Marte Singerman and her husband, Paul, set down roots in Miami in 1983 after they both completed law school at the University of Florida. Proud parents of two adult daughters, they’ve supported Miami Book Fair for years, both personally and through his firm, Berger Singerman LLP.
Your family funds Miami Book Fair individually and through Paul’s firm. Can you tell me what drives the latter’s support?
I can’t speak as an official spokesperson of the firm, but I do know that it’s committed to supporting organizations that make a positive impact in our communities. Miami Book Fair does that through its focus on literacy, cultural programming, and community engagement, and the partnership between the Fair and Berger Singerman reflects shared values around education, access, and the importance of diverse perspectives.
What do you think Miami Book Fair has brought to the community as a whole?
When we moved here we lived in the Atlantis building, which was seen in the opening credits of Miami Vice. That was the year that the cover of Time magazine ran the “Paradise Lost” story, about all the drug use here and how fraught Miami was at the time. So the vision of the city was either sun-soaked parties or drug-infested streets. Without the establishment of cultural and intellectual institutions like Book Far, those would have remained the only two impressions people had. We needed legitimacy – and Book Fair and other entities like it were the beginning of Miami becoming an actual city.
At Berger Singerman, I think the Fair is seen as an important part of the city’s cultural landscape and a way to support education and the arts locally. As parents, Paul and I brought our daughters to the Fair when they were kids, and what I really loved about it was that it made books accessible and fun, and made reading part of an event rather than a solitary endeavor.
Tell me about some of the other organizations you support in Miami.
We’re big supporters of Mount Sinai Hospital, Temple Beth Shalom, the University of Miami, and the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery. We’ve also been big supporters of Camillus House. Paul and I are both very interested in the intersection of mindfulness and mental health, and mental health and homelessness.
How does Miami Book Fair’s mission align with your own thoughts on access to literary culture?
Again, it makes a solitary thing into a group experience. Book Fair gives you a peer group and celebrates the joys of reading, of books, and of thinking, and the authors you present bring world-class intellectual discussions to Miami.
Is there a book you read as a child or teenager that still holds resonance for you?
Not a lot of people know this, but there’s an entire series of Mary Poppins books, not just one, and they are wonderful. There’s a story from the second book that I still tell today. I also think the Fairy Books by Andrew Lang are fantastic. I read them as a child and then read them to my daughters when they were children.
Are you reading anything good right now?
Always! [laughs] I just finished James by Percival Everett; it was really thought-provoking. And I also recently read The Evil Inclination by Daniel Victor. What a fabulous book. Our stepsister is a Broadway actress and she narrated it for Audible and she’s so good!
Si ou te ka fè yon dejene youn-a-youn ak nenpòt otè, vivan oswa mouri, kiyès li ta ye e kisa ou ta mande li?
Can I have more than one? [laughs]
Yes, you can. [laughs]
I’d love to sit down with Brené Brown. I think she’s incredible. And Sylvia Boorstein, too.
What would you ask them?
I’d ask Brené Brown about her current thoughts on the meaning of life. She’s always reinventing things and looking at things from a different perspective. And Sylvia Boorstein – we’ve tried to bring her to Miami but she’s older now and doesn’t travel anymore – I’d love to know what she’s thinking as she is in her twilight era. So, I’d ask Brené what to think about going forward and Sylvia what to think about looking back.
That’s a nice bookend to your profile, no pun intended. [both laugh]
Entèvyou pa Elisa Chemayne Agostinho; repons yo te modifye pou espas ak klèti.