Jonathan Escoffery kicked off the 2024 Speaker Series on January 15 with a discussion of his debut story collection If I Survive You which poses a question he has heard throughout his life: What are you? Born in Miami of Jamaican parents, Escoffery spent his childhood bedeviled by the question posed not only by playmates, teachers, neighbors and friends but by himself. American? Jamaican? White? Black? Mixed? His Booker-shortlisted stories are a fascinating exploration.

On January 22, Elise Hart Kipness discussed her first book Lights Out, based on her experience in the high pressure, adrenaline-pumping world of live TV, with Friends Board President Roberta Isleib. The fast-paced thriller follows a sports reporter off the court and into a world of murder and deception. Self-described as “vertically challenged,” Kipness entertained the audience with anecdotes about standing on a milk-carton when interviewing NBA players. She perfected her “upward stretch with the microphone” and now uses similar details to add richness to characters’ back stories.

On a chilly evening on January 29, a standing-room only audience was treated to selections from Carey Winfrey’s Key West Sketches — Writers at Mile Zero, a treasure trove of more than 60 essays, reminiscences, musings, and poems about Key West. Some of our town’s best-known writers read from the book including Rosalind Brackenbury, Hal Crowther, Mark Hedden, Lynn Kaufelt, Michael Memshaw, and Arida Wright. Carey Winfrey’s 50-year career in journalism concluded as editor-in-chief of Smithsonian.