Lifelong South Floridian and second-generation Miamian Lydia Lopez was recently named director of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, which she joined in 2020 as its legislative and municipal affairs manager.
What compelled M-DPLS to partner with Miami Book Fair – how does our work support your community-building and cultural connection goals?
It was a no-brainer! [laughs] The library has been supporting the Fair since 2018, and was one of the founding partners of Books on the Bay, which of course became Miami Book Fair. The partnership strengthens our connection and engagement with Miami-Dade’s literary community; supports our shared love of books and storytelling; helps us to highlight our programs, services, and local author series; and provides a fantastic outreach opportunity to connect book lovers with the library.
Can people actually sign up for library cards at the Fair?
Yes, we usually bring either a bookmobile or one of our technobuses with us and invite people in and try to share as much as we can – because we offer so much and have a limited time on-site – and sign them up for library cards to get them using their local libraries.
What do you think Miami Book Fair has brought to the community?
It’s brought life and passion to downtown Miami and Miami in general. Downtown wasn’t somewhere you went to intentionally back when Book Fair started, but now people rush to spend time there during the Fair. It’s also brought some amazing national and international authors to Miami-Dade, as well as homegrown authors, like Carl Hiaasen, Dave Barry, and Judy Blume – who lives down the street in Key West – and also our poets, including Nicole Tallman, the county’s third poet laureate. So we’re excited about everything you do and how it complements what we offer at the library.
Tell me about some of the other organizations the library partners with.
We partner with just about everybody! On the literary front, we partner with The Children’s Trust on its READy, Set, Go and Book Club programs, with the Early Learning Coalition on the Talk, Read, Sing story time program, and with Uplift Literacy, which offers literacy skills to children.
How does our work align with your personal thoughts on access to literary culture?
It does so excellently – you deliver programs that provide residents with access to voices from across the globe and you offer something for everyone, which is magical! You have fantastic programs, but I do wish Book Fair wasn’t in November because you’re competing with my turkey prep for Thanksgiving [laughs]. I’ll be sitting and waiting for a program to start at the Fair and working on my grocery list of all the things I have to shop for.
What’s an MBF moment that still resonates with you?
I don’t think there’s any one thing in particular – it’s just a feeling of joy that I get when listening to authors talk about their experiences and how they see the world. Even if you haven’t read their book, they always offer some insight or observation that you take away with you and share with others.
What are you reading right now?
I’m listening to Jill Lepore’s We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, which is part of the mayor’s America250 reading list. That’s a 29-hour listen, so I’m still in the middle of that. But there’s been a few good ones that I recently read, including My Friends by Fredrik Backman, which I really liked. It’s about the power of connection and the friendships that you make. It was laugh-out-loud funny.
Did you have a favorite book as a child or young adult?
Probably Charlotte’s Web, because you have the nurturing spider sharing what she knew and helping the poor little pig get through it. [laughs]
If you could have a one-on-one lunch with any author, living or dead, who would they be?
It’s a toss-up between Dorothy Parker – because that would be a very interesting, probably cocktail party – and Arthur Brooks, because I really enjoy listening to his observations on happiness and finding joy.
Interview by Elisa Chemayne Agostinho; responses have been edited for space and clarity.