Heroes Live Entertainment is proud to partner with Miami Book Fair once again. Join us on November 16-23, 2025 for an “EPIC” lineup of musicians/authors including Kenny Chesney, Roddy Bottum (Faith No More, Imperial Teen), Peter Wolf (The J. Geils Band), Arthur Baker, John Masouri, and Sam Sussman. The Annual Opening Block Party will pay tribute to the undisputed King of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, with DJs Rich Medina and Kenny Dope.
UPDATE: Peter Wolf will not be appearing due to the death of a close friend.
📍 Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus
🗓️ November 16-23, 2025 | miamibookfair.com
OPENING DAY BLOCK PARTY
Sunday, November 16 @ 5:00 pm
Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus
300 N.E. Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
Jump ’N Funk – “America’s Original Afrobeat Party” – marks opening day of Miami Book Fair with an unforgettable night of music, visuals, and community. Launched as an after-work gathering at NYC’s fabled Shine Nightclub to raise awareness about the undisputed King of Afrobeat, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Jump ’N Funk has since traveled the globe, partnering with artists, venues, arts institutions, and museums worldwide.
At the Fair, Jump ’N Funk founder Rich Medina teams up with the legendary Kenny Dope (Masters at Work • Kay-Dee Records) – a four-time Grammy nominee and one of the most influential producers/DJs in global dance music history – alongside immersive visuals by Mark Hines/The Marksmen to deliver a dance experience like no other.
This tribute to Fela’s revolutionary fusion of funk, jazz, and African rhythms also serves as a timely companion to one of this year’s featured works: Fela: Music Is the Weapon, a new graphic novel by Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery.
Bless up and Love Afro Life!
KENNY CHESNEY Heart • Life • Music
An Evening With Kenny Chesney & Holly Gleason on Heart • Life • Music
This is a ticketed event that includes a signed copy of the book ($35) and entry for one person.
Sunday, November 16 @ 7:00 pm
Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus
300 N.E. Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
Kenny Chesney went from outside the Knoxville, Tennessee, city limits playing sports and loving music to defining the sound of coming-of-age in the 21st century. Rewriting and refocusing what a song could be, he fused rock, reggae, bluegrass, and scores of positive energy to become a stadium-sized superstar and the only country act in Billboard’s “Top 10 Touring Acts of the Last 25 Years” for the past 15 years. A songwriter, groundbreaker, visionary, and regular guy, he’ll speak with award-winning music critic and his HEART • LIFE • MUSIC co-author Holly Gleason about the journey to get here, a Nashville being forgotten, the thrill of meeting and befriending his heroes, and why pretty normal people can do incredible things.
Please Note: All session attendees will be required to undergo a bag check and go through metal detectors and/or be wanded by security prior to entering the venue. This is NOT a concert; Chesney will be appearing at MBF25 to present his new book, ONLY.
This is a ticketed event that includes a signed copy of the book ($35) and entry for one person. All attendees must purchase a book for entrance to this event. Books purchased from other retailers will not include a ticket to enter. Each purchased Kenny Chesney Evenings With ticket includes a free pass to the weekend Street Fair, where you’ll find literary events, live music, children’s activities, booksellers, local artisans, and gourmet delights!
SALVAR LA FRONTERA: UNA ANTOLOGÍA DE AUTORES VENEZOLANOS MIGRANTES – Con la participación musical de la cantautora venezolana Reymar Perdomo
Friday, November 21 @ 7:00 pm
Room 2106 (Building 2, 1st Floor)
300 N.E. Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
En una noche dedicada a la literatura venezolana, presentamos Salvar la frontera: Muestra de cuentos de autores venezolanos migrantes, una compilación editada por Equidistancias que incluye treinta relatos caracterizados por la multiplicidad temática y estilística de sus textos, así como la diversidad generacional, residencia y trayectoria vital de sus autores. Presentado por Naida Saavedra, Keila Vall de la Ville, Juan Carlos Méndez Guédez y Juan Carlos Chirinos, en conversación con el periodista César Miguel Rondón. Con la participación musical de la cantautora venezolana Reymar Perdomo.
ROSA MARQUETTI TORRES Celia en el mundo (1962-2003)
CELIA, CIEN AÑOS SONANDO – NO FICCIÓN
Saturday, November 22 @ 5:00 pm
Room 8503 (Building 8, 5th Floor)
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
Rosa Marquetti Torres presenta Celia en el mundo (1962-2003), obra que recorre con rigor y pasión la trayectoria de Celia Cruz tras su exilio, desde su éxito con la Fania All Stars hasta sus colaboraciones internacionales, retratando a la artista que, fiel a sus raíces, conquistó escenarios globales con su voz y su energía inigualables. En conversación con el periodista César Miguel Rondón.
ARTHUR BAKER Looking for the Perfect Beat: Remixing and Reshaping Hip-Hop, Rock and Rhythms
LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT BEAT WITH ARTHUR BAKER & NELSON GEORGE – NONFICTION
Saturday, November 22 @ 5:30 pm
Room 3209 (Building 3, 2nd Floor)
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
DJ, producer, and remixer Arthur Baker has shaped hip-hop, rock, and electronic genres, working with legendary artists like Diana Ross, Fleetwood Mac, and The Rolling Stones. In Looking for the Perfect Beat: Remixing and Reshaping Hip-Hop, Rock and Rhythms, he tells the story of a genre-defying artist whose boundary-pushing sound has influenced popular music for 50 years. Joining Baker in conversation is author, music journalist, and filmmaker Nelson George.
JOHN MASOURI Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies
REGGAE: A HISTORY – NONFICTION
Sunday, November 23 @ 1:00 pm
Room 8106 (Building 8, 1st Floor)
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
Offering analysis and key interviews, John Masouri‘s Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies chronicles reggae’s most tumultuous and influential decade. The music flourished against a backdrop of political upheaval, gang warfare, Black Nationalism, racial and class discrimination, and grinding poverty. Brutal and revelatory, it gave birth to DJs, dub, rockers, and early dancehall.
LUCAS CANTOR SANTIAGO Unfinished: The Role of the Artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
LANGUAGE & ART IN THE AGE OF AI – NONFICTION
Sunday, November 23 @ 1:00 pm
AI Center (Building 2, First Floor)
300 N.E. Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
Adam Aleksic’s Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language is a captivating exploration of how internet algorithms are changing language and communication. Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through a new linguistic landscape, while illuminating how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. In Unfinished: The Role of the Artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Emmy-winning composer Lucas Cantor Santiago reflects on his journey from technology skeptic to collaborating with AI to complete Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Blending personal experience with history and insight, Cantor Santiago explores how technology is reshaping music and the arts.
JIBOLA FAGBAMIYE & CONOR MCCREERY Fela: Music is the Weapon – A Graphic Novel
FELA! THE UNDISPUTED KING OF AFROBEAT – NONFICTION
Sunday, November 23 @ 3:00 pm
Room 8106 (Building 8, 1st Floor)
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
Written by Conor McCreery and illustrated by Jibola Fagbamiye, the graphic novel Fela: Music is the Weapon explores the life and times of Fela Kuti – the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, sociopolitical powerhouse, and father of Afrobeat. A profoundly influential musician who rose to global stardom in the 1970s, Kuti was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian military regime and a fierce advocate for Pan-African unity. Joining them in conversation are music journalist-filmmaker Nelson George and writer-musician Randall Grass.
RODDY BOTTUM The Royal We: A Memoir
COMING OF AGE: SURVIVING THE AIDS CRISIS & CELEBRITY CHEFS – NONFICTION
Sunday, November 23 @ 3:30 pm
Room 3209 (Building 3, 2nd Floor)
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
The Royal We: A Memoir documents Roddy Bottum’s coming of age – and out of the closet. Bottum chronicles his travels from growing up gay without role models in Los Angeles to 1980s San Francisco, where he formed the Grammy-nominated band Faith No More. He went on to tour the world, surviving heroin addiction and the plight of AIDS, and ultimately became a queer icon. Thomas Mallon’s The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994 offers a portrait of a young gay writer’s literary evolution in 1980s and ’90s New York amid the AIDS crisis. Drawn from his journals, it captures parties, politics, love, and loss, as Mallon charts his path from unknown professor to acclaimed novelist and magazine editor, preserving both personal triumphs and the heartbreak of a vanished era. In Care and Feeding: A Memoir, Laurie Woolever retraces her path through a food world that is by turns toxic and intoxicating, in which she was both bolstered and overshadowed by two of the most powerful men in the business – Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. Acerbic and wryly self-deprecating, she attempts to carve her own space while holding on to what she truly values: care and feeding.
SAM SUSSMAN Boy from Boy from the North Country: A Novel
RISING SONS: CONFRONTING TRAGEDY – FICTION
Sunday, November 23 @ 5:00 pm
Auditorium (Building 1, 2nd Floor, Room 1261)
300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33132 United States
In My Darling Boy: A Novel, John Dufresne tells the story of Olney, whose beloved son Cully collapses into addiction and vanishes into the chaotic netherworld of South Florida. Aided by his terminally ill girlfriend and the colorful inhabitants of a local motel, Olney sets out to save his son from becoming another fatality of the opioid crisis. Sam Sussman’s Boy from the North Country: A Novel centers on the relationship between Evan and his dying mother, June. He’s been called to her side from his life abroad, unaware of many things: her condition, the identity of his biological father, her romance with Bob Dylan, or why she left New York City for a farmhouse. Her answers are a startling gift from an extraordinary woman. Moderated by Jamie Betesh Carter, Jewish Book Council.
PETER WOLF Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses
UPDATE: Peter Wolf will not be appearing due to the death of a close friend.
This is a free event that requires a ticket for entry.
Sunday, November 23 @ 6:00 pm
Chapman Conference Center (Building 3, 2nd Floor, Room 3210)
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132 United States
In Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses, Peter Wolf, perhaps best known as the harmonica-playing frontman of the J. Geils Band, offers a treasure trove of vignettes, observations, musings, and word portraits examining a career that spans more than six decades – and is still going. He will be in conversation with professor, music journalist, and author Evelyn McDonnell, Rock She Wrote: Women Write about Rock, Pop and Rap.
