To Dream of Florida with Gary R. Mormino and Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Join Florida Humanities for a conversation with two award-winning authors who examine the treasure that is the “Florida Dream.” Renowned historian Gary R Mormino’s Dreams of a New Century: Cities, Shatteres Hopes, and Florida’s Turning Point (University Press of Florida, 2022) recounts the dream revealed in the 2000s. Best-selling children’s author Christina Diaz Gonzalez provides a youthful account of a child’s quest to become a man in his journey from Cuba to Florida in The Bluest Sky (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022). Florida Humanities Executive Director Nashid Madyun interviews the pair of authors.

Florida Humanities Center for the Book, a Library of Congress affiliate, recently named both books to represent Florida at the 2023 National Book Festival as part of the Library of Congress’ “Great Reads from Great Places” program. They are also both 2022 gold medal Florida Book Award winners in Nonfiction Florida and Older Children’s Literature, respectively.

Mormino, based in St. Petersburg, is the Frank E Duckwall Professor of History Emeritus at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. He is the winner of the Florida Humanities 2015 Florida Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing and serves as the Florida Humanities scholar in residence. His many book include Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida.

Miami resident Gonzalez is the Edgar Award-winning author of Concealed, Moving Target , The Red Umbrella, and A Thunderous Whisper. She is the author of the graphic novel Invisible with Gabriela Epstein. Her books have received numerous honors and recognitions, including the Florida Book Award and the Nebraska Book Award. They have also been named the American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, and the International Reading Association’s Teacher’s Choice.