RARE BOOK CAFE: Cartoonist Rob Smith Jr. shares stories of Florida history and his extensive Florida book collection

WATCH LIVE: Cartoonist and caricaturist Rob Smith Jr., creator of the Swampy's Florida cartoon series, will be special guest on Rare Book Cafe. A native Floridian, Rob has an abiding interest in Florida history. His lively history lectures/cartoon sessions have delighted audiences for decades. Rob is a regular feature at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, drawing caricatures of fair-goers free of charge. Rob Smith Jr. also is an avid book collector and will share some stories about his collection during Rare Book Cafe. You can watch Rob live right here on the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair blog or you can tune in on Blab.im (search for Rare Book Cafe). The program will be available on replay here as well.

RARE BOOK CAFE: Sarah Smith, manager of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, on 35 years of the Florida book fair

WATCH LIVE: Sarah Smith, manager of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, will be the guest on Rare Book Cafe Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The program will be broadcast live and you can watch it right here. This is the 35 year for the antiquarian book fair. It was started before Sarah was born but she has been a part of the book fair from the time she was a toddler. Sarah will share some of her memories of the book fair over the years. It's a program you won't want to miss but if you do, it'll be available to view right here on replay.

A new series: Get to know the booksellers

Okay, this is an early notice about a new occasional series we're introducing soon about the book sellers who will be at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March. It may surprise some readers to know that some booksellers have lives beyond their realm as booksellers. We're going to be looking into the special interests of some of the booksellers you'll see at the book fair. Stay tuned. If  you know a bookseller you think would be a good subject for our series, please let us know. Send an email to floridabookfair2@gmail.com and put SECRET LIVES in the subject field.

SunLit Festival receives Best of the Bay Award

Michael Slicker and T. Allan Smith display Best of the Bay Award from Creative Loafing.

A new festival for book lovers launched last March in the week before the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, and we were proud to be part of it. The first annual SunLit Festival began on Saturday, March 7 and culminated with the book fair the following weekend. It was fourteen events in nine days, all celebrating the written word.

On Wednesday this week, Creative Loafing, the magazine-style weekly newspaper that covers the arts, entertainment, dining, and politics in the Tampa Bay area, presented an award to SunLit Festival in its annual Best of the Bay Awards. SunLit Festival was proclaimed the Best New Fest for Bookworms, an entirely appropriate title certain to be worn with pride.

The first SunLit Festival featured such diverse activities as honoring the Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg, live literary combat, a tribute to the writing talents of Dave and Iola Brubeck, a focus on reading to infants, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of St. Petersburg's library, dramatic readings of local writers' works, a pub crawl with literature, an examination of how childhood reading shapes our lives, the opening night of the first season of the St. Petersburg Shakespeare Festival, a night hike in the woods with poetry, a celebration of Jack Kerouac, a Passover cookoff, word games with libations, and, of course, the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

It was the work of many individuals and organizations, who came together in the common cause of celebrating literature to produce an exciting series that drew attention to each of their efforts. It was a great surprise when Creative Loafing sent word that it was honoring SunLit Festival, and it was a great tribute to the efforts of so many people. It was all under the able guidance of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.

The future of SunLit Festival looks very bright, indeed, with planning now under way for the second annual edition. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair invites book lovers from all over to come to St. Petersburg for SunLit Festival and the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

Below: A recording of a live streaming session from the night of the Best of the Bay Awards. For live streaming about the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair and things to see and do in the Tampa Bay area during these events, follow @FLBookFairPhoto on Twitter and Periscope.