Arts

Just because you can’t drive down for the 31st annual Key West Literary Seminar, doesn’t mean you can’t take part.

WLRN is teaming up with the KWLS folks to bring the conversations online.

All this week we've been bringing you the story of Fabienne Jean, a dancer who lost her right leg three years ago in the earthquake in Haiti.

Fabienne’s right leg was crushed and had to be amputated. When she danced again, she was hailed as a symbol of Haiti’s post-earthquake recovery.

But as reporter Jacob Kushner discovered during the year he spent reporting on this story, the quest to rebuild one woman’s life would take much more than that.

This Sunday, Nigerian Afro-beat artist Femi Kuti will be performing in Miami. Femi is known for using music to protest against the Nigerian government -- a legacy he inherited from his father, the legendary Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti.

The announcement that a Miami-raised son of Cuban immigrants has been chosen as the inaugural poet for President Obama's swearing-in ceremony is causing a stir throughout South Florida.  And nowhere more than in our region's literary community.

In 1993, a young civil engineer named Richard Blanco wanted to try his hand at writing poetry.  So he took a class at Florida International University, led by English Professor Campbell McGrath.

About 150 talented, young artists from across the country are in Miami this week to hone their skills through classes and performances.

They were chosen from a pool of 10,000 applicants to take part in the 32nd annual YoungArts Week. Twenty of the participants are from Florida.