David Durney

Kids Go Global

For the 2008 Deep Carnivale, their theme was The People of Old Ybor City.

For this year's festival, Children's Future Hillsborough and its partner agencies are presenting "kid friendly" activity tables and activities where children learn about the culture of other counties.

Everything from limbo dancing to singing to quick and easy craft projects will illustrate children's activities in Mexico, Africa, the Bahamas, India and Germany.

Also making an appearance will be Bess The Book Bus, the Parent Guide and the Girl Scouts. Children's Future Hillsborough is funded in part by the Children's Board of Hillsborough County.

Stay at Don Vicente

The historic Don Vicente Inn is offering a special room and breakfast package to Deep Carnivale guests. The beautifully restored Inn is located only a short stroll from the HCC-Ybor campus and most Deep Carnivale events.

The $150 per night package includes a standard room, free breakfast, and free parking during the festival, plus free admission to the private Author's Reception on Friday, September 11, free admission to the Three Birds celebration on Sunday, September 13, and a chance to mingle with other Deep Carnivale special guests who will be staying at the hotel.

Call the Inn at 813-241-4545 now, since the boutique hotel has only 12 rooms available in this special package.

Intelligence Respected

Editor David Warner of Creative Loafing said some kind and encouraging words on page 26 of the August 26, 2009, issue. Partial quote, "At a moment when ignorance is being aggressively defended, Deep Carnivale still respects our intelligence. Imagine that."

Twitter Nano-Fiction

Some call it nano-fiction, micro-fiction, twitfic, or twiction. It’s fiction written in 140 characters and in this age of short attention spans, believe it or not, the Internet service Twitter.com is gaining attention.

Sally Bosco will present a half-hour workshop during Deep Carnivale on "How to Write Twitter Flash Fiction".

Ernesto Piloto-Marquez

Ernesto Piloto-Marquez, artist, sculptor and extraordinary pastry chef, will be busy at the 2009 Deep Carnivale. In addition to mounting an exhibit of his paintings and collages, he also will create a chocolate sculpture of Rodin's David sitting on a book and pondering...something. A snack, perhaps.

For a chance to view (and nibble at) Ernesto's sweet masterpiece, you must purchase a $10.00 ticket to Deep Carnivale's Meet the Authors reception 6 to 9pm Friday, September 11, at the Don Vicente Inn in Ybor City.

Sharif Ahmed

Sami Ahmed, keyboard and guitar player for the Tampa band Hypnophonics will perform at the Meet the Authors reception 6 to 9pm Friday, September 11, at the Don Vicente Inn in Ybor City. There are $10.00 tickets still available to this event.

Irritable Tribe of Poets

The Irritable Tribe of Poets, a collective of performing poets and instrumentalists based in Tampa, will be featured performers at the 2009 Deep Carnivale.

The Tribe is an improvisation-oriented ensemble, actively mixing jazz, rock, funk and world-music textures with sundry styles of poetry.

John Leland: Hip as an Obsession

Author and New York Times reporter John Leland will be the keynote speaker at the 2009 Deep Carnivale.

Leland is a self-diagnosed professor of hipness, having authored the 2004 book, "Hip: The History", about the country's preoccupation with what is (and is not) "hip", and his 2007 book "Why Kerouac Matters" about the ultimate hipster Jack Kerouac.
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A Different Sort of Ybor Celebration

Esther Martinez, in a story at The Florida Book Review" says she knows "Deep Carnivale will be 'A Celebration of Words' and not a Bourbon Street bacchanal."

"But logophile that I am, I reason I’ll get drunk on language. With over 70 writers and artists scheduled [for the 2008 Carnivale] to perform or read from their works, my beaded necklaces will be strung with verse. I imagine haiku shooters..."

"It is just before 10am when I arrive at the corner of Palm Avenue and 14th Street—Deep Carnivale ground zero. About a dozen vendor tables are lined up around the Hillsborough Community College courtyard where a band of teenagers [Next Exit] are setting up their instruments.

"The vendor tables sell books by local writers, HCC publications and baked goods. I grab a Cuban favorite, papa rellena, a potato stuffed with savory ground beef. Belly satisfied, I cross the street and enter the historic Circulo Cubano. A nearly 100 year old neo-classical building of ionic columns and marble staircases, it served as the Cuban Social Club and remains the oldest building of its kind in the country."

Comments From Our Fans

"When I look back over 2008, my visit to the second edition of Deep Carnivale was a highlight. You and your staff did a great job and I loved being part of it, again. I am sure there will be bigger festivals to come. But maybe not better!!!"
– Darrell House, children's book author and 2008 Deep Carnivale presenter.