought he could help me try to find him. Stay tuned for the ongoing story of Finding Conrad.

Author photos: Camila de Onis

Reading in Miami this Thursday October 30th

I will be taking Cuba to the Cuban-Americans this Thursday, for my first Florida book reading, at Books and Books in Coral Gables. The bookstore is at 265 Aragon Avenue, and the reading is at 8PM.

I'm hoping for a nice crowd, particularly since in Sunday's paper the Miami Herald calls Walking to Guantánamo "a fascinating, wry, vividly detailed and elegantly written account of a trip that no one else is likely to take."

Twenty years ago it would have been a terrifying prospect to try and promote this book in South Florida, even though I think it is an extremely balanced view of life on the island. In the old days down in Miami one would have been virtually crucified just for having visited the island. My sense is that things have changed and that the Cubans of Miami are now almost as diverse a group as the Cubans of Cuba. I could be wrong, though. I'll let you all know soon enough if I get rotten eggs thrown at me. It is, after all, the day before Halloween, better known in suburbia as "mischief night."

If you don't have a copy of the book yet, and can't join me in Miami, you really ought to get yourself one from my publisher, HERE, or order it from Amazon, HERE.

At the local...

Yesterday's reading at Sunny's Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, was a triumphant success. There wasn't an empty seat in the house, despite the glorious Sunday afternoon fall weather. Three of us read as part of the Sundays at Sunny's reading series, which has now been going on for six years. It was a wonderful, receptive crowd, with many friends from the neighborhood in attendance, but also a whole host of folks from farther afield.

Here David Rothenberg reads a wonderfully entertaining passage from Thousand Mile Song, in which he describes playing clarinet duets with whales. He then played a recording of this amazing interspecies musical experience. It was a rare treat. (His book comes with a CD). That's David, farthest to the left of the three people behind the bar.

I read three passages from Guantánamo. The first was my description of the rodeo-like décima poetry competitions held in Las Tunas, in which improvisational poetic artistry mingles with ten-gallon fashions and macho braggadocio; the second an account of contraband cheese-selling strategy beside the highway ("Like a matador with a cape, my friend pivoted with the cheese to give it maximum exposure as the car passed, but the vehicle did not slow."); and the third a story about discovering that a portion of popcorn I purchased in Trinidad was wrapped up in pages torn from a Cuban edition of the Communist Manifesto.

Book Court books takes care of selling books at the event, and I'm proud to report that they were left wishing they had brought along more copies of Walking to Guantánamo, because they quickly sold out.

A charming neighborhood bookstore in Philadelphia!

I had my first official reading yesterday afternoon in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, a beautiful neighborhood and an apparent liberal enclave, where the residents seem to be battling it out over whose overgrown english-style garden is the most splendid, and who has the most Obama for president lawn banners. Although it was a beautiful day outside, the offer of a chapter from Guantánamo still managed to fill the cozy second-floor reading room of the very friendly Big Blue Marble Bookstore, assuaging my fears that for my reading debut I might end up starring in my own remake of the album-signing scene from This is Spinal Tap. Thanks for having me!

The book launch party was a spectacular success!

The friends and family book launch party for Walking to Guantánamo, kindly hosted last Thursday night by Anthony Chase and Nini Ordoubadi, at their loft, was a splendid affair, and not just because of the tremendous pleasure I felt when actually holding a copy of the finished book in my hands for the first time.

As we went to open the first box of books I had a flash of panic when I noticed that “Guantánamo” was spelled wrong, right on the outside of the carton, but the books themselves were perfect.

The stalwart and patient publisher, Stelios Vasilakis, manned the tables until the boxes were empty and the piles of books had dwindled away to nothing.

Nini layed out a massive spread, upon which the greedy hordes immediately descended, some before they had even noticed my book!

Right here is the man who really made the evening a success, St. John Frizell, master cocktelier, who mixed innumerable mojitos, as well as a drink he had dredged up from his deep collection of historical literature devoted to festivities of the Antilles, a cocktail known as the Isle of Pines (that island is now known as la Isla de Juventud, or the island of youth). It doesn’t really matter what you are promoting, launching, introducing or displaying; if you locate someone with the skills, panache and good humor of Mr. Frizell, your event is guaranteed to be a roaring success.

Ben Schneider and Sohui Kim of the Good Fork

Ferne Pearlstein and Bob Edwards, of Chinatown and Hollywood

Anthony Chase and Jainardo Batista

Clearly I am saying something utterly preposterous

My old friends from Mo’ Guajiro, now the new and improved Nu’ Guajiro, stopped by and threw down some spectacular and authentic Cuban musical flavor.

The Brooklyn Red Hook posse was well represented. Here Francis Kerrigan (center, with hat and beard) grimaces at Jens Veneman and Anne O’Neil. On the later side of the evening someone approached me with a book to inscribe, saying “when I bought it that other guy with the hat and the beard told me he would sign it for me; he was quite insistent about it.” It was as if they were wondering whether such a thing had been authorized. I congratulated them on their caution, and urge you all to be vigilant: watch out for those pesky counterfeit signed copies.

The authentic author, with hat and beard, about to sign another copy.

Enormous thank-yous to Nini Ordoubadi, Anthony Chase, St. Jean Frizell (oops, I mean St. John Frizell, I always want to make that more New Orleans than it is already!), Laura Harmon, Stelios Vasilakis, and Nu' Guajiro, for making this such a special evening.