A podcast focusing on the forgotten, undervalued, underrated, misrepresented, and oddball literature, film, media, music, and assorted pop-cultural relics of the Sunshine State.
Hello all. Florida Book Club has been on a somewhat longer hiatus than usual between seasons. We here at the clubhouse are taking some time to refresh, reassess, and potentially reorient. We are looking at the shape/direction the site and podcast may take in its future iterations, and that has required and will require a…
If you love any of Scarface, orcas, Miami, dangerous family histories, Pitbull impersonators, and/or compelling stories about lost young men looking for narratives to believe in, you will love our conversation with Jennine Capo-Crucet on her novel Say Hello to My Little Friend, which features all of the above, and we are thrilled to have…
Ariel Francisco’s new bilingual poetry collection (Spanish translations by the poet’s father!) ruminates on subjects familiar to anyone who’s worried at all about Florida’s future: development, sea level rise, “resilience”, et al. But it’s also kind of hopeful, as we discuss with him today. And there are lots of ocean critters, a motif it shares…
In this week’s episode, we catch up with Shane Hinton, author of Pinkies and Radio Dark, and editor of We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida, ahead of his keynote speech at the Florida College English Assocation conference later this month. He’s got a new novel-in-stories (or is it a short story collection?) coming…
A lot of Florida’s boutique resorts, lodges, beach motels, and villas have some pretty intriguing stories to tell! Poynter Institute director of craft and local news Kristen Hare joins us to discuss her new book, the not-quite-history-not-quite-travel-guide Hotels, Motels, and Inns of Florida, which brings these stories to light and will definitely give Floridians some…
Darcy Greco’s novel of addiction, family dysfunction, and despair is saved from bleakness by her resilient and optimistic narrator. Darcy joins us today to discuss what it was like inhabiting this character’s dark life during the composition of the novel, why fiction is preferable to memoir as a medium, and how being a northern transplant…
The Storm is an important literary document in Florida’s history. It’s also a compelling storm story (if anyone still wants to read one after 2024). Keith Huneycutt joins us again to talk about the newly-published edition from the University Press of Florida, how we can say with near-certainty who wrote it, and why author Ellen…
If a lurid story of PTA drama, fundraising rivalries, Ponzi schemes, and adults acting less mature than their kids sounds fun to you, you will love Asha Elias’ novel Pink Glass Houses! Asha joins us this episode to talk about her creative process and more generally about public school, PTA fundraising in Miami, and south…
Doug Alderson, author of Encounters with Florida’s Endangered Wildlife, joins us to kick off Season 11, discussing his work as a steward and advocate for Florida’s most vulnerable (and breathtaking) natural spaces. (There’s also a lot of Tallahassee-area shout outs, both in the book and in our conversation!) Further Reading
