Now that I’m a Floridian with almost two years as an Amelia Islander, it’s the perfect time to share a beautiful new coffee table book on Florida. My local bookstore, which is so much more, Story and Song Center for Arts and Culture, hosted the sold-out luncheon with a Q&A discussion with the editor, Jacki Levine, and a book signing.
The book Once Upon a Time in Florida – Stories of Life in the Land of Promises includes fifty carefully selected articles from the magazine FORUM published by the nonprofit Florida Humanities. This book also celebrates the Florida Humanities, part of the National Endowment for the Humanities, 50th anniversary.
The tricky part for Jacki was narrowing it down to just fifty stories from so many fantastic articles. She updated dated content, contacted the authors, obtained permission to use the artwork, and did final edits. Books are often a labor of love, but sometimes a few other words come to mind. Challenge is one!
Here’s a sneak peek at the first 20:
During the Q&A, Jacki asked who was born in Florida, who had parents from Florida, and those with Floridian grandparents. Unsurprisingly, the number of Florida natives and family connections in our group was extremely low. Florida is truly a melting pot, probably more than the other six states I’ve lived in.
The writer and novelist Lauren Groff’s essay “Finding a Literary Path Home,” is my favorite so far. Initially, she had a difficult adjustment to Florida, something many can probably identify with. So she turned to books penned by local writers from the past and today. This helped her understand and appreciate life here.
Lauren has even written a book titled Florida. Here’s a link to her book on the online Bookshop, where you can select your local independent bookseller instead of a big-box shop or Amazon. https://bookshop.org/p/books/florida-lauren-groff/588707?ean=9781594634529
If you are curious about Florida or live here and want to know more, contact the Story & Song Bookstore. https://storyandsongarts.org. They are the nicest people around, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to handle a book order or answer any questions. If you can visit the store and an event, that’s even better.
After hearing about Florida Humanities, I immediately joined. https://floridahumanities.org Annual rates are as low as $35, and membership includes the magazine, an e-newsletter, and other benefits.
I am excited to learn more about my new home state of Florida and develop a deeper appreciation of life here, past and present. Thanks to this book and Lauren Groff’s essay, I know exactly where to start. If you can’t order from your local bookstore or through Story and Song, here’s a link to the University Press of Florida which also sells an ebook. https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9798987660805
Karen Stensgaard has written three novels: Aquavit, Blueness, and Project Onion. Her soon-to-be-published book, Project Pepper: The Client, takes place in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Upcoming photo blogs will focus on travel, history, and culture, with an occasional library visit.
KAREN STENSGAARD 