Miami's Annual Poetry Moment

The Culture Edit, March 30th-April 12th

Author

Susan Bannon
March 29, 2026

Luz Rossy's poem for the 2023 O, Miami poetry festival displayed on a billboard downtown. Photo credit: Chantal Lawrie

April is National Poetry Month, but Miami really makes it a thing with our annual O, Miami Poetry Festival. The goal of the festival is to have every resident of Miami-Dade County encounter a poem this month - on billboards, buildings, umbrellas, and even fruit at the supermarket.

You can also get into the game yourself by writing and submitting poetry inspired by our beautiful city, the natural wonders around us, or your own zip code. I’m including several of their events in the newsletter (the book launch at Gramps Getaway sounds particularly fun), but you can check out everything they have going on here.

This week is also your last chance to catch Zoetic Stage’s production of Sondheim classic Merrily We Roll Along, which the Miami Herald absolutely loved.

Let’s get planning…

Jump to: Music, Theater, Indie Cinema, Art Events, Book Talks, or Planning Ahead

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Book Talks

An Evening with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

The Miami Freedom Project and Catalyst Miami join forces with Books & Books to present an evening with influential historian and author Ibram X. Kendi, whose How to Be an Antiracist became an international bestseller. He’ll be in conversation with award-winning author and UM professor Patricia Engels, discussing his new book, Chain of Ideas, a global history of the “great replacement” theory and its links to the rise of authoritarianism.

Monday, March 30th, 7pm, Coral Gables Congregational Church, $41 (for 2 tickets and one book)

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Say Nothing Author Patrick Radden Keefe

Books & Books welcomes The New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author Patrick Radden Keefe, whose 2019 true crime sensation Say Nothing was named one of the Twenty Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times Book Review. He’ll be discussing his latest nonfiction work, London Falling, about the mysterious death of a beloved son in London’s most gilded corners (spoiler alert: the Russians are involved).

Friday, April 10th, 7pm, Coral Gables Congregational Church, $48 (for two, includes one book copy)

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

More Literary Events:

  • Thursday, April 2nd: O, Miami founder P. Scott Cunningham returns to Miami for a reading and book launch for his award-winning new book of poetry, at the Mangrove Ballroom at Gramps Getaway on Key Biscayne, at 7pm.

  • Friday, April 3rd: The Wolfsonian-FIU presents a discussion on When It’s Cocktail Time in Cuba, a 1928 Havana drinking guide by British journalist Basil Woon that brought Americans to the island by the droves during Prohibition, from 7-8:30pm.

  • Saturday, April 4th: The Miami Zine Fair returns, showcasing the work of over 150 independent publishers and hosting an all-day poetry exchange, giving you a (nonalcoholic) drink for every poem you turn in, from 12-5pm at Paradise Plaza in the Design District.

  • Friday, April 10th: O, Miami and Dunn’s Overtown Farm host a poetry reading and family-style dinner featuring National Book Award finalist and poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi, 7-10pm.

  • Saturday, April 11th: O, Miami presents Forces of Nature: The Great Miami Brainstorm of 2126, a “category 5 learning experience” at UM’s SUSTAIN Lab on Virginia Key, 5-7pm.

Theater

Miami New Drama: The Zionists

Miami New Drama presents The Zionists, a highly anticipated new play by acclaimed playwright, choreographer, and director S. Asher Gelman, whose play Afterglow, had an extended run Off-Broadway and a sold-out run in London. The Zionists follows a prominent Jewish family having a fragile reunion on a Caribbean island after the politics around October 7th had driven them apart. The fragile peace is shattered by a “sudden hurricane,” which pales in force to the storm that erupts inside as the power goes out.

April 9th-May 3rd, Colony Theatre, $40-$90

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Gablestage: Prayer for the French Republic

From celebrated playwright Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, Admissions), Gablestage presents a regional premiere of Prayer for the French Republic, a darkly funny exploration of history, identity and survival. The story follows the Benhamou family, who are forced to question the safety of their home in Paris, and wrestle with 1,000 years of Jewish history, in the wake of an antisemitic attack.

Through April 19th, 7pm evenings, 2pm matinees, Gablestage at the Biltmore, $40-$60

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Zoetic Stage: Merrily We Roll Along

If you aren't on the Musical Theater Nerd Alert System (MTNAS), you may not know that Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical Merrily We Roll Along is getting a production by Zoetic Stage at the Arsht Center this month. If you are, I don’t have to tell you how this complicated, bittersweet work flopped in its Broadway debut only to become a cult classic, with iconic Sondheim songs like the achingly romantic Not a Day Goes By. You’ve only got three weeks to see it, so get those tickets!

FINAL WEEK! Through April 5th, Carnival Studios Theatre at the Arsht Center, $78

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

More Upcoming Theater:

  • April 11th-12th: FUNDarte presents Apocalipsync, a one-man-show by the highly entertaining Luciano Rosso, as part of the Out in the Tropics performance series, at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center.

Indie Cinema

MFF26 Opening Night: Tuner

Still from “Tuner,” directed by Daniel Roher (Black Bear Pictures, 2026)

The 26th edition of the Miami Film Festival kicks off with a screening of Tuner, the new film by Academy Award-winning director Daniel Roher, at the historic Olympia Theater. The film stars White Lotus hottie Leo Woodhall as a piano tuner tapped by organized crime for safe cracking, and Dustin Hoffman as his musical mentor. The screening is followed by an opening night party (tickets sold separately!) at the also-historic (and reportedly haunted) Alfred I. duPont Building across the street.

Thursday, April 9th, 7:30pm, Olympia Theater, $37

Neighborhood: Downtown

MFF26: Live Podcast with Matt Bomer

This year’s Miami Film Festival welcomes actor Matt Bomer (White Collar, Magic Mike) for a live recording of Josh Horowitz’s popular interview podcast, Happy Sad Confused. Bomer, winner of the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards for his role in The Normal Heart, will be talking about his new project, the upcoming Apple Original Film Outcome, and will be receiving the MFF Vanguard Award.

Friday, April 10th, 7:30pm, MDC Wolfson Chapman Center, $28

Neighborhood: Downtown

MFF26: Normal Screening with Bob Odenkirk

Still from “Normal,” directed by Ben Wheatley (Magnolia Pictures, 2026)

This year’s Miami Film Festival welcomes actor, producer, screenwriter and comedian Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul, Nobody) for a screening of his new film, Normal, followed by a wide-ranging career conversation and award presentation. The film should be a fun one, reuniting Odenkirk with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad and Nobody producer Marc Provissiero for another story of a nice guy in a bad situation.

Saturday, April 11th, 5:30pm, Olympia Theater, $45

Neighborhood: Downtown

More Indie Cinema:

Music

Neon Nights at New World

Experience imagined with AI by NWS Media

For two nights only, the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center transforms into a neon wonderland for an immersive chamber concert by the New World Fellows, featuring a hit list of chamber favorites across 300 years, from Bach to Bernstein. The concert will rove across multiple platforms for three 20-minute sets, surrounding the audience with music and light.

April 10th-11th, Performances at 7:30pm & 9:30pm, New World Center, $100

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nu Deco with Wyclef Jean

Nu Deco Ensemble presents a packed season finale at the Arsht Center, featuring collaborations with rapper, songwriter, and former member of The Fugees, Wyclef Jean and supremely smooth jazz vocalist Ledisi, plus a new orchestral suite of Bee Gee’s songs co-written with Steve Gibb, guitarist and Barry Gibb’s son.

Friday, April 10th, 8pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $35-$152

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

More Upcoming Music Events:

  • Wednesday, April 1st: Innovative Chilean composer Esteban Ignacio Correa and bassist Manuel Figueroa-Bolvarán play The Betsy Hotel as part of the XXIX New Music Miami ISCM festival, at 7pm.

  • Tuesday, April 7th: The New World Symphony Fellows invite you to an innovative, pay-what-you-wish concert imagining Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s feminist classic The Yellow Wallpaper through music, at New World Center at 7pm.

  • April 10th & 12th: Seraphic Fire closes out its season with Surround Sound, a polychoral experience that puts the audience at the center of the action, with SF’s phenomenal artists singing from every corner of the sanctuary, at Church of the Little Flower and Miami Beach Community Church.

  • Friday, April 10th: Kicking off the Arsht Center’s annual springtime Live on The Plaza series, Alexa & The Old Fashioned’s play under the stars on the Thompson Plaza, at 7:30pm. Come early to enjoy the outdoor bar.

  • Sunday, April 12th: Live on The Plaza continues with Coconut Radio and their cool, confident take on the Yacht Rock sound at Thompson Plaza at the Arsht Center, at 7:30pm.

Art Events

Signal Path: Luis Gispert at Fred Snitzer

Fred Snitzer Gallery celebrates the opening of Signal Path, an exhibit of new paintings by multimedia artist Luis Gispert. Gispert’s work is held in more than 25 museum collections, including the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and our own PAMM. In this series of work on paper, Gispert continues his love affair with audio and HiFi culture, using visual depictions of vibration and intense, radiating color to convey sound without sound.

Saturday, April 11th, Opening Reception 2-5pm, Fred Snitzer Gallery, Free

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

More Art Events:

  • Wednesday, April 8th: Locust Projects kicks off their new Artist Talks series with mixed media artist Trenton Doyle Hancock, discussing his career since his solo exhibition with Locust in 2019, at 7pm.

Planning Ahead

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those restaurants you want to try book up. Here are a couple of upcoming events to get on your calendar now…

Wednesday, April 15th

Miami Film Fest: Whiplash in Concert

TICKETS SELLING FAST! A special presentation of the upcoming Miami Film Festival, Whiplash in Concert is a pretty unique opportunity to see this remarkable film come to life. If you haven’t seen Whiplash (or repressed it), it’s about an ambitious young drummer and the ruthless bandleader, played to terrifying perfection by JK Simmons, that pushes him to the brink. For this screening, a live 18-piece band led by none other than Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz, who scored the film, will play the music live, with world-class drummer Greyson Nekrutman delivering the film’s iconic drum scenes.

7:30pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $80-$150

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Friday, April 17th

Sheila E. in Concert

Photo of Sheila E. by Rob Shanahan, courtesy of the Arsht Center.

Queen of Percussion Sheila E. brings the Glamorous Life to the Arsht Center for one night only. Showing off her still jaw-dropping mastery of the drum set, Ms. E will bang through a program of her legendary hits, alongside her latest, Grammy-winning salsa album, Bailar.

8pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $53-$152

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

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