This year’s Miami Book Fair begins in less than three weeks, and as usual, Miami’s most eminent independent bookstore chain will have a significant presence for the festivities. For this special roundup, Books & Books’ Mitch Kaplan selected four books by authors who will be appearing at the 2025 Miami Book Fair at Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. Grab them in advance at the links below to prepare for their lectures—and, following their talks, to get them signed by the authors.
Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization by Bill McKibben
Never one to go gentle into that good night, Bill McKibben has been warning us about the perils of climate change since his startling 1989 debut, “The End of Nature.” He has since authored 11 more books about the environment, founded the activist nonprofit 350.org, and maintains a vital SubStack. His latest work, “Here Comes the Sun,” is not, as one might expect from the title, a biography of George Harrison but another scientifically grounded exploration of our sun’s growing potential as an alternative energy source. As McKibben reports, solar and wind are now the cheapest power sources on the planet, as well as the most reliably renewable. His book shuttles readers around the world, zeroing in on where the most creative solutions are taking place, from Pakistan’s all-in approach to solar panels to California’s success in nearly halving its use of natural gas in the last two years. Villains from McKibben’s previous books recur—namely the fossil fuel companies and the politicians who do their bidding—but this time, at least, McKibben finds plenty of reasons for optimism. He speaks at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at Auditorium.
Few food writers have accrued the global culinary expertise of Padma Lakshmi, a tastemaker in the literal sense. In addition to her bestselling memoir “Love, Loss, and What We Ate,” Lakshmi has penned four other books, hosted Bravo’s “Top Chef” for 19 seasons, and created and hosted the award-winning Hulu series “Taste the Nation.” Her latest release is a cookbook and beyond, serving as an argument for the importance of immigrant cuisine on the American palate. Discovering mouthwatering recipes from the migrant and Indigenous communities she visits firsthand, Lakshmi shares their secrets for dishes ranging from plum chaat and tomato eggdrop soup to jerk chicken, “biracial” latkes and strawberry-cardamom and cream cake, all of which are adapted for the ease of the home cook. She speaks at 10 a.m. Nov. 22 at Chapman Conference Center. Thankfully, you can grab lunch immediately after.
Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl
In 2013, Angela Buchdahl made history when she was appointed senior rabbi at Central Synagogue, the major Reform synagogue in Midtown Manhattan, becoming the first East Asian American woman to be ordained as a rabbi. By all accounts, she has emerged as an influential keeper of the faith and thought leader among Judaism and beyond, ranking among America’s top 50 rabbis in outlets ranging from The Forward to the Daily Beast. This “unlikely rabbi,” born in Seoul to a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish father, shares her unusual life story in “Heart of a Stranger,” a hybrid memoir and spiritual guide for remaining positive in troubled times. The book doesn’t shy away from the probing topics she addresses in her powerful sermons, from racism within the Jewish community to the different faces of antisemitism. She speaks at 3 p.m. Nov. 22 at Chapman Conference Center.
The sixth novel from New York Times bestselling author Lily King wasn’t supposed to be a love story—words like “heart” and “lover” had little connection with the political murder mystery she began writing during the pandemic. But as King’s narrative started to sputter—“I had a dead body on the first page, and I didn’t care how he died,” as she recently put it to The Guardian—the siren call of a great love triangle, a situation she explored in previous books such as “Writers & Lovers” and “Euphoria,” inspired her once again. Taking its title from a card game the three protagonists enjoy, “Heart the Lover” starts in the 1980s, when the narrator, a college senior, meets two intoxicating boys from her 17th-century literature class. Their whirlwind friendship/romance ends after graduation, but the old feelings return decades later when she encounters a surprise visitor. “Heart the Lover” is described as a love letter to literature, connection and forgiveness, and its final third may require a Kleenex box close at hand. King speaks at 3 p.m. Nov. 23 at Auditorium.
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