GFWC Woman’s Club of Inverness

Florida author Klinkenberg to speak at third Festival of Books event,  sponsored by the GFWC Woman's Club of Inverness.

  Jeff Klinkenberg, award-winning columnist for the Tampa Bay Times, will be the featured author at the third annual 2013 Festival of Books on Saturday, Jan. 26 in Inverness.

Sponsored by the GFWC Woman’s Club of Inverness, the event will be held at the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum.

Klingenberg has made a career of searching out the Florida that visiting tourists, and a great many Florida residents, never see. He travels the Sunshine State from one end to the other, visits scenic places, and chats with interesting people who have things worth saying. His job is telling about the stories he encounters to readers who may be unaware of what is happening beyond their own city limits or what they read elsewhere in their newspaper or see on TV. His feature stories have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

His most recent book, Pilgrim in the Land of Alligators, is a collection of favorite columns. He has four other books to his credit and has also won scores of state awards for his outdoor writings.

Klinkenberg began work for the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) in 1977.

Klinkenberg's interest in Florida began when he was a small boy growing up in Miami on the edge of the Everglades. He started working at the Miami News when he was 16 and later became a journalism graduate of the University of Florida. He is married and the father of three children.

Tickets for the evening with Klinkenberg are available for $20 by calling 352-634-4216.

"What is raw, alive, and essential about Florida is becoming more difficult to find, true; but it's still possible to encounter it, to experience it, and a good place to start is any story or book by Jeff Klinkenberg. . . . Jeff loves Florida. It shows."

--Randy Wayne White, Florida author

"If Jeff Klinkenberg isn't careful, he might give journalism a good name. He has a rare eye for marvelous detail, and an affectionate ear for those small, wise, bittersweet voices that tell the true story of Florida."

- Carl Hiaasen, Florida author