Completely Booked - Official Podcast of the Jacksonville Public Library

Follow the Lemon Racing Dynasty Take a ride through the raucous racing circuits and strip malls of South Georgia in the new novel, Can't Shake the Dust, by St. Augustine author  C.H. Hooks.  Throughout the year, we offer programs like Lit Chat Author Talks and Writer's Lab workshops to spotlight our local author community and inspire others to follow in their literary footsteps.  "Can't Shake the...

Exploring and Collecting African American History Harriet Tubman is, if surveys are to be trusted, one of the ten most famous Americans ever born. Yet often she's a figure more out of myth than history, often rightly celebrated but seldom understood. Tiya Miles's Night Flyer changes all that, probing the ecological reality of Tubman's surroundings and examining her kinship with other enslaved wome...

Osa Atoe is an artist, teacher, and ceramicist operating Pottery by Osa, producing small-batch handmade ceramics. Currently residing in Sarasota, Florida, Osa previously lived in Portland, Oregon, and New Orleans, Louisiana. It was these two cities where she primarily made her punk zine, Shotgun Seamstress . Osa is also a punk musician who performed in numerous bands including VHS, New Bloods, and...

Are you a fan of Southern Gothic, ghost stories, speculative fiction, or horror? Do you love supporting local authors? Are you hoping to follow in their footsteps and publish your own short stories or novel? This summer, we brought two Jacksonville authors together for a "spirited" discussion at the Library. They'll talked about Daniel's writing process, what inspires him, and what he's working on...

Few people beyond South Carolina's Lowcountry knew of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston—Mother Emanuel—before the tragic events on the night of June 17, 2015. Although the shooter had targeted Mother Emanuel to agitate racial strife, he could not have anticipated the aftermath or the out­pouring of forgiveness from victims' families. Kevin Sack is a veteran journalist and Ja...

Are you a fan of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, or epic fantasy worlds? In this Lit Chat, local author Michael Regina interviews celebrated fantasy author Django Wexler, the featured guest at this year's Jax Pop Con. Django shares insights into his writing process, his love for tabletop games, and the inspiration behind his latest novel, "How To Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying." Che...

A Haunting Southern Story Set in the Wild Mississippi Delta 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 "wel...

A Tale of Resistance... Based on a Real Story  Hannah longs for the days when she used to be free, but now, she is a Jewish prisoner at Theresienstadt, a model ghetto where the Nazis plan to make a propaganda film to convince the world that the Jewish people are living well in the camps. But Hannah will do anything to show the world the truth. Along with other young resistance members, they vow to...

Interview with a Debut Author  This January, we spoke with the author of Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins's Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany . Released on January 21, 2025, this new book is a fascinating portrait of the progressive female trailblazer and US Secretary for Labor who navigated the foreboding rise of Nazism in her battle to make America a safer place for refugees...

Black and Brilliant Local Author As the sixteen-year-old President of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP, he was one of the leaders of the 1960 sit-in demonstrations that culminated in the infamous and violent Ax Handle Saturday. Hurst's first book, the award-winning  It Was Never About a Hot Dog and a Coke®! , tells that story. Hurst's fourth book,  Black and Brilliant (written for 12-18 year-o...

A First Coast Romance Sheila Athens writes smart contemporary fiction set where the South meets the Sunshine state. Her stories are about women seeking to find the peace we all deserve. Readers are drawn to her work because they believe that everyday heroes can make a difference in our world. Featured Book:  Mae Van Dorn's Perfect Storm All thirty-four-year-old Mae Van Dorn wants is to live alone....

A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots New York Times  bestselling and National Magazine Award-winning author  Morgan Jerkins  will be at the Main Library this October to discuss  Wandering in Strange Lands , the powerful story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration, and the displacement of black people across America. She will be the first...

Mexican Gothic Author Comes to Jacksonville Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the  New York Times  bestselling author of  Mexican Gothic , is coming to Jacksonville for Hispanic Heritage Month. Her latest novel is a historical drama set in Hollywood, following three different point of view characters all tied to the production of a movie inspired by the Biblical story of Salome. FEATURED BOOK:  The Seventh Ve...

Zinester Talks Fanzines, Community Daryl Gussin is a writer and musician who has been awkwardly standing around at punk shows for the last twenty-something years. Thankfully at some point in his late teens, he decided to become a little more productive and has been working on zines, setting up shows, and playing in bands consecutively since then. He's been integrally involved in Razorcake fanzine...

Chef Kenny Offers New Takes on Southern Cuisine Chef Kenny Gilbert is best known for his appearance on "Top Chef" Season seven, where he displayed a big personality and instantly became one of the most likable "cheftestants" to date. He is also the author of the new cookbook,  Southern Cooking, Global Flavors  (2023), which includes tips and techniques for making international variations of over 1...

Dean Butler  is an actor, producer, and director best known for his role as Almanzo Wilder (the man Laura Ingalls married) in  Little House on the Prairie , based on the beloved  Little House  book series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. He appeared in the final four seasons of the show, the spin-off show  Little House: A New Beginning , and the three post-series TV movies. He was also a producer...

Nate Powell began self-publishing as an Arkansas teenager in 1992. Now, he is a National Book Award-winning cartoonist best known for his work on the ground-breaking graphic novel memoir series,  March,  with civil rights icon John Lewis. An inside story of the Civil Rights Movement told through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures, it was a #1  New York Times  and  Washington Post bestselle...

Debut Florida Author Brings the Magic City to Jacksonville "I am, first and foremost, a Miamian. No physical location has done more to shape my personal and artistic sensibilities than the Magic City," Alejandro Nodarse said in a recent interview. "Miami is, unquestionably, very different from its neighboring Floridan cities, and I am a product of that high energy, heavy neon, fiercely multicultur...

You May Never See a Hot Summer Day the Same Way Again... Jeff Goodell is a  New York Times  bestselling author of seven books, including  The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World , which was picked as a New York Times Critics' Top Book of 2017, as well as one of Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2017. Goodell's previous books inclu...

Hallmarky Romance with Some Light Spice Siera London says, "I write sassy, sensual heroines." Whether it's the  Forbidde n series,  Fiery Fairy Tales ,  The Bachelors of Shell Cove , you're sure to find plenty of heat, humor, and a rollercoaster of emotions. Dubbed a "Hallmarky romance with a little extra heat" by author Lizzie Shane, London's latest book,  Fake It Till You Make It , is no excepti...

A born-and-raised Jacksonvillian, Bethany Baptiste is a preschool inclusion specialist by day and a young adult SFF novelist by night. If she's not writing an inclusion support plan or a story, she does retail therapy in Florida bookstores and takes scheduled naps with her two chaotic evil dogs. You can visit her website at bethanybaptiste.com Check out all of Bethany's books in our catalog: https...

Death, Love and Redemption "In October 1997, the town of Ringgold in northwest Georgia was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley's house..."  Georgia attorney-turned-writer, McCracken Poston Jr., joins us live via Zoom to tell the story behind one of his most famous defense cases and his upcoming book,  Zenith Man: Death, Love and Redemption in a Georgi...

The Friends of the Bill Brinton Murray Hill Library sponsored a special Lit Chat Interview with local poet Michelle Lizet Flores. Michelle spoke with fellow poet and Lit Chat alum, Jessica Q. Stark, about her latest book of poetry.  Michelle Lizet Flores is a graduate of the FSU and NYU creative writing programs. She currently works as a Creative Writing Instructor at Douglas Anderson School of th...

Recently re-released with bonus content,  Pucking Around  (the first book in the series) is now a USA Today bestseller! The sequel,  Pucking Wild , debuted at the top of the Kindle store in multiple countries: #2 in the USA, #1 in Canada, #1 in Australia, and top 50 in the UK! From the author : "The signed paperback preorder campaign for the Kensington editions of  Pucking Around  is now LIVE!! I'...

Jeffrey Blount  is the award-winning author of four novels, including  Almost Snow White ,  Hating Heidi Foster ,  The Emancipation of Evan Walls , and  Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way . He is also an Emmy award-winning television director and a 2016 inductee to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of  Meet The Press ,  The Today Sh...