After Pandemic Pause, Key West Literary Seminar Returns
KEY WEST (CBSMiami/AP) - After being postponed in 2021 because of COVID-19 concerns, Key West Literary Seminar returns this year.
The seminar kicks off Thursday at an open-air amphitheater with health safety protocols in place.
Key West was once home to literary giants Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway. The four-day conclave is themed after Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning play "A Streetcar Named Desire."
Events will begin with an address by Lauren Groff, whose latest novel "Matrix" examines themes of passion and power in a 12th-century nunnery.
Registrants will attend readings, lectures, and panel discussions by writers including Jericho Brown, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for poetry; Tom Perrotta, whose "The Leftovers" and "Mrs. Fletcher" both became HBO television series; and National Book Award winner Colum McCann.
Scheduled presentations include a conversation between Jami Attenberg, author of "All This Could Be Yours," and Key West resident Judy Blume, whose renowned children's and young adult books address complex subjects such as teen sexuality.
"It's great we are at the point when all passions and desires can be acknowledged so that even kids can find themselves in books — to know that they aren't the only ones, that it's okay to feel the way they feel," Blume said.
The seminar concludes Sunday afternoon with a free public program of readings and commentary by featured writers.
(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)