All posts by Darlyn Finch Kuhn

Valarie Esguerra to Read at JaxbyJax

Valarie Esguerra grew up writing and directing plays for her church, as well as performing in local theatre. She worked as a creative for TeleNext Media and Flyover Studios, companies that produced family-friendly movies of the week for Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. Valarie was one of four artists chosen for the arts integration residency program “Lift Every Voice” sponsored in part by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and Duval County Public Schools.

Valarie will read at 2:30 PM on Saturday, October 29 in the Rooftop Garden.
To see the Event Guide, click here.

JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival IX, a celebration of Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville, will be held on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29, 2022 at the Jessie Ball duPont Center, 40 East Adams Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202. Click here for directions and parking information.

JaxbyJax is grateful to our generous sponsors: JaxNEXT100Jessie Ball duPont CenterMoving the Margins904WARDHappy Tapir PressBab’s LabJacksonville Literary Arts AllianceThe VolsteadScribbles, and Brad Kuhn & Associates, LLC. Please click on their names to learn more.

Ardain Isma and Village Care Publishing

Village Care Publishing would like Scribblers to have the following information about its latest release, Bittersweet Memories of Last Spring, by Dr. Ardain Isma:

Ardain Isma is a career educator, university professor and a scholar. He is an essayist and editorial board member of several universities’ publications, including the NSU (Nova Southeastern University) TESOL journal. He is the Chief-Editor of CSMS Magazine, a magazine which represents the principal medium for the Center for Strategic and Multicultural Studies (CSMS), a professional organization made up of academics whose aim is to promote Cross-Cultural Awareness. Ardain Isma has written extensively on three main issues: writers’ tools for success, social justice, and multiculturalism. He is also the author of Midnight at Noon, a contemporary novel that describes not only the current state of modern day Haiti, but also provides in-depth elements for readers to understand Haiti and its glorious past. Ardain Isma currently lives and works in suburban Jacksonville. 

Dr. Isma hosts a show called The Conversation wherein her interviews poets and authors.


Bittersweet Memories of Last Spring is a novel of faith, love, and identity. In 1980, 17-year-old Yrvin Lacroix is in a sailboat from Haiti bound for Miami, Florida in search of a better life. He leaves behind his beloved mother, his siblings, and Régine—his childhood sweetheart to whom he has made a promise to return.  

In Miami, despite his precarious situation as a refugee, Yrvin joins Haitian exiles in the fight against the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti as well as the struggle for refugee rights. He believes a win against the odds will help him shape the course of his life.    

As time passes, Yrvin’s love and passion for Régine begins to fade. Attending school is his main objective. On a rainy December day, he meets Michaela, a mixed-race girl of Dominican origin and fellow student at his school. They fall in love. But that love suffers a major setback when Yrvin learns of Régine’s presence in Miami. Yrvin must now face a scorned Régine while staying focused in school and preserving his relationship with Michaela. Will he succeed?   

JaxbyJax welcomes Wyne Karnath

Wyne Karnath is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction who writes every day, and posts at findyournation.org, to inspire and connect people of like minds, especially those who want to make a positive change.
His fiction is often set in the near future. Mankind’s unsteady and problematic relationship to technology is central to his work. His brand of fiction is speculative, not fantasy.Karnath is a finalist for the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Award for short fiction.

Wyne will read at 11:15 AM on Saturday, October 29 at the Lecture Hall.
To see the Event Guide, click here.

JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival IX, a celebration of Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville, will be held on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29, 2022 at the Jessie Ball duPont Center, 40 East Adams Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202. Click here for directions and parking information.

JaxbyJax is grateful to our generous sponsors: JaxNEXT100Jessie Ball duPont CenterMoving the Margins904WARDHappy Tapir PressBab’s LabJacksonville Literary Arts AllianceThe VolsteadScribbles, and Brad Kuhn & Associates, LLC. Please click on their names to learn more.

JaxbyJax Community Writing Workshops

JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival IX will reach out to aspiring and student writers in the Jacksonville area leading up to the festival by conducting Community Writing Workshops at four FSCJ campuses. The workshops will all run from 6-8 PM on Wednesday evenings at the following locations:

Sept. 28 Downtown Campus, Room A2012

Oct. 5 North Campus, Room D212

Oct. 12 South Campus, Room T101

Oct. 19 Kent Campus, Room A208

Each workshop participant is asked to bring a dozen copies of a short story or poem(s) that can be read in 5-10 minutes for gentle critique and encouragement.

The workshops will be led by writers and Co-Directors of the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival, Brad and Darlyn Kuhn.