Kadir Nelson created the official poster for the 2019 Miami Book Fair, produced and presented by Miami Dade College (MDC). The Book Fair will celebrate its 36th anniversary, Nov. 17 – 24, at MDC’s Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami.
In addition to creating this year’s poster, Nelson illustrated the picture book The Undefeated authored by Kwame Alexander. Author and artist will present together at the Book Fair at 12 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 23. The book-length poem, which has been nominated for a National Book Award, is a love letter to black life in the United States, and is peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others.
Nelson exhibits his artwork in galleries and museums nationwide and abroad. His paintings are in the private and public permanent collections of several notable institutions including the Muskegon Museum of Art, The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the International Olympic Committee, and the US House of Representatives.
He has created artwork for a host of distinguished clients, including Sports Illustrated, The Coca-Cola Company, The United States Postal Service, Major League Baseball, and Dreamworks SKG as the lead conceptual artist creating for Steven Spielberg’s Oscar® nominated feature film, Amistad. In December of 2014, Nelson’s striking painting of the late Nelson Mandela was featured on the cover of the New Yorker magazine. Within months, Nelson was asked by the magazine to create an updated painting of the magazine’s dandy, Eustace Tilley, which was featured on the magazine’s 90th anniversary cover in February 2015. He also created artwork for Michael Jackson’s posthumously released album, Michael, and recording artist Drake’s Nothing Was The Same.
Nelson has also authored and illustrated several award-winning New York Times best-selling picture books, including We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” which was presented at the Book Fair in conjunction with an exhibition at the college’s historic Freedom Tower in 2011.
This year’s Book Fair will feature more than 500 celebrated authors from the U.S. and around the world reading from new works and participating in discussions on myriad topics.
The popular Street Fair will be held during the closing weekend, Nov. 22 – 24, including hundreds of bookseller and publisher booths. Other highlights include Children’s Alley, a pop-up children’s learning activities village boasting live performances; and The Porch, the ultimate urban community hangout, complete with a beer bar, comfy outdoor seating stacked with board games, and a stage for live music and interdisciplinary performance.
Students in K-12 will enjoy special author presentations and workshops at the Fair and in their schools as part of the Generation Genius program, and college students will meet with selected authors for in-depth discussions on specific subjects as part of the Fair’s Classroom Collaborations program.
For Miami Book Fair information, please visit www.miamibookfair.com call 305-237-3528 or email wbookfair@mdc.edu.