Barbara Drake-Vera signs the wallpapered restroom at Midtown Reader on Oct. 3, 2024. The bookshelf wallpaper is signed by authors who read at the Tallahassee bookstore.

Midtown Reader (Tallahassee’s indie bookstore) made me feel right at home on Oct. 3, when I appeared in conversation with poet Virgil Suarez.

Smart questions from the audience and insights from Virgil made this an evening to remember.

Being invited to sign the library-papered restroom wall was a thrill — adding my book’s title and my autograph to a “spine” next to others who have read there!