Sohrab Homi Fracis is the first Asian American to win the Iowa Short Fiction Award, for Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America. His novel, Go Home, was shortlisted by Stanford Univ. Libraries for the William Saroyan International Prize. He was Visiting Writer in Residence at Augsburg College & Artist in Residence at Yaddo. He received the FL Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature/Fiction. The South Asian Literary Assoc. bestowed on him its Distinguished Achievement Award.

JaxbyJax warmly welcomes back this stellar literary voice.

Dr. Jamison is the Director | Urban Education Scholars Program and Assistant Director | Center for Urban Education and Policy in University of North Florida’s College of Education and Human Services.

He also serves as Executive Director | LIFE (Leadership is for Everyone, Inc.)

Dr. Jamison is a native of Jacksonville, committed to advancing education, equity, justice, and community as instruments to move humanity forward.

We look forward with great anticipation to hearing him read from “Never Forget Who You Are,” co-authored with Rodney Hurst, Sr., who will also read at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival on October 16th.

JaxbyJax is pleased to welcome a new voice to the festival on Saturday, October 16 at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center.

A Jacksonville native, Cheri “Junebug” Royal springs from a pioneer Westside family. Heavily influenced by snakes, wakes and whiskey, she considers her upbringing to be her greatest writing asset. At UNF she studied people and problem-solving, earning a BFA in figure painting. Her blog is sprinkled with family antics, paintings and photos ruled by the concept, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

Princess Simpson Rashid is an American visual artist, designer and writer. Now a resident of Florida, Rashid serves as a contributing member of the Ancient City Poets in St. Augustine, FL. Currently, she’s working on a book of poetry entitled, “All is Not”. She operates her creative studio practice as a resident artist in the CoRK Arts District located in Jacksonville, FL.

Rashid will read her work on Saturday, October 16 at the JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival VIII at the Jessie Ball DuPont Center. We are delighted to welcome her.