December 27, 2022 – (KEY WEST, FL). Award-winning author Joy Castro will be offering a book reading and signing copies of her new novel, “One Brilliant Flame” at the San Carlos Institute, 516 Duval Street, on Wednesday, January 11, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. This event is presented by Key West Art & Historical Society, Key West Literary Seminar, and Books & Books Key West. Copies will be available for purchase at the event.
Castro’s latest novel, set in Key West in 1886 when the booming cigar industry makes it the most prosperous city in Florida, blends elements of rebellion, revolution, liberty and secrets. As a rebel base for the anticolonial insurgency in Cuba, Key West is also a tinderbox for six young friends with ambitious dreams. As lives intertwine, insurgency smolders, and passions ignite, the bustling coral island is set to explode. Against the backdrop of the Great Fire of Key West, “One Brilliant Flame” explores the luminous fates of consuming passion and encroaching peril in the face of insurrection, sacrifice, and inextinguishable hope.
Castro is the award-winning author of the post-Katrina New Orleans literary thrillers “Hell or High Water,” which received the Nebraska Book Award, and “Nearer Home,” and the story collection “How Winter Began,” as well as the memoir “The Truth Book” and the essay collection “Island of Bones,” which received the International Latino Book Award. Her work has appeared in the “New York Times Magazine,” “Senses of Cinema,” “Afro-Hispanic Review,” and elsewhere. A former Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University, she is currently the Willa Cather Professor of English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
To reserve your spot at the book launch and signing event; visit kwahs.org/upcoming-events – $8 for KWAHS members, $12 for non-members. This program is sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the State of Florida, with additional support provided by The Helmerich Trust and the San Carlos Institute. For more information, contact Cori Convertito, Ph.D. at 305-295-6616 x507 or [email protected]. Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.
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IMAGE 1: The Ten Years’ War in Cuba and Key West’s cigar industry features prominently in Joy Castro’s new novel, “One Brilliant Flame”. The Key West Art & Historical Society will be hosting a reading and book signing with Castro at the San Carlos Institute on January 11 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Photo Credit: Library of Congress)
IMAGE 2: The Key West Art & Historical Society will be hosting a reading and book signing with award-winning author Joy Castro who is promoting her new Key West-centric novel, “One Brilliant Flame” on January 11 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the San Carlos Institute. (Photo Credit: Lake Union Publishing)
