The gentleman in the photo is my friend Sam Hazelrig. Sam figures in Miami literary history in several ways. One, as one of the co-heroes in Ron Oliver's book, Mock Two. Mock Two is a novel written about fighter pilots like Sam and Ron and the wild life they led during the VietNam war and back here as bachelors in 1960's era Coconut Grove. The Grove at that time, just imagine. That's where 
Fred Neil and friends played music, where Spanky MacFarlane met them and got together a group called Spanky and Our Gang. Sam continued his legendary life, and figured as a central character in my story, "Ladies Man" in the collection Believable Lies. His life story lives on in the hearts of friends and family from California to Florida, Tampa and Miami, Alabama to Washington, and we share this with his lovely widow, Gabrielle Ayala, a modern-day Delta Lady if there ever was one.

This post is to show that Miami Writers and Books has a far reach, and will include folks near and far, like James Jones, who taught briefly at Florida International University, Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight, Peter Matthiessen, whose Killing Mister Watson tells the history of the Ten Thousand Islands, Ted Smallwood's store, and how Alligator Alley got built. More to follow.

Checking out the morning news, I came across the story "Playwright Who Inspired 'Moonlight' Comes Home To South Florida High School" at WSVN.com/News. I read with great interest how Tarell Alvin McCraney grew up in Liberty City and attended the New World School of the Arts, the SoFla school mentioned in the article. I also read that his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue had been made into the award-winning film Moonlight by another talented man from Liberty City, director Barry Jenkins. The film was shot in Miami, as you can see from the official trailer on YouTube.

What I didn't read there I found by a little research. McCraney also taught until just recently at the University of Miami. He is now the department chairman of Drama at Yale University, where he won his graduate degree.He also had a Writing Residency at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, and has won Whiting Awards and GLAAD Media Award For Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway and Off-Broadway, as mentioned in his interview for The Guardian .In 2013, he was awarded a MacArthur "genius" Grant.His books include The Brother/Sister Plays , Choir Boy and American Trade.

In his numerous interviews, for The Guardian, NBC News, the New York Times, the LA Times and others, (look at his Google links here), he talks about growing up poor and black and gay with an addictive parent in Liberty City. He also talks about the responsibility of art to show us the world as it really is and to help us learn to see, to change and to grow.

I am amazed, the more I learn about this talented young man. All the best to Tarell Alvin McCraney.